"Broken Or Crushed?"
Text: Luke 20:9-20
4-3-2022
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Life is full of choices. I know, that sounds rather obvious, doesn’t it? However, not all choices are equal. Some are easy or unimportant and some are very difficult and life-changing. For example, do you want green beans or broccoli for supper? They’re both a good choice and in the end it really doesn’t matter. They’re both good for you. It just depends on your tastes. On the other hand, what if your doctor said you needed a heart operation and you had the choice between having him try to solve it with a stint or a double bypass operation? Getting that one right is far more crucial than deciding which vegetable to eat. Neither of the heart choices sounds like much fun. You’re stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
And that’s pretty much how Jesus summarizes the parable He told in our Gospel lesson. But before we can weigh the options that He lays out, we need to first understand the setting of Christ’s teaching and what it means. Okay, so this incident took place on Tuesday of Holy Week. In 3 days, Jesus would be dying on the cross. His death was orchestrated by the Jewish leaders in our text who eventually forced the hand of Pontius Pilate to crucify Him. Their opposition and hatred toward Jesus had been heating up and it was about to boil over.
The Bible says that the Lord is “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” That was never truer than with the enemies of Jesus. He patiently tried again and again to open their eyes to the glorious truth of who He really was. But they repeatedly and stubbornly rejected the Savior who, ironically, they had been anxiously waiting for. In doing so, they were despising and angering God. Now, you’d think that after all those unheeded warnings, the Lord would have given up and just let them be condemned to hell. Instead, even as they were getting dangerously close to making their most fatal mistake, Jesus issued another warning—a stern warning that ought to make them stop and think. A warning that would hopefully turn them from their evil intentions. And yet, no matter how much he pleaded with them, they continued down this road of self-destruction.
When I was a cop back in Omaha, one night I encountered Michael Jackson. Seriously, I did! But he wasn’t THE Michael Jackson. He was just an average criminal who shared the same name as the pop star. Anyway, as soon as we stopped him he opened his car door like he was going to run. I quickly blocked his escape route in one direction, but he kept looking to the other side. He was telegraphing what he was going to do. So I repeatedly warned him, “Don’t do it.” But his eyes kept bouncing back to his escape route. Sure enough, after about the 3rd time, he took off. Long story short, we caught him and he wasn’t doing the moonwalk anymore. ; ) It seems that no matter how many times you warn some people, they’re so intent on doing the misdeeds they planned that nothing will change their minds.
That’s kind of what’s happening in our Gospel lesson. Jesus was warning his adversaries but they wouldn’t listen. With that understanding, let’s try to decipher this story. Compared to some of Jesus’ other parables, this one isn’t too tough to figure out. The vineyard was a common Old Testament metaphor for the country of Israel. The tenants are clearly the religious leaders that God appointed to teach and lead His people to bring forth repentance and obedience which is the fruit that He seeks. From time to time, He would send a prophet to collect the “rent,” so to speak; and every time He did the religious authorities rejected the Lord’s prophets, ridiculed them, roughed them up, and in some cases killed them. In the process they were leading God’s people astray. The last in this line of prophets was John the Baptizer. He too called the nation to repent and he too was rejected by the religious leaders. Oh, they didn’t personally kill him, but they were glad when he was finally dead because he was calling on them to give God the spiritual fruit He was looking for. Jesus, of course, is the beloved Son in the parable. After all the prophets who had been abused, the Lord finally sent Him to the tenants to collect the “rent.” He told them plainly that He knew all about their plans to kill Him. And He was warning them what the consequences of their actions would be if they carried it out: utter destruction.
When the people heard this story, they were in shock. Perhaps it was because of the unheard-of arrogance of the tenants. I’ve been a landlord before and I can’t tell you how irritating and offensive it is when the tenant treats the owner with disrespect. As an owner, I don’t have to answer to my tenant. Rather, they’re supposed to take care of my property and pay the rent. If not, I’ll find someone who will. That’s what Jesus is saying will happen with God’s vineyard but with more severe consequences. He’s warning them that their nation will be taken from them and given to new tenants—the Gentiles. The people responded with what is the strongest negative statement in the Greek language, “Surely not! No way! God forbid!”
“You don’t think so?” asks Jesus, “Then what does it mean in the Psalm when it says: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?” Even though He changed the metaphor, there’s still no question about what it means. He’s saying that it was prophesied in Scripture that He would be rejected by the religious leaders. Nevertheless, He will become the cornerstone of something magnificently new: the Christian Church. And then He gives them the two options available to them: “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” A better translation of that word “crush” is literally to “grind into powder” like grain taken to the mill and ground into fine flour.
Neither of those options sounds good: broken or crushed. Who wants to choose between those two? But if we understand what Jesus is offering to us sinners, you’ll see which one is better. Christ is saying that you can either fall on Him as a broken and contrite sinner trusting in His mercy, or you can be crushed when His judgment falls on you and destroys you completely. There are no other options. Not everyone responds to the proposition the same way. People like Peter and Paul who had their pride and self esteem completely broken to pieces were brought to tears of repentance at Jesus’ feet. On the other hand, there are people like the Jewish leaders who had no use for Jesus and condemned him to death. Sadly, they made the choice to reject Him. As a result, they eventually lost their nation and those who stubbornly resisted God’s Holy Spirit calling them to repentance and faith in Jesus would ultimately be crushed spiritually and lose their lives in hell.
The same is true today. When encountering Jesus there are only two options: either be broken by Him or be crushed under Him. There’s no middle ground. And this is what we sometimes lose track of in the Church, especially today when so many popular images of Jesus distort His true character. He’s often portrayed as a mild-mannered peacenik who leads protests against wars. Or, He’s supposedly an environmentalist who wants to save the whales and prevent global warming. In some circles He’s the champion of personal freedom who proclaims the gospel of tolerance: judge not lest ye be judged. How dare you call what someone else does a sin? In other places He’s the advocate of the poor and oppressed. Sometimes this distorted image of Jesus guilts people into giving more money to stop world hunger. On the opposite end of the theological spectrum, He’s either the easily offended friend whose feelings are hurt when people don’t tell Him how much they love Him or He’s the cruel taskmaster who demands perfect obedience as the means by which you win His grace and favor.
But He’s none of the above. As He Himself said, He is either the Rock on which we must fall and be broken in repentance, or He is the Judge who will condemn us. That judgment will crush a soul and it will be swept away in eternal damnation. There’s no other way to stand before God for no one unholy or sinful can be there. But here’s the good news: the souls who are broken and humbled on Christ and who are regularly confessing their sins will see their need for His forgiveness. As they call upon God for mercy, they’re producing the fruit of repentance that He’s looking for. As Psalm 51:17 says, “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” But He doesn’t leave us in a mess of pieces. Purged of our sins by Christ’s atoning death, God “reassembles” us in the image of His perfect Son so that we can live in the righteousness of Jesus.
Christ our Lord leaves us only two options: Will you be broken or crushed? By his grace and the power of the Holy Spirit may He lead us repent as sinners who have been broken to pieces by God’s Law. May we fall before Him every day in heartfelt repentance so that we can stand under His righteousness that He died to achieve for us. May we look to Him as our saving Rock and our Redeemer. And may God grant it for our good and to His glory now and forever. Amen!
Soli Deo Gloria!