Matthew 21: 33-46
This Gospel text should lead us into a
discussion of how we care for our portion of the vineyard we have been sent to
care for.
Instead, the news lately is constantly drawing
our attention toward the violence we see and experience.
Many people today use violent words at
others. After decades of trying to make business and political and personal
conversations more polite, more respectful of all people, that very politeness
is being criticized. Many people believe they have the right to openly critique
and criticize others simply for being different from them.
We are also seeing a lot of violent actions
toward groups, toward countries as we go to war against them, or threaten
violent action against groups or countries. What were intended as peaceful
protests become deadly because someone or some group feels violent toward
others. Add to this a person who has a
psychotic episode and decides to go on a killing rampage.
It makes us feel like all this violence is a
new thing. But, it’s really very, very old. The Bible is full of violence.
Cain murdered Abel over a disagreement of whose
offering was more pleasing to God.
Joseph was kidnapped and sold into slavery by
his brothers.
Jacob’s daughter Dinah was raped.
Jephthah’s daughter was killed because of an
oath he made.
The slaves Moses led out of Egypt were
frequently beaten and abused by their task masters.
The people who lived in the Promised Land to
which Moses led the Israelites were killed so the Israelites could have the
land. Today, we would call it genocide or at minimum, invasion.
David seduced Bathsheba and had her husband
killed by sending him to the front line in a battle.
Inside the temple were signs that only Jews
were welcome. That meant many people were forbidden to enter: women, children,
and men whose bodies were not whole including eunuchs. Eunuchs were slaves who
had been forcibly, surgically altered.
The Romans who governed the Jews were violent
soldiers, so the Jewish people never felt safe from threat of violence.
Herod and Pilate didn’t hesitate to use
violence to control the people.
Today’s Gospel story includes a parable based on
real life in ancient Judea. It is also filled with violence.
There was a landowner who had a lot of land.
Since he couldn’t manage it all himself, he had tenant farmers work the land.
The tenants would keep a portion of the crop, grapes, wheat, whatever it was,
and the rest belonged to the landowner. In America, we had sharecroppers. Same
idea.
In Jesus’ story, the tenants decide they want
to own the land, and so they refuse to give the produce to the landowner’s
slaves. Instead, they kill the slaves. More slaves are sent, who are also
killed. Finally, the landowner sends his own son, in the belief that the son
would be safe from the tenants. But he, too, is killed.
In recent weeks, we have had stories Jesus told
that were about vineyards and sons. In the previous stories, it was not obvious
that Jesus was talking about the Jewish leaders.
This time, when Jesus tells the story, he
doesn’t beat around the bush. He doesn’t disguise the real purpose of telling
the story. He makes it clear that the landowner is God and the priests and
other leaders are the tenants in the story. He makes it clear that they have
been poor caregivers of God’s people and there will come a time when they are
no longer the leaders. Of course, the priests are angry, but there is nothing
they can do, since the people think Jesus is a prophet.
A human response to the killing of Jesus could
have been violence. The disciples could have taken up swords against the
Romans, but that move was doomed to fail.
A divine response could have been to have Jesus
return with fire and brimstone and wipe out the Romans and the Jews who refused
to believe in him. But that is not how God works. Jesus’ response was to tell
the disciples to spread the news of his death and resurrection, of God’s love
and forgiveness to all the world.
… Violence exists. Evil exists. How we respond
to it makes a difference.
A few weeks ago, a violent event happened in
Charlottesville, NC. We have heard a lot about the white supremacists who
started the mess. We have heard about the person who drove a car into the
people who were protesting the white supremacists. And we have heard about the
people who were injured and killed.
But here is a story that didn’t make big news.
At least I didn’t see it until recently in a magazine.
Knowing that the racist group was coming, local
clergy met and formed a group of their own. There were leaders from many
Christian, Jewish, and Muslim congregations and groups. The day began with a
prayer service; then the group moved to the park entrance, knowing they could
get hurt. Standing in a line with arms linked, they stood against hatred and violence.
Their goal was to show love, using non-violent resistance, which many of us
know about from the 1960s and Martin Luther King, Jr.
As they sang, “This Little Light of Mine” the
neo-Nazis switched from verbal assaults to physical violence. The clergy did
not react or resist. They were beaten and trampled, and it took police and
antifascist activists to save their lives.
First United Methodist Church opened its doors
to the injured, and offered water, bandages, counselling, and prayers.
Volunteers turned tables on their sides to limit access to the building.
The gathered clergy put their lives on the
line. They took a visible stand against violence. They were determined to not
let hatred to have the last word. So, one response is to advocate against the
hatred that causes the violence.
… In the even more recent event in Las Vegas,
the media finally took notice of the heroes. Many people died, and many more
were saved because others were willing to put their own lives at risk. They led
them out of the concert area. They covered others with their bodies. Some used
their own vehicles to transport injured people to the hospital. Medical
personnel who had been enjoying the concert put their skills and training to
work. Another response to violence is to offer your own body as a shield or
your skills to heal those who have been injured.
… A third story of a response to violence
happened in 2006 in Lancaster PA. Many of us are familiar with the story of a man
entering an Amish school and killing and injuring the girls there. The Amish
families could have responded with hatred and violence. But they shocked the
world by offering forgiveness to the shooter and to his family. In Amish faith
practices, forgiveness is a requirement. Since God forgives us, they must
forgive those who hurt them. Eventually, the practice of healing was followed
by hearts also healing.
… So, faced with so much violence in our world,
what can we do? We can advocate, stand up against violence and the hatred that
causes it. We can work to heal those suffering from violence. And we can
forgive those who bring violence into our lives.
Above all, remember two things: an eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves the whole world blind and toothless. And,
Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek, even with those who were about to put
him to death.
Are you willing to follow Jesus into peaceful,
non-violent living?
Please pray with me. Lord Jesus, you know how
much evil and violence fills the world. Help us be non-violent people, in our
homes, in our congregation, in our community, and in our world. Help us follow
you in being more loving and forgiving than we want to be. Amen
