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.

---

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

Sermon on Matthew 21.23-32

The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews

St. Joseph-St. John, Lakewood

1 October 2017

Proper 21, Pentecost+17

Matthew 21.23-32

In today’s gospel text

            we have two blurbs

about Jesus interacting with

            Matthew’s favorite foil: the Pharisees.

Whenever Jesus

talks to and about the Pharisees

                        it’s important to take it

with a little grain of salt.

Matthew was pretty angry.

It shows in his writing,

            particularly when Jesus

condemns the pharisees. 

The first half of our text

            is a challenge

to Jesus’ authority:

“By what authority are you doing these things,

and who gave you this authority?”

The way the lectionary is set up

            we’ve missed some pretty crucial information.

What are the things that Jesus is doing? 

Why are the Pharisees upset?

This excerpt from Matthew’s gospel

            happens at the peak of the narrative drama.

Jesus has returned to Jerusalem

            and is on his way to the cross.

Just before today’s text,

            Jesus has

entered Jerusalem with a parade

            mocking the empire with whom the Pharisees are colluding;

turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple;

healed the blind and lame in the temple;

and said that the Pharisees are the blind leading the blind.

Now he’s rolled up in to the temple

            and started teaching.

I can understand

            why the Pharisees would say

                        “Who said you can do this!?” or

                        “Just who do you think you are?!”

And Jesus?

            Doesn’t indulge them.

Jesus asks a question himself,

            “When all those people

were following John the Baptizer

to the desert

                        was that from God or humanity made?

            When a voice came from heaven

                        saying I was the voice’s son

                                    with whom the voice was well pleased,

                                    to listen to me

                        was that from God or humanity made?”

The Pharisees are stuck.

In their positions of power and authority,

            like most leadership positions,

                        they have to have a pulse

on they vision

and those they lead’s expectations and hopes.

The voice said to listen to Jesus.

If they say it’s from God,

            why aren’t they listening to Jesus?

If they say it’s a deluded cult

            the crowd that makes up that deluded cult

            will completely ignore the Pharisees

                        for guru Jesus.

They take the calculated way out,

            the way that too many leaders forget is an option

                        and a better option than faking it all the time.

They say,

            “We don’t know.”

Jesus helps them out,

            and not very politely.

He says,

            “Clearly this is from God

                        and if you make it

into the kingdom of heaven

                                    expect the people

you consider the worst sinners

            ahead of you in line.

            They heard John,

                        repented,

                        and returned to being faithful.

            You heard John

                        and didn’t believe.

            Even when you saw

                        people coming back to the faith

                        you still didn’t believe.”

That’s a lot packed into nine verses!

From a challenge

            to a secret conference

            to a story about children

who do and don’t work

as their father asks

            to Jesus saying that the Pharisees

                        aren’t helping anyone.

As followers of Jesus,

            what are we supposed

to do with this text?

What’s the Good News?

How does it apply to us?

How are our lives changed?

Right now

            I think our lives are changed

            by answering the Pharisees’ question,

                        “By what authority

are you doing these things,

and who gave you this authority?”

To answer those questions

            we have to figure out “these things.”

Last week I talked about

            discerning and sharing

            how we’re tending the vineyard.

In my notes to many of you

            I mentioned

looking forward to learning

the way’s we’re serving Jesus together.

The things, the works, we’re called to be doing

            are rooted in our baptismal promises:

                        continuing in the apostle’s teachings,

in the prayers,

and in the breaking of the bread;

                        persevering in resisting evil, and,

                                    whenever we fall into sin,

                                    repenting and returning to the Lord;

                        proclaiming by word and example

                                    the Good News of God in Christ;

                        seeking and serving Christ in all persons,

                                    loving our neighbors as ourselves;

                        striving for justice and peace,

                                    and respecting the dignity of every human being.

The actions that these promises lead to

            change the world.

They bring people to Jesus

            and his love for all people.

The break down systems of racism

            and other ongoing powers of oppression.

They are a hope

            for seeing Jesus’ return.

By what authority do we do these things?

By what authority do we change the world,

            starting with St. Joseph-St. John

            then on in to Lakewood?

That’s rooted in our baptisms too:

            We have the authority

of Jesus the Resurrected Christ

to whom we were joined in our baptisms.

            We have the authority of the Church,

                        who when we were baptized said,

                                    “We receive you into the household of God.

Confess the faith of Christ crucified,

proclaim his resurrection,

and share with us

in his eternal priesthood.”

We have a busy time in the coming months,

            with lots of ways to share in Christ’s eternal priesthood.

All Saints Sunday is a month away,

            at which we’ll recommit to those baptismal vows —

                        I invite you to meditate on them in the coming days.

They’re on page 305 of the Book of Common Prayer.

Our pledge ingathering is in December,

            and I trust you’re already considering

                        how your financial gift to St. Joseph-St. John

                                    does help to change the world.

Our annual meeting and elections will be in January,

            and invite you to continue in the prayers

                        for this church,

for the people who will be elected,

and of discernment about whether you should run.

Confess the faith of Christ crucified,

proclaim his resurrection,

and share in his eternal priesthood.

Change the world

            with the authority of Christ.