Whose Vinyard Are
We In?
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:7-14
Philippians 3:14-21
Matthew 21:33-43
Tim
Christoffersen
St. Anselm’s
October 6, 2002
We
heard two stories of vineyards in the readings this morning. I would like
to explore the question: Whose vineyard are we in?
The symbol of the vineyard in the reading from Isaiah is pretty clear.
Isaiah describes a beautiful vineyard built on a fertile hill.
The stones are cleared,
choice vines are planted, a watchtower is built and a large wine vat is hewed
out. He says his beloved expected grapes but the yield was wild grapes. So
Isaiah asks the people of Jerusalem and Judah to judge, in effect,
setting them up.
He tells them everything was done to prepare the vineyard and there was nothing
more that could be done. Yet the plantings yielded wild grapes. So the vineyard
is destroyed. The hedge around it is removed; the walls are broken down and
the vineyard is trampled and becomes overgrown with weeds.
A few verses later, we are told that Yahweh, the Lord of hosts, built
the vineyard. The vineyard is the house of Israel and the vines
he planted are his chosen
ones, the people of Judah. God expected grapes but the vineyard produced
wild grapes. “He
expected justice, but he saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!”
Most of us know the Old Testament story of the God’s chosen people turning
away to worship false gods. The people turned away from God and worshipped the
gods created by man. They also turned away from justice and compassion. The words
of the prophet Amos still echo across the centuries: “I hate, I despise
your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies…Take away
from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream.”
The story of the vineyard in Matthew starts out the same but the ending
is different. Initially, Jesus takes his hearers back to Isaiah and the
story
of God’s
vineyard. Jesus uses the same elements as Isaiah in his parable so the parallel
is clear. In each story, the owner planted a vineyard, put a fence around it,
built a watchtower and hewed out a wine vat. But the outcome is different.
It helps to remember that the context of Matthew’s parable is the controversy
between Jesus and the chief priests and elders, after Palm Sunday. Jesus had
entered the Temple, drove out the moneychangers and healed many persons. The
chief priests and elders of the people have asked him, “By
what authority are you doing these things?”
The outcome of the parable is an indirect answer to them. The landowner
sent his slaves to collect his share of the produce. The tenants kill
them. Then
he sends his son, believing they will honor him. They take him outside
the vineyard
and kill him as well, thinking the owner may be dead and they will
inherit the vineyard. Jesus asks his hearers what the landowner
would do. They
answer he
would put the wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard
to “other
tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
Jesus then makes a reference to a verse from Psalms that his hearers
would know. “The
stone that the builders rejected has become the corner-stone…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. At this point it would be pretty difficult
for the chief priests and the elders of the people not to understand that Jesus
is referring to himself as the son that was killed and that the chief priests
and elders are among those who will not be included in the kingdom of God.
Who are the other tenants to whom the Kingdom of God will be given?
Scholars have some difference of opinion on the answer. Matthew wrote
only a few
years after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans. Many scholars
think the
reference is to the nascent church that included both Jewish and
Gentile followers of Jesus
that was fairly well established by this point.
So how do we understand the vineyard and the kingdom of God in 21st
century American life? Whose vineyard are we in? Is it God’s vineyard or one of our own
making?
In first century Palestine, people knew and, to some extent, accepted
that God’s
chosen suffered and the unjust prospered. They were able to accept this because
they believed a transformation of history stood right around the corner. They
had seen it happen and the story of their delivery from Egypt and then their
exile from the promised land was retold in every generation. They had an intimate
sense of God’s activity in their world and in their life.
In our world today, the kingdom of God is only a metaphorical and
religious vision that only starts in a life after our physical death.
To today’s mind, “heaven” is
the kingdom of God and it has no direct connection to the life we are now living.
The vineyard in which we live has no connection to the Kingdom of God for the
vast majority of our culture. We don’t have a clue what the phrase “the
Kingdom of God is within you” means in our own lives.
If it is true that the vineyard in which we live is of our own making,
it should show up in the values that inform and, indirectly at least,
govern our lives.
Some of the following thoughts are from “Naming Our Gods”, an article
by David Hilfiker. He is a doctor who has worked with the urban poor for the
last fifteen years as part of a small Christian community.
Look at how we pay people. CEOs for a large company might earn 100
to 200 times what an average worker makes. We rationalize it as being
hard
work.
I ran two
businesses in the last decade as chief operating officer and I loved
it. They were only several hundred persons companies but I don’t know many CEOs
who will tell you the work is really hard and the decisions that have to be made
are terribly stressful and merit the income they are paid. Most of the ones I
know love the challenge, not to mention the social standing and recognition that
comes from the trappings of wealth and power.
We put a monetary value on virtually everything. Raising the next
generation of children is paid nothing in currency and for many today
it is hardly
considered a productive way to spend one’s life. What tools do our children have to
even begin to think about working with the poor or homeless?
Look inside our own denomination. An important part of the role of
the deacon is to bring before the congregation the needs of the community
and to provide
leadership in meeting the needs of others. But a deacon is paid a
salary only in the very rarest of circumstances. They are expected
to earn
a
living in
secular employment.
Self interest has become a positive culture value. How many times
do you hear in a TV ad that “you deserve it.” Culturally we believe that everyone
acting in his or her self-interest will somehow produce the greatest good. This
notion is often called Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand. We evaluate social
services strictly by a cost benefit analysis. Personally, when I tell someone
about being a volunteer hospice chaplain I usually tell them how much I get out
of it. It’s kind of like I am afraid to say simply I feel it is the right
thing to do or I believe am called to do it. In a way, I am characterizing my
activity as just enlightened self interest.
Isaiah said the vineyard was destroyed because the grapes were wild,
they produced bloodshed rather than justice; cries from the poor
and oppressed
rather than
righteousness and compassion. Jesus said the vineyard will be given
to a people who produce the fruits of the kingdom of God.
We have plenty of room for improvement.
Amen.
