Dear God, help me find the Good News to preach to your faithful people at St. Matthias Episcopal Church. Please God, Give me the words. Amen.
I don’t know about you, but I need to hear the Good News about who God is and that God’s kingdom is here and near. I need to hear it a lot.
I try to stand back and gain some perspective.
I try to use my life-long study of, and love of history to give me a way to understand what is happening
in our country today, but my efforts don’t seem to lift this gloom that surrounds me every time I turn on the television,
or the radio, or glance at a newspaper,
or scroll through my phone, or talk with my children, grandchildren, siblings, friends, or even strangers waiting to play pickleball!
I don’t think I’m unique in this. Am I?
So I prayed to God to help me find the Good News To share with you this morning.
I asked God to give me the words…. And God did.
It’s right here in our opening collect. You might want to turn to it in your bulletin.
The collect says:
Almighty and everlas1ng God.
Well, that’s good news –
God is mightier than we could ever be …
solo, in a group, in a country, on the earth, in our fragile home; and…God is eternal, always, forever, everlasting.
You are always more ready to hear… than we to pray. This is my second favorite line, such good news, and so true. God is “always”, not sometimes, but “always ready,” “always willing”, and “always able” to hear, to listen
to my worries, whining, fears, doubts, anger and all the rest. “Always”.
And, then, God shakes God’s head at me and smiles when I finally remember to pray.
The collect goes on to say:
You give more than we either desire or deserve.
Well, This is fabulous news.
God knows our hearts, knows our desires better than we do and gives us more than we deserve.
This is good news because “Deserve” is not in God’s vocabulary! “Deserve” is not one of God’s measuring sticks.
God gives unconditionally and without ceasing –
Because God love us without considering what we deserve.
Then the writer of the collect goes on to pray:
Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy.
Oh, We need your mercy, Jesus, more than ever – as a people, as a church, as a society.
Forgiving us those things
of which our conscience is afraid.
This is my first favorite line.
Forgive us those things of which our CONSCIENCE is afraid – not some generalized fear of physical pain or discomfort But… forgive us for our cowardice,
our fear to act or say what we know is true and right.
That takes my breath away as I reflect on all the ways I have been afraid to live my conscience, to speak up, to take a stand.
Ringing in my ears is:
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
The collect collects our thoughts into a bundle at the beginning of our worship together
to help us become present to the presence of God,
right here, right now, in this place.
The collect works to open our hearts and minds To prepare us to listen to God’s word,
And to share the Good News of the Gospel in a troubled world.
It is Matthew’s Gospel that we have been working our way through this Fall.
It invites us to place ourselves in the scene with Jesus, where we find ourselves in the middle
of a chaotic, dangerous, and violent world, much like or own.
Jesus is no longer teaching from a hillside in Galilee;
He is in Jerusalem – over-crowded with merchants, refugees, radical insurrectionists, armed Roman soldiers everywhere, religious pilgrims, beggars, students, teachers, and the imposing religious leaders.
Are any of you watching The Chosen on television?
Season IV of The Chosen will air in January. I love it. I’ve seen the first three seasons, more than once.
It offers us a vital and vivid portrayal of the world
in which Jesus and the disciples lived. It is as real as our own.
We are allowed in, on the ground, in the crowd, surrounded. Jesus, completely aware and unafraid, continues to teach and heal,
meeting head on the religious leaders, as they try to find a way to arrest him. Decked out in their distinctive garb, they shout:
‘By whose authority do you do this?’
I sort of want Jesus to shout back “by whose authority do YOU do this…certainly not God’s” But Jesus has his own, calmer way. He tells a story.
Every commentary I read this week said
that our Gospel today isn’t really a parable; it’s an allegory. Jesus is not at all vague about who is who in the story.
Each character or set of characters represents something very specific.
--The landowner is God.
--The vineyard is God’s creation, lovingly and carefully made
with the best of all that is needed to flourish and grow and feed and prosper.
--The tenants are the religious leaders, and by extension… us. As tenants, we are to tend the land, care for the crops, Love and protect one another
and share what God has given us. Giving back to God or first fruits.
--The servants are the prophets. The landowner sends them to collect the harvest, To remind us who God is, what God has given us,
and to demonstrate that we give thanks
by giving God the first fruits of the harvest.
So far, so good. What happens next? The tenants beat and kill the servants.
They/we take matters into our own hands. We are the masters of our own destiny.
We decide we are the owners.
We did all the work, we tilled the land, we deserve to keep the harvest.
That landowner has other vineyards, he doesn’t need this one;
this one is ours; we’ve earned it.
Then, even more servants arrive, posing an even bigger threat to us
and have the nerve to tell us what we owe God. So we kill them too.
And the landowner, who has patiently
given us chance a[er chance, now sends his son. And here the story takes a weird turn.
Astonishingly, the landowner says, Surely, they will respect my son.
Really?.... How can this landowner be so clueless?
The son arrives,
we see him coming and someone among us says
If we want to inherit this vineyard, we need to kill the heir.
Well, that’s just crazy.
In what world do you inherit a vineyard when you’ve killed his son? Hmmmm?
What begins as a simple allegory turns into something absurd.
And, yet….. How absurd is it?
I’m haunted by the parallels to our current absurdity.
The attempt to take ‘back’ the country by any means necessary, by death threats to judges, witnesses, opponents, vice presidents and on and on, in the absurd belief that this restores the country to its righful owners. Owners??
Or the absurd idea that the kingdom of God has entrance requirements based on race or gender or preference,
There are no entrance requirements!
All that is needed is the key
of willingness, love and humility before God.
This story has made me think a lot about ownership
--- particularly its false promises of security and stability.
I’ve thought about whole towns, indeed, whole civilizations wiped out by natural disasters or war. Gone.
We’ve seen it on our televisions.
The devastation of floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes The bombed out buildings erasing a city
None of what was owned survived. Not much is even remembered.
And yet we fight so desperately for what we think is OURS, what we think we DESERVE,
what we are sure we’re ENTITLED TO.
I am grateful for what being a Christian has taught me About the good news of God’s love
and the promises of the kingdom.
The understanding that all is a gi[ from God
For our time here on earth,
That we are stewards of the gi[s given. We may sign a deed or buy some property,
or become a citizen, but all is ultimately temporary.
Those of us who are old know this in a special way
as we watch loved ones and their things, once so precious, fade from view.
The good news, however, is that even now, even here, in this chaotic, confused, and dangerous world
We are still stewards, still caretakers, still bearers of light and hope
still loved unconditionally
Still voices for justice and truth.
And it is with a growing humility that we have come to understand And to say to others when we can-- The vineyard belongs to God.
Almighty and everlasting God
Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,
Forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid,
And giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask. In the name of Jesus and The Good News, we pray. AMEN