28 March 1998
Last week we heard the story of the Prodigal Son, who went out from his father and squandered his inheritance, and then had the good sense to come home again. This week we have a different father and a different son. In tonight's story, the owner of the vineyard wants to collect what is owed to him from his tenants. He sends his slaves to collect what is owed, but that doesn't work. So finally he sends his son, thinking that the slaves would perhaps respect the son of the owner. But they decide to kill him, and do so, in the hope of getting the vineyard for themselves.
And Jesus asks: What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. But this is not logical to his hearers: When they heard this, they said, "Heaven forbid!"
Jesus responds by quoting the text The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. He tells them something quite unwelcome: Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls. They realize that Jesus is telling this parable against them, and they are angry but afraid to act against him because of their fear of the people's response. Jesus is retelling the history of the Covenant, with God the Father sending out the prophets, who were often unwelcome among the people, and ultimately his own Son, who would be killed. The tenants are managing the field (or the nation, or the world) in their own interests, not those of the owner.
Listen again to the collect for today: Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found...
To love what God commands and to desire what God promises can put us at odds with the "conventional wisdom" of our day; often our culture invites us to fix our hearts where false joys, not true ones, are found. The tenants wanted their own gain at the cost of faithfulness; Jesus warns against that.
Last week, talking with a small group of people after the service, I was sharing a story that fits with both the story of the Prodigal Son and the story of the owner of the vineyard -- the importance of the actions of hearts fixed on true or false joys. The outward signs can be misleading.
Megan McKenna, in her book Parables: The Arrows of God, tells a variant on an old Jewish and Muslim story about Moses, seen as still walking about and interceding with God for the people and with the people for God. Here is the story:
Once upon a time, Moses was heading up the mountain to see God, as he did, and he decided to take a different route through a small town he didn't visit often. Just as he got inside the town limits he saw a [man] coming out of the synagogue. The [man] looked at him and thought he recognized him! "Moses," he asked, "is that you?" "Yes," Moses said. "Are you going up the mountain to see God?" "Yes," Moses replied. "Uh, Moses, would you be willing to do me a favor and ask God a question for me?" "Sure," said Moses, "what can I do for you?" "Well," the man said, "could you ask God if he ever thinks about me, and would you remember me to him?" "Sure," said Moses, and went on toward the mountain.
When he was almost all the way through the town he was recognized again -- this time by a bum leaning up against the wall of a building. He perked right up and said: "Moses, is that you?" Moses reluctantly answered that it was. "Moses," he said, "are you going up the mountain to see God?" Moses again said, "Yes." "Uh, Moses," he asked, "Would you be willing to do me a favor and ask God if he thinks of me and remember me to him?" "Sure," said Moses, shaking his head. And off he went up the mountain to see God.
Moses spoke with God and listened to the words he was to bring to the people, and he almost forgot to mention the two men he had met on his journey. "Oh, God," he said at the last, "I met this [man] coming out of the synagogue, and he asked me if I'd remember him to you and ask you if you ever think of him." "Oh, yes," God said, "you tell him I see him often and think of him often and that I have reserved one of the best seats in the kingdom of God for him." "All right," said Moses. "And the other man, the bum leaning up against the side of the wall, he asked to be remembered too and wondered if you ever think about him?" "Oh yes," God said,"you tell him I think of him often, though I don't see too much of him, and that I have a seat reserved for him in one of the lowest parts of hell." "All right," said Moses. And off he went, back down the mountain and through the town.
It had been three days, but the bum was still leaning up against the wall and immediately saw Moses coming. "Moses, did you see God?" "Yes," Moses said. "Well, did you ask him about me?" "Yes, I did, and he said to tell you that he thinks of you often and knows you well but he doesn't see you too often and that he has a seat reserved for you in one of the lowest areas of hell." And much to Moses' surprise the man threw his arms around him, pounded him on the back and danced up and down for joy -- "God remembers me, God thinks of me and knows me. Moses, you have made my day, in fact you've made my whole life!" And Moses left him still dancing up and down deliriously. Moses shook his head, wondering about the man.
On the way through town he saw the good [man] coming out of the synagogue again. The [man] ran over to him immediately. "Moses, did you see God?" "Yes," was Moses' answer. "Well, did you ask him about me?" "Yes, I did, and God says to tell you that he thinks about you often, sees a good deal of you and knows you well and that he has reserved a seat for you in one of the highest areas of heaven." The man was elated. He jumped up and down, threw his arms around Moses and was delighted and ecstatic. "Oh, Moses, you've made my day, you've made my whole life. All this has meaning, all this prayer, and God is true and wonderful. Thank you." And Moses went his way.
Well, the years passed and Moses took different routes to the mountain. Then one year as he was headed back up the mountain he walked through the same town. He heard that both men had died that year, and he made a note to himself to ask God where they were and how they each were doing. God and Moses talked, as they always did, and right before Moses got ready to leave, he casually asked God if he remembered those two men that he had talked about years before. "Yes, Moses, I remember them. What do you want to know?" "Uh, how are they?" "You really mean, where are they, Moses." "Yes," he replied. "Well, Moses, the bum leaning up against the wall is sitting next to me in the kingdom of heaven, and the good [man] coming out of the synagogue is sitting in one of the lower rims of hell." Moses was stunned and horrified. He thought to himself: God lied to me. God, knowing Moses, being God, said to him, "Moses, you forget. I am God, and I don't lie." Moses stuttered and said, "But, Lord, you said they had seats in opposite places." "No, Moses, I said they had reserved places in hell and heaven, respectively." "I, I don't understand," said Moses.
"Moses, when you told the bum that I knew him, what did he do?" "Oh," he said, "he acted very strangely, dancing up and down for joy. I thought he was crazy, deranged." "But Moses," God said, "he was rejoicing that I, God, thought of him, remembered him, who is nothing, and that day he began to climb into the kingdom of heaven." Then Moses said, "But the other man, the good [man] reacted the same way, dancing up and down and singing your praises." "No, Moses," said God, "he was delighted and relieved not that I remembered him but that all this had meaning and that what he was doing and his praying was having an effect. That day he started sliding into hell."
"Oh," said Moses, thinking. And Moses turned to go back down the mountain. As he left, God called out to Moses, "Moses, just because you spend a lot of time with me doesn't mean you know me at all." And Moses descended the mountain wondering...
God knows our hearts and where they are fixed. He that has ears to hear, let him hear...
[Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:8-14; Luke 20:9-19]
The Rev. Lois Hart
28 March 98