Sermon October 5, 2014 "Vineyards, a Marriage Box, and Us"

THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Year A, Lectionary 27

October 5, 2014

Isaiah 5:1-7

Psalm 80:7-15

Philippians 3:4b-14

Matthew 21:33-46

Pastor David Tryggestad

Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church

Duluth, Minnesota

Yesterday I had the privilege to officiate at a wedding here at Concordia. Instead of lighting a Unity Candle after repeating vows and exchanging rings, the couple had placed a wooden Marriage Box on the altar, into which they put copies of their vows, their wedding program, and the scripture readings from their wedding. As the years pass, they will put significant mementos of their life together inside the Marriage Box, including photos and letters to each other. As such, each of them will make deposits into this box, which represents their marriage, and they will never withdraw more than they deposit. If one were to do that, the box would be empty, the marriage would suffer; the promises would be broken, and the relationship destroyed.

I have been thinking about the Marriage Box in relation to our readings for today. Three of our texts have to do with vineyards.

In our Gospel, the landowner carefully planned and established a vineyard: he built a fence around it, he dug a winepress in it, and he placed a watch tower inside it. We can imagine that the vineyard produced rich and juicy grapes, an abundant harvest! At harvest time, the landowner sent slaves to collect his portion of the harvest, which constituted his rent, all according to the agreement he had made with the tenants. The tenants had decided, however, not to honor their agreement and rather to keep all of the harvest, all of the produce for themselves. So they beat and killed the slaves. The landowner, being persistent, sent more slaves, and the tenants did the same thing. Finally, the landowner sent his son, saying, “They will respect my son.” In a plot to steal the inheritance, the tenants killed the son. Not only did they refuse to offer back the landowner’s rightful share of the harvest, they attempted to swindle the landowner of the entire vineyard.

If the vineyard were a Marriage Box, the tenants took out more than they had put in. The relationship is destroyed.

Jesus asks the question, “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

If the vineyard were a Marriage Box, the tenants took out more than they had put in. The relationship is destroyed.

Our First Reading from the prophet Isaiah is one of the most beautiful love songs in all of scripture, and it is also one of the saddest. The prophet is singing of his “Beloved”—God—who has established a vineyard:

Let me sing for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes . . . (Isaiah 5:1-2)

We hear a parallel with the story of Jesus, which Jesus told many centuries later. It seems the theme is the same.

But why is this love song a sad one?

. . . he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.

God, the lover, has done everything for the vineyard. God asks the rhetorical question:

What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes? (Isaiah 5:4)

If this vineyard beloved of God were a Marriage Box, the tenants, the inhabitants, who were squandering the fruit of the vine, not tending to the vine, would be putting lies into the box, at the same time taking out the love of the other while putting nothing back.

Again, the relationship is destroyed.

What if the vineyard from both our Gospel and Isaiah were Concordia Lutheran Church? What love song would God sing to us?

My beloved had a vineyard
on a very lovely plot of land,

nestled against a nature preserve and a running creek.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with faithful people;
he built a magnificent sanctuary the midst of it,
and hewed out of solid granite

a baptismal font in which to call the people his own,

an altar from which to offer forgiveness of sin,

and a pulpit from which his promises would be proclaimed.
He expected it to yield a harvest of faithfulness,

a harvest of generosity,

a harvest of abundance;

he blessed them that they might be a blessing;

he expected them to yield grapes . . .

If our Gospel for today were Concordia Lutheran Church, the landowner would send messengers looking for a portion of the harvest, the first fruits, from glad and generous hearts. The landowner would not be looking for the messengers to be dismissed and killed and the people of the congregation holding tight to our own harvest, holding tight to what we claim to be ours.

Consider Concordia Lutheran Church a Marriage Box: Are we taking out more than we are putting in? We cannot take out more than we give. A congregation cannot function, let alone be healthy and thrive, when we take out more than we give.

I am intrigued by a certain detail in our Gospel for today:

Jesus asks the question, “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

Notice that it is not Jesus who pronounces judgment on the people; it is the people themselves. The people put themselves in the place of the landowner and pronounce judgment on themselves. We can find relief and hope in that it is not God who pronounces judgment.

The parable in our Gospel is often referred to as the “parable of the wicked tenants.” The focus is on the tenants. But that focus is misplaced. The parable is about God. It is God who is the actor; it is God who is the owner; it is God who comes again and again to us, looking for a response, looking for fruit.

Jesus pronounces judgment on the religious leaders of his day: “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”

When our Lord comes to us, may it be that he finds us producing the fruits of the kingdom.

Thanks be to God!