St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
Proper 22/Year A ▪ October 8, 2023
Gospel: Matthew 21:33-46
If you watch Judge Judy, you know that the majority of her cases are car crashes, dog bites and property owner-tenant conflicts. The property owner-tenant conflicts generally boil down to one main thing: the owners entrusted their property to a person or people, in hopes that the tenants would care for their property in the same way that the owner did. The stories of tenants who trash rental properties, refuse to pay rent or become squatters, are the stuff of nightmares.
As we enter our gospel passage, in the 21st chapter of Matthew, I am reminded of my mother’s nugget of wisdom. She said, “No one will take care of your things the way that you do.” And, as I worked in the corporate world, it was said that in order for someone to truly care about anything, they must have “skin in the game.” Our gospel passage is a continuation of last week’s heated encounter between Jesus and the religious leaders in the temple in which Jesus publicly scrutinized his opponents’ credibility and authority.
In the parable of the wicked tenants, a landowner carefully set up everything necessary for his vineyard to successfully produce fruit for harvest and to provide a place for the tenants to live while tending the land. When harvest time came, the landowner sent slaves, on two occasions, to collect his produce from the tenants, and things did not work out as expected; on both occasions, the slaves were met with violence or murdered.
The landowner’s third attempt to squash the wicked tenants’ hostile takeover was a personal one. With this third attempt, the vineyard owner had put his own “skin” into the violent business game by sending his own son to confront the tenants in order to make things right. Surely, they would respect the owner’s son. But, the greedy, blood-thirsty tenants threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him, too. The end. Well, that’s the end of the parable, but not exactly the end of Jesus’ teaching.
Jesus asked his opponents, “What do you think the owner would do to those tenants if he came to the vineyard himself?” Judging by their immediate response, they knew what ought to happen. The wicked tenants would be put to death and new tenants would be brought in to ensure that the business of the vineyard moved forward. For them, the parable was about a business relationship gone wrong; not a personal relationship that had been broken by immorality.
Most certainly, those who knew the law and the Prophets recognized the parable mirrored in the allegory of the Prophet Isaiah’s “The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard.”[1] The allegory says that the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting…”.[2] In Isaiah’s allegory the vineyard owner took great care to prepare the vineyard, on a very fertile hill, expecting it to produce grapes. When he found only wild grapes, the landowner removed all of the land’s protection so that it would be made a waste. In the allegory, there were consequences for the vineyard’s unsuitable yield.
In the same way, “…the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom,” said Jesus (v.43). The religious authorities knew that Jesus was speaking about them, but they did not arrest him, fearing crowd retaliation. Their self-preserving fear restrained them from throwing Jesus out of the vineyard of the temple and killing him—at least this time.
No doubt, many of you have heard the saying, “It’s just business; it’s not personal.” We recognize this sentiment in the covetous, murderous, thieving actions of the wicked tenants. When we hear, “It’s just business; it’s not personal,” we should always be aware that no human relationship is devoid of a relational component; human relationships, business or otherwise, are always personal.
Through the Incarnation, God himself, in the human person of Jesus, put his own “skin” into his plan for the salvation of humankind. In Jesus we know that God cares deeply and personally about the fruitfulness of this earthly vineyard and the those He has chosen to tend the vineyard.
And, Jesus’ encounter with his religious opponents was a deeply personal attempt to confront their rejection of God by their repeated rejection of God’s prophets, including himself, God’s only Son. Remember, Jesus lamented Jerusalem’s earned reputation as the city that killed and stoned prophets.
This parable is about more than a business transaction and human resources gone terribly wrong. It should remind us of God’s mercy in extending his grace when our sinful actions don’t warrant it. It should also remind us that God wastes nothing. Jesus told the religious authorities that if they could not produce the fruits of the kingdom, the Jews’ exclusive access to the kingdom of God would be forfeited, and God would give the vineyard work to a people who could ensure that the business of the vineyard moved forward.
As we stand at the other side of the cross, and proclaim the risen Christ, the Church, across the centuries, has represented those people—the tenants—to whom God’s vineyard work has been entrusted. We are the tenants. And, we must always be willing to repent of our wickedness when we fall short of God’s 10 Commandments—God’s set of rules for living in harmony with God and our neighbors, and can be summarized by the words, “Love God, love your neighbor.” Lived with intention, God’s 10 Commandments are risky business, and the fact that we do not fully obey them, reminds us of our vulnerability to sin and the gift of salvation which Jesus paid for with his life.
As workers in God’s earthly kingdom, faithful followers of Christ do well to remember that we do not own the land—the vineyard of the mission field; God does. In our human arrogance we must not forget that we do not give the growth; God does. And, too often human beings forget that we are creatures; and not the creator. All are invaluable messages for a newly-forming congregation like ours, as we have been called to nurture this faith community and strengthen it for the vineyard work beyond these four walls.
By virtue of our baptism into Jesus Christ, and by living our Baptismal Covenant, we share in God’s deeply personal business of healing this broken world by caring about God’s world and God’s people the way that God does. The God of love is about healing the sin of broken relationship. The God, who is love, restores humankind to unity with God’s self and with each other through his son, Jesus Christ. And, with his own “skin” in the game, God’s reconciliation can never be “just business” for us; it is necessarily, and unequivocally, deeply personal. Amen.
[1] Isa 5:1-7
[2] Isaiah 5:7
