Podcast of "Bragging Rights" (MP3)
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 19-23
Psalm 19
Philippians 3:4b-14
Matthew 21:33-46
Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts
be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
There’s an inherent danger when
preaching the parables. They seem like such well prepared self-contained
sermons in themselves that most young pastors just take them at face value and
preach them to the congregation. I get to tell you this is true not just
because I read it in a book,[1]
but because I have committed the same error. How could you not? The chief
priests and Pharisees did. Verse 45 tells us that when they heard Jesus’
parables, they knew he was talking about them. Then again, I read it that way
too.
They knew because they heard the
story like an allegory. Allegories are special kinds of parables meant to be
symbolic narratives where one thing in a story lines up with something in real
life. This parable is almost always read like an allegory.
It begins with the landowner who
represents God the Father. He plants a vineyard which usually represents the
people of Israel . In this
case it also represents the kingdom
of God
The landowner hires farmers; the
New Revised Standard Version says these farmers were tenants. This points out
that the farmers have no property rights; they work the land, but have no
rights to the land or the crop.
When the harvest time approached,
the farmer sent his servants to collect the fruit. This is different from
Luke’s version where the land owner collects only his share. Luke’s version is
more like the contracts negotiated with tenant farmers and share croppers
everywhere. Matthew’s reflects that the entire crop belongs to the landowner.
There is no share for the farmers until the landowner gives it to them. This is
a nod to the sovereignty of God. As I say before the offering, “the earth is
the Lord’s and all that is in it.”[2]
This reading of the parable takes that very seriously.
The servants represent the prophets
of Israel , and like these
mythical servants, they were beaten, killed, and stoned.
The next verse is the fly in the
ointment to a real allegory. “Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will
respect my son,’ he said.” While this thought works well for the story, I
honestly don’t believe God the Father thought that for a minute.
The tenant farmers figure the land
will be theirs if there is no one left to inherit it, so after throwing the son
from the vineyard they kill him. This represents the ultimate death on the
cross. Our reading takes place the day after Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem
Jesus sets up the allegory,
everything except for the discipline of the wicket tenants. How should they be disciplined?
Jesus asks the chief priests and Pharisees for their input. “What will he do to
those tenants?”
Harsh judgment seems to be the
order of the day for Israel .
Nathan and King David have a similar conversation about Uriah and Bathsheba.
Nathan tells the story of a rich man who steals a poor man’s only lamb. When
David says the rich man should repay the poor and repay dearly, Nathan tells
King David, “You are the man.”
The temple leaders tell Jesus that
those tenants are wretches who will be brought to a wretched end. Then the
landowner should turn over the plot to folks who will take care of business and
live up to the agreement. The New International Version says “tenants who will
give the landowner his share of the crop at harvest.” Other translations leave
out “his share” maintaining the integrity of the sovereignty of the landowner,
the sovereignty of God.
Jesus tells them that in accord
with the judgment they have proclaimed they have set their own punishment. The kingdom of God
The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone.
The LORD has done this;
and it is
marvelous in our eyes.
In a wild twist, Jesus reveals
himself as the stone the builders rejected who becomes the cornerstone. He
tells them that they have two choices, fall on the stone and be broken or let
the stone fall on them and be crushed.
Not much of a choice is it. I would
love to say that Jesus is invoking Psalm 51 here, “The sacrifice acceptable to
God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.” I would love to tell you
Jesus is telling them that they can either be broken by the gospel or crushed
with it, but then I must also say that I can’t find any scholars who share that
point of view.
Even if I am right, the chief
priests and Pharisees heard it in the worst way. This is the moment in the
Gospel that they decide once and for all Jesus must die, not for the sins of
the people, but because he has rubbed the shine off of their apple.
In an allegory, my job would be
done. If I were treating this like a simple “x=y” story then my job would be
done, but to what end? There are a couple of good morals to take from this
story, something like “Beware the judgment you pronounce, lest it fall upon
you.” Jesus is a fan of discipline and mercy—and yes not only can this exist
hand in hand but it must. The temple crowd would have nothing of that, they
wanted blood. If this is what they want, then Jesus is able to give it to them.
But we must beware when we plug
things in “x” for “y.” When some read verse 43, they read it as Jesus
prophesies that the Jews will be cast from the church and the gentiles will be
the new chosen people. There are some problems with this interpretation though,
both having to do with audience.
We need to remember to whom Jesus
is speaking at that moment. He is teaching in the temple, but like with last
week’s reading, he is making his comments toward the leaders of the temple. He
is directly addressing the chief priests, elders, and Pharisees. This message
is not meant for the people of Israel ,
it is meant directly for the temple leadership.
Then the next thing we need to
learn is that what we read as “the kingdom
of God
As we have said all year, the
Gospel of Matthew was written to the Jewish Christians. Matthew specifically
spoke to those followers of the Lord Jesus Christ who were educated in the
synagogue. He wrote to people who grew up knowing the law and the prophets.
Because of this, we can be sure that Matthew’s gospel would have never disinherited
all Jews.
That would make another good moral
to the story: Tread lightly, conventional wisdom may be neither conventional
nor wise.
This then, as Al might say, reminds
me of a story from the bible. As the gospel gnawed upon me this week, our
reading from Philippians caught my attention. Preceeding this reading, someone
was bragging to the Philippians about their status as a teacher. They boasted
about their position in this life. Paul warns them this is not good.
Paul begins by telling the
Philippian people that if anyone has a reason to brag, he has their trump card.
He was a Hebrew of status among other Hebrews, as a follower of the law he was
a Pharisee, as to his zeal he persecuted the church, as for legalistic
righteousness he was faultless. But whatever that meant in the world, it means
nothing compared what he gains as a follower of Christ.
Paul teaches there is nothing in
this world that compares to being a follower of Christ. Everything else is
rubbish. Everything else is slag. We have no righteousness on our own, the only
righteousness we have is in Christ.
If we think we have bragging rights
because of this or that or the other, we don’t. The only thing any of us has to
brag about is righteousness in Christ.
To me, what is most important in
our gospel reading is Jesus’ instruction to the leaders of the temple, in our
day to the leaders of the Church. We must remember that this message was to the
leaders, not the rank and file. This one is for the upper command officers, not
those below full bird Colonel.
The farmers in the parable would
have had slaves themselves to do the hard work of tending the vines. This
parable wasn’t for them, it was for their leaders—the tenant farmers.
This parable wasn’t for the people
who were at the temple bright and early to hear Jesus teach, it was for the
chief priests, elders, and Pharisees who interrupted his regularly scheduled
program.
Last month I ended a sermon[3]
saying:
I don’t want anyone to think that I am
indicting someone about a particular situation. I’m not. But let me say this,
this sermon is not about you but it is for all
of us. It is for the church. It is for the disciples. It is for the people of
God. If that convicts each of us and all of us, that’s as it should be.
This sermon ends differently; this
parable isn’t about all of us but it
is for some of us. It is for the
leadership, in our case it is for the Session, committee chairs, teachers, and especially
me. It’s for the folks in the denominational offices and it’s for the people
who lead groups that seek to influence the church. We must be wary when we
approach situations with what we know, because like those temple leaders we may
not know what we think we do. We must beware that what we think we know, what
we are so proud of, is folly to Christ.
It is up to us. It is up to the
leadership of the church to constantly seek the will of the triune God in
everything that we do. It is not good for us to lean exclusively into the
wisdom of what we’ve always done. It is not good for us to look to a glorious
past alone as a model for the future. It is up to everyone here today to hold your
leader’s feet to that holy fire.
If we could do as we have always
done there would be no need for the Christ or the Holy Spirit, but we know
better than that. It is up to us not to brag about what we have been, but what
that moves us toward in the future, a future of life in Christ in the Spirit. Let
me just add this, if you think I am pointing a finger at you, please know the
other fingers point back at me. Paul’s message for the church is right, our
bragging rights are in Christ alone.
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