Sermon for October 6, 2002 - Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City, MO

One Saturday this past summer, one of the lawyers in our office came into the office to, as he said, ‘try and get some work done without the distraction of the phone and other interruptions.’ I thought this ironic, as accompanying him were his four and six year old sons, who provided plenty of interruptions and distractions for the rest of us. Throughout the morning the halls where filled with the sounds of running feet and voices screaming those memorable words, ‘that’s mine; no it’s mine’. It had been so long since we had toddlers in our house, I had forgotten the all-important five ‘Property Laws for Toddlers’.

1) If I like it, it’s mine.
2) If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.
3) If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
4) If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
5) It if looks like mine, it is mine.

We can laugh, but the sad truth is that these rules so commonly recited by children, seem all too often to continue to drive us as adults. The vineyard stories we’ve heard in the Gospel of Matthew in recent weeks depict a Jesus who is desperately attempting warn of the dangers of smug self-righteousness and selfishness, imploring a return to a right relationship with God. As recounted in today’s gospel reading, Jesus told the parable of the wicked tenants to a group of religious leaders who questioned His authority. Remember, Jesus came into his ministry preaching, “Repent, the kingdom of heaven has come near”. Angered by the sight of greedy self-serving activities, Jesus goes through the temple in a rage, overturning tables and disrupting everyone. In response to the religious leaders question, ‘by whose authority do you do this?’, Jesus tells a series of parables. In them Jesus answers their question. His authority comes from God, whom they had forgotten. I mean after all, God created heaven and earth, and us in His own image to inhabit it! We live in a vineyard, not of our own planting and creation, but God’s. The depth and sound of the ocean, the purple of the sky at dusk and it’s fire red color at dawn. The gifts of reason, intelligence and passion. The miracle of birth and mystical transformation of death. It all belongs to God. And as each of us gets older, we know all too well that we are only here as long as He wills it.

Since almost the beginning of time, when Adam and Eve ate fruit from the forbidden tree, God’s chosen people have turned away from Him. The covenant between God and Abraham was repeatedly broken. Not responding to the call of the Prophets of Hebrew scripture to mend their ways, God, the owner of the vineyard, sends his son, that by His teachings, they might repent and turn back to God; but he too was rejected and killed. Crucified on the cross for us, that we might live in a ‘right’ relationship, a ‘new covenant’ with God.

This parable serves as a reminder to the Church, and we as members of it, not to get so caught up in our own ‘doing’ and ‘self-importance’, that we act like the greedy tenants of the vineyard and forget God, from whom all blessings truly come. We should always and in all things, as Paul tells the Philippians in today’s Epistle, “press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus”. And as we strive to make good use of His gifts, it should not go unnoticed that no matter how self indulgent and absorbed the tenants of the vineyard were, God did not destroy or abandon the vineyard. Rather he restored it and handed it over to new tenants, God’s new chosen people, those baptized in the life, death and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ, to be stewards of the vineyard. It’s a privilege that we should be mindful of everyday, and one that we not take for granted.

It is always comforting, but particularly in times of uncertainty and change, to understand and trust that the promise of the ‘new covenant’, our ‘right’ relationship with God, is something that no one can take from us. The vineyard stories, like virtually all scripture, reassure us that God never gives up on us, never abandons us, and in spite of our tendency to rely on ourselves rather than Him in our daily lives, always provides for us.

I know that we are all effected, each in his or her own way, by today’s announcement of the Dean’s resignation. Our prayers are and should be with Anne, Gregory and Dennis today and in the coming days, as they transition into a new stage of their journey. We have been blessed by Dennis’ presence and will miss his gifts.

Our prayers too, today and in the coming days, should be with each other and particularly the Vestry, as we seek God’s will and guidance for us as a cathedral family. As we “press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus”, I pray we will discover and God will open many new doors of opportunity in ministry, service and ways to care for others, and that as tenants and stewards of the vineyard, by His grace, we will bear glorious fruit, all in His name.

Amen

Press On