Lectionary for Sunday 27
The heavens tell out the glory of God, and proclaim God’s handiwork; the decrees of the Lord are sure, and make the simple wise. Psalm 19:1, 7
Collect. Almighty God, you have built your Church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Join us together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may become a holy temple, acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Reading. Philippians 3:4b-14. Paul’s strong rebuttal of circumcision may seem a little strained in our modern non Jewish world, yet this underlying argument is still very relevant. If you are surrounded by people encouraging you to think of yourself as a self made woman or man Paul would say in the strongest possible terms, “beware of those evil workers!” Paul is passionate to help each believer understand that it is only what Jesus Christ has achieved that is of any lasting consequence. In the face of those who are encouraging new Christians to become like the Jews he demonstrates that he, Paul, is more Jewish than all of them. Paul describes himself as a true Hebrew, a blameless Pharisee of the Pharisees, one whose devotion for Judaism drove him to persecute the Christian believers. Despite all of that, as far as building a true and righteous relationship with God, he regards all these actions and attributes as worthless rubbish. The only thing that counts is to know that Jesus Christ is Lord. For Paul, all forms of human pride are worthless for self pride leads away from trusting fully in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done on our behalf. Any action which we might think leads us closer to God and to His salvation is roundly condemned by Paul. Paul being steeped in the writings of the prophets would well remember statements like “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6) God is in a different dimension to us and only the death of Jesus can bring us into God’s presence. Only through the righteousness of Jesus Christ can we be deemed acceptable to God. Though Paul understands this well he also understands that there is still more to come. He longs to know more about Christ and the things of Christ. That is why he is determined to “press on”. Though Jesus Christ has done all that is to be done to give salvation Paul is not now passive, no he is actively living for Christ. His view of life is not to look back, either with regret or with pride, rather to strain foreword to what still lies ahead. Thus on the one hand Paul is confident in the salvation that Jesus Christ has won by his death and resurrection, but he also has a longing to remain in Christ and finally to be with Christ.
Prayer. Holy Lord, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; You are the one true hope for human kind and to you alone can we turn for guidance in this life and comforting security in the next.. By your grace the guilty are released from their bondage; through your power and strength the opportunities to live a forgiven life are present. Forgive us Lord when much of our lives are spent in re-living the past. Often we find it hard to forgive ourselves for the mistakes that we make, sometimes we are so afraid of making mistakes that we hesitate to step out for you, even when we feel constrained to do so. Help us to put our trust more firmly in you that we will willingly accept your forgiveness for what is past and reach out with joy for what is still to be. Lord let us not waste what you have won for us, let us not wander from the true source of our fruitfulness. When we think of your sacrifice we as your grateful people can only give our thanks and praise now and always. Amen.
Reading. Matthew 21:33-46. Once again we are presented with an important parable which is recorded in each of the synoptic gospels; “The parable of the wicked tenants”. The parable is about the expectation of God. It is a description of Kingdom living; an example of God’s provision and how God wants the riches of his creation, the vineyard to be shared by God and his servants.
Jesus is still teaching in Jerusalem and so he is addressing the crowd and also the priests and religious leaders. As he related the parable the leaders quickly understood that this parable was addressed directly at them. It has very powerful echoes of Isaiah 5:1, which is a description of the nation of Israel; “Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard”.
The owner is God and God establishes the vineyard according to his own design. Everything was in place with vines planted and a hedge to keep the vineyard secure. There was a wine press to produce a vintage and a watchtower to watch over all aspects of the investment. The Tenants were the ones trusted with the property in the landowner’s absence. All of this would have been easily recognised as a well understood description of the nation awaiting the return of God at the end of the age. What would not have been recognised was the shameful treatment the tenants meted out the slaves or servants of the landowner who came to collect the harvest. The landowner’s representatives were treated as enemies of the vineyard. Finally they murdered the son and so attempted to steal the ownership of the vineyard away from the landowner and claim it for themselves.
With such a direct criticism it is little wonder that the religious leaders wanted to place Jesus under arrest. Jesus was issuing a warning to the leaders that rather than claiming the kingdom of God as their own and so having leadership in it, they were in danger of losing the kingdom all together.
Everyone who listened to the parable would have understood the warning for in Isaiah’s prophecy the description was a rebuke to the whole nation, a nation that had not produced fruit. Indeed, rather than producing sweet wine grapes the vines had produced wild grapes unfit for wine production. However the parable also reminded those who listened of the patience of God as time after time there came an opportunity to participate in a share of the harvest through responding to the request made by the landowner.
In Jesus’ parable the inference is that the tenants or leaders had failed to share the harvest with the landowner, indeed they have failed to even participate in the harvest. What is more they have rejected all those the landowner had sent, including the son himself. For the early church this parable reinforced the theme that those who followed Christ had become the new Israel. This idea was clearly stated in verse 43 “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”.
While we might rejoice over this new opportunity it is important to read all the verse, and take note of the dominant theme, which is that of producing a harvest that the ‘landowner’ can enjoy.
Prayer. Holy Lord how easy it is to miss your coming among us, how often we think that we are righteous only to find that you are on another road and we are lost once more. Keep our hearts in tune with your heart and our minds alert to the ways of peace and justice that you proscribe. Grant that we will not become complacent but be ever vigilant to serve as you desire. This we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Collect. Jesus, cornerstone, prophet of the reign of God, you come, and are rejected; you come, to suffer and die. Come to us today, and produce in us the fruit of obedience, for you are the Christ of God. Amen.
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