Readings: Matthew 21:33-46, Psalm 19
How do we discern
the will of God? How do we work towards
the coming of the kingdom, to fulfilling God’s vision of a just and
peace-filled world where all are valued and loved? How do we know when we get
it wrong?
At Wednesday night
worship this week, Mark led us through thinking about these words in the Lord’s
prayer – ‘your kingdom come, your will be done’ and asked just the same
question.
Now is the time I
should invite Mark up here to answer those questions for us?
Seriously though,
these are also exactly the same questions that the psalmist has. “I know how you want me to live, O God, your
law and your precepts are sure and perfect, but I need your help. Left to myself, I will get it wrong; I will
make errors in my living. Help me to get it right, help me to live in your way.
“
And then we come
to Gospel reading, the parable of the wicked tenants – an allegorical but very
sharp spear thrust that exposes just how badly astray Jesus thinks the leaders
of the Jewish nation have gone from living in obedience to God’s law. This, along with the surrounding parables in
Matthew, pull no punches about how Jesus perceives the state of Israel – the
wedding where the invited guests cannot be bothered turning up and the table is
filled with prostitutes and tax collectors , the contrite debtor whose debt is
forgiven but does not show the same mercy to one who is in debt to him, and
today’s killing of the slaves and the son in order to take control of the
vineyard. All point to the way in which
the Jewish authorities of the time have rejected have failed to see the will of
God in the Son.
And the troubling
thing that is common with each of these parables is the seemingly vindictive
judgement which pours over those who have got it wrong. The landowner putting his tenants to
miserable death, the wedding host killing and destroying those who had
violently rejected his overtures, the unappreciative debtor re-burdened and
tortured ...it is like Jesus has done a very human thing and has just got
really angry and vindictive – killing
and mayhem all over the place, divine retaliation, ultimate judgement. It is difficult to imagine this face of Jesus
alongside the one we know as grace and love and mercy, seventy time seven, gathering
the children to him.
I want to thank
PCUSA minister Rick Spalding for his thoughts on this- let me share them with
you as a helpful way of understanding this seeming paradox.
Spalding tells us
that an allegory does its literary work obliquely; that its strategy is
evocative, not predictive. The intent is
to draw us into the story in such a way as to make it not about the characters
but about us, to force us into making compelling ethical choices in our own stories
and relationships, to recognise the dangers and harm caused by rejecting Gods
laws and precepts. Spalding uses the
analogy of a drill which uses shock as its bit to get through the layers of
denial we can put up to reach a heart level of
recognition of right living, one that will bear fruit for the kingdom.
So this is a
really uncomfortable challenging space for us, is it not? For this parable is directed not at those
outside of the church but those within; those who have accepted God’s authority
in their lives yet who do not recognise the very presence of God, through the
man called Jesus; those who need a sharp hard shock to make them even hear the
possibilities before them.
And it’s not so
much that the Pharisees don’t believe his verbal claim of relationship with
God, (anyone can state their claims that way) but that they also completely
reject the way Jesus lives out the laws and precepts of God. Are the church leaders so far removed from
living out the vision of God’s kingdom that they reject the very essence of God
in the life and teaching of Christ Jesus.
The frustration
would be huge. Put yourself into the
story in Matthews time – the Christian disciples were trying to speak into and
position themselves within the Jewish faith – much as the earliest
participants in the reformation were seeking to change things within the Roman
Catholic church – but Jesus followers were increasingly pushed to the edges by
the unbending and often violent acts of rejection by the leadership of the
established faith community.
And so these leaders
are to be set aside! And in their place
are put those who will be fruitful– those who will restore the vision of
kingdom, those who will reconcile, not reject, be open, not closed to new ways,
who will be the effective people of God in their time and place.
And who are these
people – well they are you and me, people who, as Mark suggested on Wednesday,
seek to carry out God’s will and live in God’s way, to create a better world
and nourish and care for God’s people, especially the vulnerable and the
dispossessed. The people who gather in
community as church, who pray and listen, who read and discuss and sit quietly,
who experience and participate in worship and who go from here having heard
God’s vision for this world, renewed in their determination to live it out in
actions of kindness, love, compassion, justice and mercy.
It is for all of
the community to care for the vineyard, not just the leaders who can and have
over time got it badly wrong. We are the
ones who are to keep the church honest, on a path that is inclusive and caring
and, yes, can be angry at injustice and courageous in our speaking out- but ultimately who seek always to discern and
follow the way of Christ in our lives and our community. And on this World Communion Sunday we especially
remember that this same call goes out to all the people of faith throughout the
world as they too seek to hear the word of God in Jesus and work to restore
wholeness and peace to all people, to together care for God’s vineyard.
We know that it is
not easy, we know that we collectively and individually sometimes get it wrong,
and that prayer is one of the ways that we participate in the healing of God’s
world - and so today I invite you, in the time of silence after the sermon to
write down on the card in your seats your prayer for a community of faith
throughout the world, maybe a place you have a special connection with, maybe a
people you have read or heard about – when you come forward for communion
please place this prayer in/on the basket/table that they might be part of our
communion as the people of God around this table. Amen.
Margaret Garland
