Text: Luke 20:9-20
Theme: “The Message and the Messenger”
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Introduction: The year was 1990—my first year of high school. There was a lot on my mind, and one big thing was the high school rock band. I was so into it that I decided to skip a few classes just to practice. One of those classes I skipped was art class. [Disclaimer: This is not a story on how to behave, kids. It’s the other way around.]

Now, here’s the catch: that class had a practical assignment that counted toward my final grade—and I wasn’t there to do the work. So, I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea: why not borrow a classmate’s artwork and hand it in as my own? It seemed perfect—quick, clean, and no one would be the wiser.

Except… my teacher wasn’t fooled.

Days later, as she went through the desks to evaluate the art works, she called me out in front of the whole class. She remembered I hadn’t been there that day, and her memory was so good that she knew that specific artwork belonged to someone else.

Now imagine this: I stormed into the principal’s office demanding that the teacher be fired for refusing to grade my work. My father was a professor in the complex—that might count, right? Would that have been absurd? Very likely. But really, all I was doing was trying to dodge the consequences of my own choices.

In short, I would be shooting the messenger because I didn’t like the message she gave me.

The Parable of the Tenants: The Temptation to Avoid the Truth

That same temptation continues alive and well today. When one doesn’t like the message, they go after the messenger. Why? Because in many situations in life, our Old Adam feels more comfortable shooting the messenger is easier than facing the truth. But, as we know, this only creates more problems. Just like I learned in art class, if I had simply taken the truth of the message, I would’ve avoided the embarrassment—and the consequences.

Now, things have become even more complicated: in many cases, the message is judged as true or false based on who is delivering it.

If the messengers think like us, talk like us and basically lead us to find ourselves saying, “I agree with them, so it must be true” —we’ll be tempted to accept almost anything they deliver, even if it’s totally off-base. But if we don’t like them, they could say “The sky is blue,” and we’ll argue it’s gray. Ok, that’s not a good example here in Vancouver. Let’s try this instead: If they say “this is wood” we would insist, “no, I’m sure this is stone.”

In the Parable of the Tenants, Jesus illustrates how God sent messenger after messenger—prophets who called people to truth—and they were beaten, rejected, even killed. Finally, God sends His own Son. And what do the tenants say? “Here’s the heir—let’s kill him.”

Why? Because it exposed their hearts. The religious leaders—Pharisees and Sadducees—would even bend the law if their narrative needed that tweak. They focused on side issues to avoid the real issue. They were masters at pretending righteousness while dodging truth. [1]

And this isn’t just a first-century problem—it’s a 21st-century one too. We live inside the culture that often shifts the spotlight away from Biblical truth and onto the flaws (real or perceived) of the messengers. People point to them to dodge the core message. For example:

• Hypocrisy – “You talk about living the will of God, but you keep sinning—you’re not humble like I am.” (Hypocrisy dressed as humility.)
• Intolerance – “You’re too intolerant—you should be more like me.” (Intolerance clothed in tolerance.)
• Hate – “Stop with the hate speech.” (Hate disguised as righteous anger.)

But here’s the kicker—this parable also speaks to us, as Christians. Sometimes we too focus on:

• Personal opinions instead of the Gospel,
• Church preferences instead of purpose,
• Fears about the future instead of present faithfulness,
• Get caught up in pet side teachings or traditions instead of the heart of Christ.

We are tempted to cling to what’s comfortable to avoid the hard truths that the Words speaks to our hearts. Then, we may get caught up in divisive debates, pulling us further from the truth and the unity that comes from Christ.

The trend of our day is: when people don’t just evaluate the message—they evaluate the messenger first, and the message gets judged through that filter.

That’s exactly what happened with Jesus. His message was the most beautiful, true, and life-giving message humanity has ever heard. But because the religious leaders didn’t like who it came from—they rejected it. Not because it was wrong. Not because it was harmful. But because it exposed their hearts. It confronted their hypocrisy. “We don’t like the messenger. So let’s divert from it—let’s focus on side topics and try to shoot down the messenger.”

The Messenger Is the Message

But here’s the thing: what if the messenger is the message?

The Christian Truth is not just about a place, a story, a paper or an ideology. Truth is a person: Jesus, the Truth Himself. Jesus wasn’t just a teacher with a truth to tell. He is the Truth (John 14:6). The Messenger is the Message. So rejecting the messenger was rejecting the message. [2]

Jesus is the Truth Himself. He is the one who confronts our pretending, shining light on our hypocrisy and offering us the integrity to face reality. He challenges us not to pretend to be something we are not but to come before Him in humility and truth.  In a world that distracts itself with everything but the truth, we are called to focus on what truly matters: our relationship with God, the reconciliation He offers through Jesus Christ and His Cross, and the truth that sets us free.

In confronting hypocrisy, intolerance, and preference, we are met by Jesus, who is both the solution and the Savior.  He brings us face-to-face with the truth of our brokenness and the healing power of His love. But He doesn’t do it to shame us—He does it to save us.

• Hypocrisy is met with integrity—the integrity that comes from being honest about our weaknesses and receiving grace.
• Intolerance is met with love—the love that calls us to embrace all people as Jesus does, without condition, while remaining faithful to the truth.
• Preference is met with substance—the substance of Christ’s body and blood, which nourishes us with the ultimate truth and eternal life.

The essence of our relationship with God is not based on avoiding the truth but living it fully. In Christ we are invited into—a relationship not built on shallow, fleeting things, but on the enduring truth of Jesus.

Sanctification: Living in the Truth

Then, as we receive the Gospel, we’re not only forgiven—we’re transformed. This is sanctification. God making us more like Christ—not just for heaven someday, but for living in truth right now.

That means:

• Living with humility and authenticity,
• Owning up to our sins instead of evading or pretending,
• Being faithful stewards of God’s gifts, instead of utilizing them for ourselves only,
• Embracing God’s truth, even when it’s hard or unpopular.

Sanctification is about loving the Truth, not avoiding it. Society will continue to offer us ways to evade the truth, to minimize the importance of God’s Word, to make faith convenient. But the Gospel calls us to live with conviction. We are called to stand firm in the truth of God’s Word, to be light in the darkness, reflecting the heart and the Will of Jesus in our life.

So today, no matter where you are in life—no matter how far you think you’ve fallen or how many times you’ve dodged the truth—know that Jesus’s work on the cross is for you. He is ready to forgive, to restore, and to give you the inheritance of eternal life. This is the heart of the Gospel—the good news of God’s grace, extended freely to all who would believe in Him.

As you go through your week, I encourage you think about this: am I avoiding the Truth? Where am I shooting the messenger to avoid hearing the message? Bring those to Him in honesty to Jesus and remember He is always ready to receive you with his message of forgiveness and reconciliation to your heart. In a world that feels entitled to reject the message if they don’t like the messenger Remember that the same Jesus who forgives you also leads you to live out His truth. The Messenger is the Message.

Conclusion: Back to 1990 – So, in case you’re wondering how that high school story ended: I admitted to the teacher what I had done. She didn’t give me the grade, of course, and that was not a pretty picture for me. But I walked away with something even more valuable. A message about listening and accepting the truth—even when I don’t like the message, or the messenger. Because it’s the truth that sets us free.
In the same way, Jesus calls us to face the truth of who we really are. Repentance and faith —and the grace to live differently. Don’t let your discomfort with the messenger keep you from hearing the message. And don’t let your pride, your shame, or your fear keep you from receiving it.
Because truth isn’t just a concept. It’s not a trend.
Truth is a person. His name is Jesus.
The Messenger is the Message—one who redeems, forgives, and saves you.
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[1] In the context of the time, there was a principle in ancient Jewish law called levirate marriage (Deuteronomy 25:5-10), where if a man died without leaving heirs, his brother (or close relative) was responsible for marrying the widow and producing heirs to carry on the family name. However, this wasn’t about murder to gain inheritance, and it wasn’t a practice that could justify the tenants’ actions. The rightful heirs would always be those directly connected to the owner, not those who murder the rightful heir. So, it’s not just illegal; it’s outrageous and absurd to think that such an act could be justified in the eyes of the law.

What the tenants are doing in the parable is a distortion of justice, an attempt to evade the rightful owner’s authority by killing the son. This is exactly what the religious leaders were trying to do with Jesus. They thought they could reject the Son of God, dismiss Him, and in so doing, seize power for themselves. Their whole rejection of Jesus wasn’t just an issue of ignorance—it was one of power and control, and they were using manipulation, evasion, and even murder to protect their status.

[2] The Pharisees and Sadducees thought that if they could twist His words, they could discredit Him. But He wasn’t fooled by their questions. He knew they were trying to evade the deeper truth of who He was and what He came to do. In the end, their pretense only exposed their inability to confront the truth that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and the one who had come to save them.