Sermon on Matthew 21.33-46

The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews

St. Joseph-St. John, Lakewood

Proper 22, Pentecost+18

Matthew 21.33-46

Last week I mentioned that

            Matthew was angry

with the Jewish leaders

            and it comes through in his writing.

Whew boy, does it come through

in this week’s passage!

A flat reading of today’s Gospel text

            is what led to centuries of anti-Semitism —

                        which is alive and well

                                    as demonstrated in Charlottesville.

A flat reading of today’s Gospel text

            ignores the God made

                        eternal covenants

with Noah, Abraham, and Moses

            covenants still in place today

            with the Jewish people.

The parable Jesus tells

            is a great illustration

            of how Jesus uses storytelling

                        to get his point across.

Just talking about leasing property

            makes my blood pressure go up

                        as I remember trying to find an apartment

in San Francisco.

That was four years ago

            and it makes me anxious.

I can’t imagine

            finding somewhere to live,

            agreeing to some terms —

                        like harvesting the land —

                                    and going back on the agreement.

I definitely can’t fathom

            killing the property management company

                        so I didn’t have to pay up!

Then killing the land owner’s children

            thinking somehow

that you’ll get their inheritance?

This is a story with a point,

not real life.

Clearly.

This parable’s point

            is that those who’ve had

religious power and influence —

            who are charged

with helping keep the covenants

            with Noah, Abraham, and Moses —

have failed to do their job.

Jesus is neither here

nor anywhere in the Gospels

rejecting Judaism.

Throwing stones

            at other religions

who worship the creator

is not Jesus’ call.

What Jesus does throw stones at

            is respectability,

                        doing what you’re supposed to do

                        to not ruffle feathers

                        or make a fuss.

The Good News isn’t about being nice.

It’s about the Kingdom of God

            being at hand.

Jesus begins his public ministry

            by calling the Pharisees

a brood of vipers.

Here he says,

“The kingdom of God

will be taken away from you

and given to a people

that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”

I think that may be a warning

            for Mainline Protestantism

                        or all of American Christianity.

In his book Our Great Big American God

            Matthew Paul Turner notes,

                        “The introduction of the American Christian T-shirt

most definitely evolved

out of an evangelical culture

that Billy Graham™ first cultivated,

a culture where ministry, capitalism, and media

merged into a holy American ménage à trois.

That threesome created an environment

that not only helped to sell God

and a host of God-branded products

in America and around the world,

but also created GOD ®,

the brand above all brands…

                        “GOD ® has become so infused

into every aspect of America’s culture —

from church and ministry to nonprofits and politics

to social justice and social media

to self-help concepts and point-of-purchase trinkets —

that most people have become so accustomed to GOD®

that we’re incapable of differentiating

God’s presence from GOD ®’ s presents,

or God’s peace

from one of GOD ®’ s piece-of-crap products

made in Indonesia….

Perhaps the most powerful function of GOD ®

is its ability to be everything that God

cannot be or has chosen not to be.” [1]

Whether Mainline Protestant

            or Evangelical

                        are American Christians producing fruit?

Have different groups of Christians

enjoyed power and privilege

            for so long that they — we —

            forgot how to demonstrate and proclaim

                        “The Kingdom of God is at hand”?

I see fruit being produced here

            when plums and pineapples

are given away from the food bank.

I see fruit being produced here

            when we gather at this Table on Sunday

                        and around those tables on Wednesday night

            “As Christ breaks bread and bids us share,

            each proud division ends.

            That love that made us makes us on

            and strangers now are friends.”

I see fruit being produced here

            when people notice a need

                        and volunteer to help fund its being met.

We are working the vineyards

            and producing fruit

            and sending it back to the Creator

                        for whom we are tenants and stewards.

Even as we work the vineyards,

            I pray we don’t become complacent.

On Tuesday Lynay rang the bell

            to honor those killed

in Las Vegas last Sunday night.

In the future,

            I plan that such symbolic acts

                        will be followed up with actions for change.

Part of our work in the vineyards is praying.

It’s also listening to God calling us

            to proclaim

                        “The Kingdom of God is at hand!”

            then work to see it and show it around us.

“The kingdom of God

will be taken away from you

and given to a people

that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”

We’re producing fruit,

            don't worry,

                        but let’s wonder together

                        what other fruit need tending.

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[1] Turner, Matthew Paul. Our Great Big American God: A Short History of Our Ever-Growing Deity (p. 212). FaithWords. Kindle Edition.