Pentecost XVIII: The Vineyard

Last Sunday's text [Mt. 21: 33-46] is the last in a series of reflections on the topic of the Vineyard, which was the principal biblical metaphor for the Jewish People.  In a nutshell, the vintner, God, plants his own vineyard in the Promised Land, walls it in, builds a guard tower, and lovingly plants his crop in expectation of a wonderful harvest.  Wanting a yield of justice God instead gets bloodshed; in the place of justice he gets complaints.  In response God adopts tough love:  he leaves his beloved children to the consequences of their choices.  Petty neighbouring powers begin to pick off pieces of the vineyard, and finally the wild boar, the King of Babylon, comes and takes the people into exile in what is now Iraq for some seventy years.

Jesus here retells the familiar story but adds his own death as if it were a past occurrence.  That might seem strange until one realizes that Matthew's gospel is composed more than fifty years after the earthly ministry of Jesus.  We are reading gospel, not history: we have the expanded version courtesy of the Matthaean community.  Having received the "big picture," some anti-Semites try to exploit it into a blanket condemnation of Jews, but read carefully:  Jesus is addressing the religious leaders of his time who were in collusion with the political leaders who executed him.  The establishment had begun to treat the vineyard as their personal property to be used to expand their own wealth, power, and influence.  They forgot who the true Owner was and what their true role was supposed to be.

After the exile prophets rose up to speak truth to power.   Kings and priests on one side pitted against the prophetic community on the other.  What do you think happened?   Amos was banned from the Temple; Isaiah was sawn in half; Jeremiah was dumped into a pit and stoned to death.  Naturally, Jesus would be executed.  And Martin Luther King, Jr., and a myriad of martyrs over time.

The first commandment iterates God's claim to be Number One in our lives (hence the importance of stewardship,with God first in our time, talent, and treasure).  So worship and life are inseparable.  As the author of First John reminds us, you cannot claim to love the God whom you have not seen when you don't love the brother or sister you can see.  God seeks faithful leaders and faithful people, and settles for no less.