1 Sunday, October 2, 2011 Pastor Dena Williams Denver, CO Matthew 21:3346 Its another Jesus story.

Another hard story, a challenging story. Remember that Matthews Jesus is telling these stories in response to the questioning of the leaders of the temple in Jerusalem. The chief priests and the elders, and the groups who keep the law so carefully, the Pharisees and the Saducees are asking Jesus difficult questions, questions designed to trick Jesus into saying something heretical, anything out of line so that they can arrest him. For he is a threat to their power and authority and they are afraid. So in our Gospel from Matthew 21, two weeks ago, Jesus tells a vineyard story, a story about hiring workers for the vineyard, a story that demonstrates Gods radical generosity, to those who come early and to those who come late. Then last week another vineyard story from the same chapter of Matthew, a story about a son who said, Yes. and one who said, No. A story about tax collectors and prostitutes, sinners saved by grace, sinners like us who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. May I just say that you all did well with this story. Ive never before called my parishioners tax collectors and prostitutes from the pulpit, or from anywhere else for that matter, and you did well!

2 As far as I know, anyway, you understood the point of the Gospel, you accepted the challenge of Jesus story, you understood that we are all sinners saved by grace. And, you didnt kill the messenger! Well, hang on! You, we, will be challenged again today. We hear the third vineyard story told by Jesus to the leaders of the temple. Listen to another parable. Jesus says. A house master plants a vineyard with all the extras needed for maintaining the growing plants, everything needed to produce an excellent harvest of fruit. There is a fence to keep out the foxes that eat the grapes. There is a wine press for processing the fruit into wine. There is even a watchtower to guard against intruders. This well equipped vineyard is leased to some lucky tenant farmers. They have not built the vineyard, their job is only to take the creation of the house master and produce a harvest. Now the harvest time, the time of fruit, is come. The owner sends slaves to collect the fruit of the harvest. The tenants murder the slaves. The house master sends another group of slaves, more than the last, and, once again, the tenants murder the slaves. Finally the owner sends his son. Even for the son the tenants show no respect. They know that if the owner has no heirs, they, the ones who work the land, will inherit the vineyard when the owner dies. So they seize the son, throw him out of the vineyard, and kill him. Jesus asks the religious leaders,

3 What will the Lord of the vineyard do to the tenant farmers? The chief priests and the Pharisees answer, He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruit at the harvest time. The chief priests answered quickly, perhaps, too quickly. God gave them all they needed to produce good fruit in their lives. God gave them a vineyard with all the extras. Then God sent a messenger, John the Baptist to testify to them, to baptize them, to collect the fruit that they produced in the vineyard. They killed John the Baptist. Now God has sent his son. Even for the son, the religious leaders show no respect. Jesus knows the fate that awaits him in Jerusalem. He knows that not even the Son of God, the Son of the Lord of the vineyard will be respected here. The temple leaders are the wicked tenants. Well, now we have a problem, Jesus. Its the same problem we had last week. Who are we in this story? Last week we could choose. We were either the temple leaders or we were tax collectors and prostitutes. Not a great choice, but at least we had a choice. Our choices are narrower this week. We think were pretty certain that we are not the Lord of the vineyard. That leaves the temple leaders and the tenant farmers. Now we really have a problem, because this week, even the temple leaders figure out that Jesus is speaking about them.

4 The temple leaders are the bad guys. They are the tenant farmers. They are the thieves and murderers. And so are we. So are we. Oh, we act as though we own the vineyard, as though we are Lord of the vineyard. Its what America is all about. We own our own homes and the lots they stand on. We own all our worldly goods. Weve worked hard. Weve earned it all. The vineyard is ours. We hold the deed, the fruits of the harvest are ours. With the exception of the mortgage, the car payment, and that pesky credit card debt, its ours and weve earned it! Really? Jesus says to the temple leaders, the tenant farmers, and to us. Really? Well, consider how quickly it can all disappear, in a heart beat, in the twinkling of an eye, in a hurricane. What was ours is gone. What we owned is washed away. Where we lived is mile after mile of putrid smelling, rotten earth. Its gone. The vineyard is gone, and, it seems, it was never really ours after all. For we are only tenant farmers in this vineyard. We do not really own anything at all.

5 The Lord of the vineyard allows us to work on his land, to ready the soil, plant the vines, tend the grapes, harvest the fruit. But we are really only tenants in the vineyard. We dont really own the land and we do really owe a portion of the fruit to the Lord of the vineyard. That is not the American way, we protest! Whats ours, is ours. Were right, its not the American way, its the vineyard way, the way of the Kingdom of God. And in the vineyard, in the Kingdom, whats ours is theirs. But its not the American way!, we cry again. Sounds like Jesus is preaching some sort of socialism. We live in a democracy!, we protest. Then the slaves, the messengers come from the Lord of the vineyard to remind us we owe a portion of the fruits. We get so angry, we refuse to give the Lord of the vineyard his portion. We get so angry, we kill the messengers! We get so angry we thieve and murder to keep what we think is ours. When what we think is ours, is not really ours at all. For we are really only tenant farmers in Gods vineyard. Gods vineyard, not ours. Gods vineyard. Sometimes, I believe, the Spirit gives us the right Gospel on the right Sunday.

6 Oh, I know, that some old dead white men decided many decades ago, which Gospel we would read on which Sunday, but it seems that some Sundays the Spirit is able to work even through those old dead white guys and their decisions. I believe that today is just such a Sunday. I believe that today is just such a Sunday in our congregation, in our community, and in our world. In our congregation this week, we just began our very first, official, organized, stewardship program. And there is bound to be some resistance from the tenant farmers! Now even though, I think and believe that a stewardship program is the healthy way, the Godly way to encourage us to give of our resources, I was not at all sure that I wanted to be the pastor to help implement this program for the very first time in this congregation. Its a huge cultural shift and I was not sure I wanted to be one of the messengers. Look what happened to those guys in Jesus story! Yikes! But then, I sat with you in small group meetings this summer. I heard over and over deep concern for the irregular support of this community of faith. I heard wide spread recognition that there is desperate need for change.

7 I heard you state your willingness to be a part of the solution. I heard your deep desire to provide the support necessary to make certain that the love of the Gospel will be shared in and from this place for many years to come. I heard your commitment to share the fruits of the Lords vineyard. And so we begin. The emphasis will be, not on what the church needs to receive, but on our need to give, on our need to be faithful stewards, willing tenant farmers in the Lords vineyard, returning with joy and thanksgiving the fruits of our labors to the Lord of the vineyard. And know that your decision on how those fruits will be given, how much of those fruits will be given, will be made between you and the Lord. The question will be, What is the Lord calling you to give? Our Gospel is timely for our congregation, our community, and it is timely for our world. I am reminded of another parable, a story from Lukes Jesus. The land of a rich man produced abundantly. Well, at least he thought it was his land. He thought to himself, What should I do, for I have no place to store all my crops? Well, at least he thought they were his crops. Then he said, I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones,

8 and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry! But God said to him, You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? And then Lukes Jesus said this, So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God. The Lord of the vineyard calls for first fruits. And all Gods tax collectors and prostitutes, thieves and murderers, all Gods sinners saved by grace, say, Amen.