The Tenants in the Vineyard
CRAFT: We are going to plant bean seeds in the little plastic bottle bottoms. We want the seeds to be visible from the outside so they will be able to see them grow. The connection is the garden was planted by God. Tell the children to water sparingly and the beans should sprout and grow by Easter.
SNACK: The biscuits were great. Is there a way to put seeds (maybe sunflower seeds) into the batter? Or maybe we want muffins with seeds on top.
LESSON PLAN: Jesus is actually telling the leaders about how they were going to put Him to death, and how God would take the kingdom away from the chosen people and give it to others. The parable is very clear. I suspect that if you simply read it to them and discuss it they will understand. Especially if you make it clear that we are the replacement tenants in the kingdom.
MEMORY WORK: Philippians 3:8a I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
THEME:
The Tenants in the Vineyard
We will learn that those who reject God's Son determine their fate; damnation.
We will understand that through Faith we are able to recognize God for our salvation.
We will thank God that Jesus promised to forgive our former sin and take hold of us to make us His chosen.
Preliminary considerations: The overall theme for today is worthiness for the kingdom of God. In the Introit we find our repentance being met by the power of God taking us from death to life. The Collect show that it was Jesus, going to the cross, that bought us back from sin, death and Satan. The Old Testament Lesson recalls the heart of Israel's faith. God promises to bring the repentant to Jerusalem. The Gradual sings of Jesus as the one who makes and perfects our Faith. The Epistle Lesson tells us that everything is rubbish and loss when compared to what we gain in the knowledge of Jesus. The Gospel Lesson the parable of the tenants in the vineyard. Jesus tells us that we have become the New Tenants for the Kingdom.
THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Isaiah 43:16-21
God is making plans to restore the chosen people. Following a period of captivity, they will be returned. God recounts His former deliverance of His people as they passed through the Red Sea. He instructs the people to forget the former things, however, because He is doing a new thing. He doesn't want them to forget the past in disregard, but with a view to the future. The past included a rejection of God. As Jesus points out in the Gospel Lesson, they have ignored the prophets and even beaten a few. The something new is that God is going to forgive their sin through His Son Jesus. We are formed of old under the law and made new in the work and the person of Jesus.
THE EPISTLE LESSON: Philippians 3:8-14
We skip past Lent and go right to Easter with our lesson for today. The Holy Spirit gives believers the gift of eternal life along with the gift of Faith. Paul rejoiced in the relationship that he had with Jesus through Faith. He treasured the blessings of the Resurrection that God granted him through Faith in Christ. Paul realized that God had work for him to do while he waited for God's heavenward call. To him the acquiring of the power of the Resurrection meant more than everything else. He compared all other things to rubbish. The proclamation of the Gospel is stronger than human strength.
THE GOSPEL LESSON: Luke 20:9-19
This is the parable of the Wicked Tenants. This is an unusual parable in that even the enemies of Jesus are able to perceive that Jesus is talking about them. Generally the understanding of parables is for those who have the Holy Spirit to explain it to them. The vineyard is clearly Israel, the tenants are Israel's rulers and leaders, the owner of the vineyard is God, the messengers are the prophets, the son is Christ, the punishment of the tenants symbolizes the ruin of Israel, the nation is the Gentile Church. Then we need to consider the rock that crushes them. Jesus is the head of the church. He is the only path, He is the only way that leads to salvation. The leaders of the people are stumbling over Jesus. They refuse to accept Him as the Messiah. They are fulfilling the parable, and fulfilling the prophecies made through the entire Old Testament. God is about to make something new. He is about to establish a new people to believe in His Son and therefore be saved. The old is passing away, the new is at hand.
STUDY SHEET
The chosen people, by persecuting the prophets, and now Christ Himself, had provoked God to take away from them all their privileges, and to abandon them to ruin. In the parable, the owner of the vineyard so wanted to restore and continue the relationship he had established in the beginning with the tenants, that he sent a continuing number of servants, looking for the tenants to do the right thing. When they would not, he continued the relationship on his own behalf by sending his son.
The tenants in the parable were going to bring justice down on themselves. They actively rejected the owner, the servants of the owner and finally the son.
Our sin is like that. We were placed as perfect people in the kingdom of God. We (through Adam and Eve) sinned against God, and since then God has been calling us back to the old relationship. He sent the prophets, He sent more prophets, and finally He sent His only begotten Son. Those who believe are saved. Those who reject have salvation taken from them and given to another.
1. Who is the owner who planted the vineyard?
2. What is the vineyard?
3. Who are the tenants of the owner who owe him a share of his vineyard's crops?
4. What is the harvest fruit owed to the owner.?
5. Who are the servants whom the owner sends?
6. What is done to the servants?
7. Who is the owner's son?
8. Why would the tenants beat the owner's servants?
9. Why would the owner keep sending servants and not kill the tenants in the beginning?
10. What seems foolish in sending the son?
11. How is God's Love foolish by human standards?
12. What's the difference between falling because of the stone, and being crushed by the stone?