December 2nd, 2021
Matthew 21:33-46
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.
But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?
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. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
My Way, Your Way, The Way
I sometimes like to imagine myself playing a starring role in Gospel stories. I’m the confident servant who invests five bags of gold for his master and doubles it. I’m one of the sheep standing to Jesus’ right that gave him water when he was thirsty. It’s not Peter, but me, answering Jesus’ question of who people say that he is with confidence! And then, there’s Matthew’s story of the tenants in the vineyard. I’ve heard this story so many times that I can recite it verbatim. With every reading I think, “Bad news for you, chief priests and elders. Should have seen that one coming.”
How could they have strayed so far from what God wanted them to be? How did they go from building a Golden Calf to creating an entire system that became its own Golden Calf? I mean, they had to be pretty blind, right? But thanks be to God that I have insight today not to fall into that trap.
Or do I?
Today, as I re-read this familiar story, I saw myself in the Gospel, not in the heroic role I like to envision, but rather the role I look at with derision. Have I gone from being one of the prophets sent to the vineyard to being one of the tenants trying to keep them out? Yep. God has a way of reaching out to us through Holy Scripture to snap us back into a reality check from time to time.
Today, a battle was raging on Facebook. For a change, it wasn’t about COVID, vaccines, or conspiracy theories, but rather what’s the proper color of candle for a church’s Advent wreath - purple or blue. I was more than a little surprised at the lines being drawn in the sand. And, of course, I had to weigh in with my own opinion because I’m drawn to social media conflict like a moth to a flame. But later in the day, as I thought more about this text, I suddenly wasn’t so sure. Are purple candles why people aren’t filling the pews? Is having blue candles what keeps people from being spiritually fed? I don’t think that’s the reason.
Maybe it’s because we’re not going outside the vineyard walls and inviting the people outside of them to come in. Or because our work is so fixated on the appearance of the vineyard that we neglect the spiritual needs of the fruit dying on the vines. As the tenants, we’ve tended the vineyard so long that we’ve grown a sense of entitlement to believe we’re the actual owners.
I’m not saying that we throw the baby out with the bathwater. But when we come to a place of pointing fingers at one another and saying “your way is what’s ruining the Church” then we really need to take an assessment of ourselves. St. Augustine once said “In the essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.” (Ok, it wasn’t Augustine, but likely the German theologian Rupertus Meldenius.) But the sentiment is correct.
Do we believe that, through the resurrection, Jesus overcame death and opened for us the way of eternal life? Yes, that’s an essential of the Christian faith that should unify us. Does it matter if our worship is augmented by a 20-person choir or a contemporary praise band? No, that’s a non-essential that should be made depending on what nourishes that particular congregation. The rest of us should be gracious and grant liberty.
And what if a church wants to walk live camels down the center aisle of their nave on the Feast of the Epiphany? Well, first, I hope their Altar Guild gets a proper heads-up about it. There’s no one less charitable than an Altar Guild head who gets the surprise of their life by seeing livestock walking on the carpet. Other than that, it might not be your thing, but if it works for their church? Charity.
My Myers-Briggs indicator reports that I see things in black and white. Over the years, especially as a dad, I’ve had to adjust my vision to see the many shades of gray in the world. Our vineyards are no different. One town needs their vines cultivated a different way than the vineyard one town over. Not every vineyard tends their vines the same way, and that’s ok, as long as our focus is growing spiritually healthy fruit for the owner
As I read this Gospel, I remembered the times I buried my one bag of gold instead of investing it. I remembered the times I was a goat on Jesus’ left who walked past the person who was thirsty. I remembered the times when I was the headstrong apostle, so sure that I had the right answer but so incredibly wrong. And I remembered more than a few occasions where I pridefully thought the vineyard I’m in did things the better way.
To be honest, I was thankful for this little reality check that God helped me with today. It’s a good reminder that I’m as fallible as the next person. And that the place where I find true happiness isn’t always being right. That’s the owner’s role. The place where I find true happiness is just tending the vines.
And, unlike the tenants in the Gospel, waiting joyfully for the day that I’m finally united with the owner.
The Rev. Dion Crider
Deacon, Episcopal Church of the Resurrection
Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma