Sermons

Oct 2 - Deacon Janice Bales

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On the North Shore of Lake Ponchartrain, not too far from Abita Springs, the home of a popular Louisiana beer, is Ponchartrain Vineyards, the home of delightful wine. It is only about an hour’s drive from where we lived in New Orleans, but I was there only twice and both were celebratory trips. Two graduating classes of deacons went there to pick out the wine for their ordination services. And, yes, there was a bit of wine tasting. After all, it was a celebration marking the end of a minimum of three years of formation. A vineyard seemed the best place to be.

The third class of deacons in the diocese of Louisiana was to have been ordained next weekend. Several of the ordinands have suffered great losses and many have worked tirelessly in relief efforts, some heroically. Their ordination is now scheduled for October 23rd and they have not made a trip to Ponchartrain Vineyards. I do not have any idea what kind of damage the vineyard suffered. I know the owner loved his vineyard, cared for it diligently. It is one small place in a vast area of devastation. For reasons I am beginning to understand that vineyard has become an important place to me.

What is it about vineyards? The House of Bishops met last week in Puerto Rico. In their letter to all of us, the Bishops speak of many things. The Episcopal Church in Puerto Rico with its 37,000 members has a strong ministry to the poor and the homeless, to the aged and the dying, and to all living on the edges of society. The Diocese of Puerto Rico is the third largest private sector employer on the island. The Bishops write: “Our spirits have been enlightened and lifted by the grace of the Lord so evident in this portion of God’s vineyard.” This part of the vineyard is producing good fruit, it would seem.

There are two visible vineyards not far from us here in the valley. One is immaculate, well tended. It recently has won good prizes for its fruits, its wines. One has fallen into neglect. It is overgrown, sad looking and troubles me every time I drive past it. What do we make of vineyards anyway? They are present in today’s readings, where we are forced to think of vineyards in a certain way. And then because the image may not seem relevant to us, our minds find something else to think about. This is not serving the Gospel well. This is what I mean.

The reading from Isaiah (5:1-7) is the famous song of the vineyard. It begins as a popular ballad sung at fall festivals thousands of years ago but it then takes a twist from the prophet’s mouth. It turns out that the speaker is Yahweh and the song is about his chosen people and their abuse of his gift to them — this rich, well-endowed vineyard is Israel where everything has been provided.

The psalm leads us further down this path: Israel is a vine planted by God in the land but now at the mercy of wild beasts. By the time we get to the Gospel, our minds are made up: the vineyard is Israel and the people working there are screwing up to an appalling degree.

If you go to an internet search engine or our church library seeking commentaries on today’s gospel, the vast majority say straight out that the parable has become an allegory. The writer of Matthew must have intended the early church to hear it this way. That is: the vineyard is Israel; the owner is God; the vinedressers or tenants are the religious leaders; the successive emissaries are the OT prophets; the son is Jesus the Messiah, his murder outside the walls is the crucifixion; the new tenants are the gentiles….and so on. So what’s wrong with that? One problem is that this allegorical interpretation has been the scriptural fuel for not a little anti-Semitism and more than a little self-righteousness on the part of Christians. More importantly, this interpretation allows us to avoid personal responsibility of what goes wrong in the vineyard. That is, the allegorical story has to do with the way religious leaders 2,000 years ago messed up. The Jews had a chance. They blew it. We got the vineyard. That’s it. It has nothing to do with us today.

But of course it does. That is the beauty of scripture. It continues speaking to us today in ways that are meaningful. That is, if we have ears to hear and if we do not get stuck in frozen meanings. Every human disaster brings religious fanatics out of the woodwork. It happened after 9/11, after the tsunami in SE Asia, and now after the hurricane Katrina. Not all are Christians: “It is almost certain that this is a wind of torment and evil that Allah has sent to this American empire.”(Muhammad Yousef Al-Mlaifi, Kuwaiti Ministry of Endowment) The Rev. Philip “Flip” Benham, Operation Save America says: “The whole parade of drunkenness, homosexuality and passions of the flesh was just washed away. If you believe in God, then you have no choice but to ask yourself whether God is making a statement.” Then Stan Goodenough, Jerusalem Newswire writes: “Katrina was the fist of God. What America is about to experience is the lifting of God’s hand of protection, the implementation of His judgment on the nation most responsible for endangering the land and people of Israel.” What is interesting to me is that, if we are to believe the preceding Christian, Jew and Muslim, who share the same God of Abraham, then the God we have in common thinks nothing of the deliberate, vengeful destruction of little babies, of the old and helpless people, of innocent good people to make God’s point. Not a God I want to deal with, thank you.

I come back to a belief system with a God that is good and loving and forgiving. The whole world can be seen as a vineyard that is built and provided with everything for success. Back to the Gospel. Strip away the allegory and remember that Jesus was a Jew speaking to an audience in a small country that understood the image of the vineyard. Absentee landlords were prevalent in Israel 2,000 years ago. There was a revolt against this system in Jesus’ time and the revolutionaries had been ruthlessly squashed. Jesus has done this before. He has drawn a surprising lesson from an utterly disreputable piece of human behavior. Jesus says, “See, these vinedressers stopped at nothing. They even murdered the heir to get hold of the vineyard. You must be just as resolute in laying hold of the kingdom of God.” (Fuller, p. 257) What do we do with that?

Be ingenious, be fruitful. Consider earliest story in Genesis 2:15: “the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” When we ask what have WE done to our world, perhaps we should remember that God asks, “what have you done to MY world?” It is hard to miss the irony that nature’s fury has been directed at the Gulf coast where so much of our oil production exists. What do we do with that?

We can always blame others for the destruction of the vineyard. Humans are great to blame. We can always blame someone else for the holocaust, death of children due to starvation, AIDS, lack of cheap medicine. The blame game is really popular right now following hurricane Katrina.

There are some things we truly know about Jesus: he knows the heart of God and he knows the heart of man. Jesus is truly human and truly divine. Maybe we should pay attention. The vineyard has everything we need. This earth has all we need. Acknowledging that there is enough for all and making it happen is what we are called to do. It’s God’s vineyard. Have we been too quick to think we really own it or have we been too willing to give the job of tending it to someone else? Either way, we can blame someone else when things go wrong. That is human. It has to do with free will and deciding just what to do with the vineyard.

Do you feel you can’t tackle the whole world vineyard? Well, carry water, chop wood. Start at home. I have grape vines at home. Last year they were laden with grapes, this year there were three clusters. I need to be tending my vines, it seems.

What are we doing in our part of the vineyard here at St. Michael’s? Are we self-righteous owners? Are we doing better than others? Is our crop bountiful? Sweet? Are we in control here or is God in control of what we are doing. What are we willing to fight for?

Our church year is winding down. In the Sundays before Advent we will hear stories of the end of times. It is a good time for assessment, for inventory in our particular vineyard. A time to prune, clean up and get ready for the new year in our particular vineyard. Pray we labor on with Christ. Pray we will fight valiantly for the Kingdom of God. Pray we remember who owns the vineyard. Amen