Today’s Gospel continues where we left off last week, and where we have been for several Sundays. Jesus has come into Jerusalem as we celebrate on Palm Sunday. He has cleansed the Temple and has been teaching, preaching and healing there, and he has been confronted by the priests and elders, in essence the religious and civil authorities. This is his third parable in response to them, following the two sons and the bad tenants.

In order to grasp the weight of this parable, we need to focus on the main character. This isn’t a friend or a neighbor, a colleague or a client, or a distant relative. This is the king, which we need to understand in their context. A king was at the very apex of their social order. He was in charge, period. He had absolute authority, wealth, and an army.

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Today’s Gospel picks up right where we left off last week. Jesus has made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as we celebrate on Palm Sunday. This is now what we call Holy Week.  His conflict with Jewish religious and civil authorities is building toward his trial and crucifixion. Jesus is still at the temple.  He’s speaking directly to the chief priests, scribes and elders of Israel.  They have challenged him and challenged his authority to even teach there. This is the second vineyard parable in a row, right after the one about the two brothers we heard last week.

This parable unfolds in terms that are very familiar to these leaders.  Jesus uses imagery directly from Isaiah in the passage we just heard. Israel is the vineyard; a metaphor used many times in the Old Testament.  The story has a very clear moral flow. Of course, the tenants must honor their covenant with the landowner to produce a good crop and give him his share of the produce. Of course, their treatment of his servants is horribly wrong, and their treatment of his son is outrageous.  Of course, the master will punish these wretches and get new tenants.

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We are so very blessed by the clergy and lay leaders who contributed to the design and construction of our sanctuary. Week by we enter into this holy and very beautiful space to worship and share community in Christ. I brought the kids up to the altar to teach them how our physical focal points of the altar and Jesus reflect our spiritual focus. Let’s start at the front and recognize the design elements that accentuate our worship and fellowship.

We start at our red doors, which are only a few years old but had been anticipated when the church was first built. They are red to remind us that this space is sanctuary because of the blood of Christ. The red carpet, red kneelers and red seat cushions all follow that theme. Next, we look up and admire our beautiful wood ceiling that evokes the underside of a boat, which we use to navigate the waters of chaos, like Noah and like the disciples, facing storms and waves on the Sea of Galilee.

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