Readings
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:7-14
Philippians 3:4b-14
Matthew 21:33-46
We live in an age of ever-increasing polarization and violence. We need look no further than our daily news to see it and to hear about it. The obvious one is violent crime, which statistics show rose 8.9 percent in the last year. But there are other kinds of violence we see. In this era of polarization, we see violent rhetoric turned against people for simply believing differently from one another. We see the humanity of others questioned because of their religious, political, or personal beliefs. And we see a normalization of such emotional and physical violence by a significant number in leadership in our country.
Recently researchers at the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit, found that 30% of members of one of our major political parties agreed with the statement “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country”. And they weren’t alone. 11% of members of the other major party agreed. And 17% of independents agreed. This totaled a staggering 18% of all Americans.
One has to ask why it is that we are where we are? There are many pundits who have a variety of answers, but I believe that the parable in today’s Gospel reading might just give us an insight into our present circumstances.
Today we have the story of a landowner who established a vineyard. All the goods of the vineyard were provided by the landowner. He planted the vineyard, put up a fence, dug a winepress, and erected a watchtower. He then leased it out to tenants, presumably taking a portion of the crops and/or the wine for himself.
At the time of harvest, he sent his slaves to collect a portion of the harvest (the rent). But instead of giving the rent over to the landowner, they attacked and killed the slaves. This occurs again with other slaves until the landowner decides to send his son, assuming that the gravitas of such an action would produce a different result. But the tenants, seeing an opportunity to not simply avoid rent, decide to kill the son so that they might take ownership of the property and its proceeds.
What may not be clear to us, but abundantly clear to those who first heard it, is that this story is not so clear cut about who the good guys are. From one perspective, the landowner has a right to collect rent. But many in the crowd would have recognized that the landowner may well have been taking an onerous amount of the produce leaving little for those who had done all the work. Much like sharecropping in the late 19th and early 20th century, this was a common practice. This being the case there would have been those who first heard this who would have been sympathetic to the tenants and their resorting to violence.
On top of this, this parable is a perfect allegory for the reality of being occupied by the Romans in the first century. The Roman Empire through taxation and domination left many farmers without land of their own and without a sense of belonging to their ancestral homeland. Their system rewarded the wealthy and punished the poor, leaving them powerless and dependent upon their presumed superiors. It is because of such a reality that the zealot movements that sought the overthrow of the Romans existed. And because of the religious authorities’ collusion with the Romans, it was easy to see them as part of the problem and not part of the solution.
In such a context we might expect that initially, many within the crowd would have been sympathetic to the tenants and not so much to the landowner. But they were realists as well. When asked what the landowner might do, 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.”
They, like us, lived in violent times. It was easy to simply accept violence as the reality of the world. In the midst of fear and the threat of loss, like now, it was easy to resort to violence as a solution for the perceived ills of the world. But it was also easy to assume the violence of others was inevitable as well. It was easy to assume that Jesus was simply sharing a story that reflected the age.
But then Jesus turns the story on its head. He quotes the prophet Isaiah and says, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.”
Now traditionally we have interpreted this to be about Jesus. That he is the cornerstone that the builders rejected. But what if there is another equally valid way of looking at this passage. What if, speaking of the kingdom of God, he is saying that the way of the kingdom is the stone that the builders have rejected? What if he is saying that there is another way to do and be in the midst of injustice and a sense of threat or loss? What if the cornerstone is the fruits of the kingdom and simply Jesus himself.
You see, when taken with what he next says, Jesus appears to be reminding those who heard him that violence begets violence. It is the stone over which those who live by the old way will fall and be broken to pieces. It is a critique, perhaps even a condemnation, of those in authority as well as those who would violently resist such authority.
But the hope for us is that those who “produce the fruits of the kingdom” will find the very thing they seek. They will be given the kingdom of God. They will know the peace, joy, and justice they so desperately desire.
And what are the fruits of the kingdom? Well, they are what we have been talking about for the last couple of weeks. We are called to set aside our fears and not opt for violence of any kind, emotional or physical. We are being called to be a people of love, compassion, mercy, justice, integrity, and faithfulness. We are being called to do nothing less than to make our lives be a reflection of Jesus’ life.
Yes, there is violence in the world today. And yes, we live in scary times, where it may feel that we have lost something vital. But our call is to resist the temptation to violence. Our task, if we are brave enough to claim it, is to bring to bear the shalom of God, the peace and justice of God’s reign. We are being called to be repairers of the breech. We are being called to be a blessing to others and not just to those with whom we agree. We are being called to respond to demonization and isolation with understanding and reconciliation.
That will require real courage. It will require us to get out of our comfort zone. It will require us to make relationship more important than how we think and whether or not we agree.
But if we do, the promise is certain. We will usher in the kingdom of God. We will, with God’s help, be agents of the peace, joy, and justice of Christ. We will live in a commonwealth where the needs of all are met by all. And we will be blessed and be a blessing to others.