He must have known it wasn’t necessarily going to turn out well. Three others had gone before him. All had been beaten . . . all had been treated shamefully . . . all returned empty handed. And now he was being sent . . . now it was his turn. No indication of a different outcome . . . so, why go?

Luke 20:9-18 is a story. It’s a story about a vineyard owner who had given the right to work the vineyard to leasers of his choosing. It’s about the vineyard owner wanting to share in the fruit of his vineyard and so he sends a servant to the tenants to collect some of what was already his. But the tenants beat the servant and send him back to the owner empty handed. The owner sends a second servant . . . same thing. And he sends a third servant . . . he too is “wounded and cast out.” And so, finally, the vineyard owner sends his “beloved son” to the wicked tenants. He sends the heir to the vineyard to reason with these temporary renters. Just as he had sent his servants, the vineyard owner sends his son. He reasons, “Perhaps they will respect him.” Instead, the tenants kill the son . . . they dispose of the heir . . . thinking that this will secure for themselves the inheritance that was rightfully his.

So why did the son go? Or, if he was going to go, why go as the servants had and not with a full compliment of the father’s resources, taking the vineyard back by force? Because it was the father’s way . . . and the son desired to do the will of his father. Because the father patiently wanted to provide opportunity for repentance . . . he desired reconciliation . . . and so, the son went . . . as the fourth servant.

Jesus told the story. It was about the vineyard, Israel. It was about the religious establishment of the day, those who worked the vineyard for themselves, claiming ownership of their own. It’s about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . . . patiently sending messenger after messenger to call back those determined to serve self over serving God. And it’s about the Son of God . . . the One who came as humbly, who came as a servant . . . who proclaiming a way of reconciliation. It’s a story about rejection . . . and recompense for those who refused the Son. And it’s a story for all people today . . .

But to those who believe . . . and to those who receive . . . there is a story of redemption . . .

“He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:11-13 ESV)

All because of the Fourth Servant . . .

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 ESV)

To Him be all praise! Amen?