27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 21: 33-43
It isn’t often that I preach two Sundays in a row
But it is a bit of a gift this week because there is so much continuity
In fact, we are just moving to the very next verses.
So like last Sunday
It is still Day 2
Jesus made his Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem…yesterday
It is the same scene as last week
And maybe
Since this Gospel…called the Parable of the Wicked Tenants
is one of the most unsettling of all the parables
I am wondering if maybe it is getting late
and Jesus hasn’t had any lunch
In my house, we call that HANGRY
Just like now…In 2020…
The original community of Matthew’s Gospel
The one’s hearing this telling
…lived on the other side of the Cross
They knew what “Going to Jerusalem” meant
They knew where it would lead
And they knew the real-end of the story…just like us
This is a difficult text
It may be the most violent text we read together on Sundays
…Outside of the crucifixion itself
Which wasn’t a parable…but something that actually happened…worse!
This parable is so graphic
SO violent
…it stings
When it is read, it simply can’t be ignored…unfortunately
The thing is…this parable has an obvious point
And that point is to INDICT
To indict the BAD religion of his time
And because it is a parable
That indictment bleeds out to anyone else in that crowd
AND onto all of us who hear it now
Aren’t you glad you tuned in!
I have probably said this before
But it is important to remember…about parables
What they are
And what they do
One thing is that they are NOT complete theologies of God or the Kingdom
If that were the case
We wouldn’t need so many…one would do
And each parable is concerned with one aspect at a time
Parables reveal glimpses…glimpses of ‘kingdom logic’
…surprising glimpses…that catch the hearer off-guard
Oh! Parable of the Wicked Tenants!
Where is your kingdom logic?
I have two questions for starters:
Q1: After the first set of slaves were killed, what would you have done? What do you think a typical human response would look like? To send an appropriately sized army right away, or to send another delegation…to be killed?
MY ANSWER:
I would have used my authority right away, I would have assembled enough of an army to be sure I came out the winner.
But the owner of this vineyard doesn’t. He continues to send more delegations with an INVITATION to respond in good faith.
Q2: And then…after a series of delegations sent and killed, what would you have done? What, do you think a typical human response would look like? Two choices: To send an army to “put those wretches to a miserable death” as it says in verse 41, OR to send a beloved son?
ANSWER 2: It WOULDN’T be to send my beloved Son!
But this owner…he is something else!
He just keeps on hoping
hoping for a change of heart
He simply won’t give up
…to the point of sending the final dangerous invitation through his Son.
Who would behave this way?
These, my friends, are the surprising glimpses of Kingdom Logic
If you were with us last week
we said that to change is indeed the meaning of discipleship
the word disciple means
“One who follows another for the purpose of learning…”
for change and for transformation
So, for me, because my answers to those first questions
Are different from the way of this landowner behaved
Well…that is where I can see myself confronted by this parable
And not just me…my whole society
This is my…our… INVITATION TO CHANGE
Here is where I need to be very careful
Because it is easy for me to participate in scapegoating
To point outside of myself to
those people,
or those kinds of people,
or those crazy groups of people
But bear with me for a moment…and remember my caution
As I walk every morning from my car to my workplace
I cross a bank parking lot in downtown Evansville
And every morning there is a nice light blue Honda Van in the parking lot
On the back windshield, there are two decals
In one corner there is a sweet stick figure family
…two parents, three children, and a cat…each with a little heart right there on the chest
And then, the other corner of the windshield
there is this kitty…
A kitty with a machine gun
So, I put that in my google search
“Kitty with Machine Gun car decal”
And I learned that it is
Hello Kitty!
And I thought Hello Kitty was about pre-teen nail polish!
Hello Kitty…there she was…sweet pink bow in her hair
…And an AK-47
And I thought to myself
What does this mean?
What does it teach?
Why does it make me cringe?
It seemed to say to me that the person who owns this van
(but I actually have no real idea)
finds comfort in, at least 2 things…
In the Hello Kitty part…Its sweet…Like a blanky
There is comfort there
And a weapon…a particularly deadly one
There is comfort there too…comfort in that AK-47
Now it’s time to stop my scapegoating
It isn’t so much about whoever is the driver of that van
But who are we…the society…that even thinks to produce such decals
NOW…that includes me!
Then I had to look it up---even though I knew the answer
Google: What do the deadliest Mass shootings in America have in common
Answer: Semi-Automatic Rifles…like the one Hello Kitty with her smile and pink bow are carrying in that decal.
Today the text begins, “Jesus said…”
He is addressing everyone gathered
…but with particular attention to the Priests and Leaders of the People
We are all invited to overhear this parable
The Chiefs and Elders
They want it all…they just. Want. It. All.
And they will do anything to keep it
They were supposed to be guardians
Of the tradition
But “wanting it all” has a way of creeping in
And they switched
The switched from being guardians to owners
From being humble servants of GOD
To being boastful and self-righteous
To being…at least in their own minds
Possessors of Authority
Possessors tend to want to hold on to that which they possess
And violence soon follows
Like water running downhill
Jesus tricks the Chiefs and Elders into indicting themselves
For surely they didn’t see themselves as anything but
…Perfect GUARDIANS!
This kind of social mechanism demands blindness to ones’ own sinfulness
But then Jesus quotes scripture to them…the bit about
the stone the builders rejected becoming the cornerstone
And the nickel drops.
And they realize…
He is talking about us!!!
And they Want. Him. Down!
They wanted to arrest him right then and there
But once again…just like last week…
They feared the crowds
God’s son gets killed
Crucified
And what is God’s answer?
Not more violence
God’s answer is resurrection
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Invitation…constant in-vi-ta-tion!
As disciples
As those “who follow another for the purpose of learning…”
Do I sometimes forget that I don’t own the vineyard?
When I…and WE as a church…fail to act as God acted in Jesus Christ
When we jump to vengeance
Instead of reconciliation,
When we scapegoat and point fingers rather than seek to heal our own blindness,
Is that OUR failure to STAY guardians
After all, we are his household…the church
Our missionary activity is to forward the invitation!
Jesus appears quite angry as he tells this parable
And I think he is angry…intense…and frustrated…
Because we keep forgetting that the invitation is always there
We simply have a hard time keeping that kingdom logic front and center
Our Lord shows up
In the power of the Holy Spirit, Our Lord shows up
Our Lord is here in our virtual gathering
With incredible persistence
We are invited over and over again
To live in God’s world
Where the logic is forgiveness, and reconciliation, and peace
Let’s RSVP that invitation…once again!
And when we next get together to celebrate the Eucharist
We will ritually accept that invitation
We will come and gather around our shared table
And make our RSVP,s
In our bodies!
And In our AMENs!
So be it!
