Sermon for October 8, 2017
Proper 22 A – RCL A Track 1
Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There
was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press
in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another
country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to
collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed
another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first;
and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying,
‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to
themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So
they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the
owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to
him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard
to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in
the scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?
and it is amazing in our eyes’?
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will
be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the
kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will
crush anyone on whom it falls.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted
to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a
prophet.
Jesus said, “Listen to another parable”. When Jesus says that we are to listen to
another parable we need to make sure that we have our seatbelts buckled and our
crash helmets on! My husband has a
similar reaction when I walk up and say “I have an idea” – or “I had a thought”. He usual responds with OK I’m sitting
down. Because – well I guess some of my
thoughts and ideas take work and may just be a bit out there.
So are your seat belts fastened?
Jesus is telling us another parable.
And in this parable I sometimes find it hard to find the good news. Especially this week after the violence in
Los Vegas and the death of my mother.
Where is the good news? Where is
the promise of salvation in this parable?
It seems full of violence. It
seems full of exclusions.
We have an aristocratic land owner building a vineyard that he
leases out to quarrelsome tenants – to say the least. Tenants who want to keep the fruit of the
harvest for themselves and go to extremes to keep it. They mistreat and kill the servants who are
sent to collect the harvest and even kill the only son.
And the Pharisees see the only recompense is to deal harshly – probably
kill – the tenants who so mistreated the servants and the son. Violence leads to violence. That is what we hear in the first part of the
parable.
Violence leading to violence is what we hear in our society
too. In political rallies and on-line
you can hear calls to “LOCK THEM UP” for some perceived offense. Even if there really is no crime according to
the experts. When we read of crimes against
other people we often want the perpetrator to be dealt with in the same manner
as they dealt with others.
What if this vineyard that Jesus is describing is our home. This fragile earth our island home – as one
of the eucharistic prayers describe it.
Perhaps the scope of the vineyard is the kingdom of heaven. A different kind of kingdom that Jesus is
trying to bring to fruition in the here and now – just as much as when Jesus
walked on the earth. But instead of
Jesus physically tending the vineyard we have been tasked with taking care of
it.
How are we doing taking care of God’s vineyard? Are we like the quarrelsome tenants in the
parable? Are we doing violence on
creation? Are we demeaning one another? Are we calling for responding to violence
with violence.? Are we demanding death for death?
It is so easy to spiral down to not caring for the vineyard. It is far too easy to disparage those on the
other side of the political spectrum from us as the ones who are not taking
care of God’s creation. It is way too
easy for us to become like the Pharisees in the story and demand that offenses
be met with vengeance and not mercy.
But as with all of the parables things don’t end the way we think
they should. Jesus says that there is
another way. And quotes Isaiah that says
that the one who society rejects will become the cornerstone. The ones who society rejects will become the
one to save creation. Jesus did not come
to the earth to proclaim vengeance but mercy.
He came to a society where an eye for an eye was an improvement to show
that there are better ways. And we are
called as the Episcopal branch of the crazy Jesus people to show how the
rejected can be the ones to save. To
show that there is a different way to be tenants on this fragile wrath.
Carolyn Lewis at Luther Seminary said, “Caring for the Kingdom of
Heaven is not only being good tenants, the kind of tenants that tenaciously
tend the call to being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Caring
for the Kingdom of Heaven is being tireless in our resistance to leadership
that is not only unaware of Jesus’ Beatitudes, but actually works at
undermining them. And, …it is our charge to make sure that [we] hear what Jesus’
disciples heard -- to … imagine that [you] are also leaders in the Kingdom of
Heaven. That God needs [you] as tenants to exercise justice, to work for a
world where the Beatitudes are not aspirational but actually possible and
palpable.”[1]
There are times that we, as a small church, may wonder how we can
have any impact on caring for the Kingdom of Heaven. How can such a small band of followers
influence our world? This small band
does it when we partner with others to improve our community. We do it when we partner with the charter
school to open the doors to immigrants who do not speak English – or who need
additional skills in English speaking.
We do it when we partner with St. Michaels to open the doors for
community dinners and welcome the immigrant, the un-homed, and the barely homed
into our space for a nutritious meal and for conversation. We do it when instead of closing we move
worship out of the largest building on campus and work with River City Food
Bank to open a satellite distribution site to feed the hungry.
You help tend God’s Kingdom when you welcome those who many in
our society disparage. You model a
difference when we show that religious freedom means welcoming our GLBT
neighbors as beloved children of God – and not as people to be denied services,
housing or employment because of who they are.
You tend the kingdom of God when we support practices that keep families
together no matter what their immigration status.
Jesus did not come to wreck vengeance on human kind. Jesus came to sow peace and love. And even when Jesus was subjected to violence
– and a particularly brutal death on the cross – Jesus showed in his
resurrection that violence and retribution are not the way. But rather love, mercy and forgiveness are
the way.
I find it sad that after over two thousand years we still don’t’ get
that as a society. I find it very sad
that there are people who profess to be Christians that still don’t get that
God desires mercy – not justice. Not
vengeance. Not revenge. But mercy, love and forgiveness.
Our call is to tend God’s vineyard. Not as quarrelsome tenants. Not as Pharisees demanding vengeance or some
other form of retribution. But we are
called to manage God’s vineyard with mercy.
To call out injustice in the world and to call out any leader who demean
rather than build up. To show that those
who society would cast out are the chief cornerstones in our world. And when we are able to model that kind of
tenancy we will bring God’s dream of a kingdom of Love to fruition here and
now.
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