Rector's Sermon - Sunday, October 6, 2002

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Isaiah 25:1-7	80:7_14	Philippians 3:4b-14	Matthew 21:33-46

     Last week at a luncheon meeting, I was told an old Native American tale about a young boy who noticed that his grandfather was very upset and not himself. The boy asked, "Grandfather, why are you in pain?" "I have been betrayed and badly hurt," replied the grandfather, "and there are now two wolves fighting within me." "Two wolves?," asked the boy. "Yes, one wolf is the wolf of anger and revenge; the other wolf is the wolf of healing and confidence to move on to other things." "Who is going to win?" the boy anxiously asked his grandfather? "The wolf that I feed," replied the man.

     The image of a vineyard in the Bible is an interesting one because a vineyard in and of itself implied a certain longevity and hope in the future. A vineyard was a long term investment. One planted the vines and waited years before one had any sort of harvest.

     Vineyard planters have always been the most patient of people. If one is an impatient gardener, they grow zucchini in the summer and chia pets in the winter, but only a very forward looking person plants a new vineyard. Even today with the benefit of agricultural science, it often is twenty years or more from the planting to a decent harvest of grapes. Needless to say, twenty years in Biblical times was nearly a lifetime. Hence, the image of God planting a vineyard implied that God placed confidence in humanity's long term future; that humanity could live in peace; and that the process, however frustrating at times, was well worth the wait.

     Like the parable last week of the two sons, the one who said yes and didn't go to the vineyard and the one who initially said no, but changed his mind and went, I suggest that the parable of the wicked tenants of the vineyard also reflects an interior struggle within each of us. In this parable, the owner patiently waits for his share of the harvest, but the tenants' behavior consistently exhibits gross mistrust. The owner has given the tenants' no basis for their out of whack reasoning. Indeed, the owner is incredibly optimistic in hoping that the tenants finally will do the honorable thing. Note that the owner doesn't put the squeeze on the tenants because of the yield of the harvest. It is the tenants who condemn themselves. Jesus is saying, in effect, learn from the example of these wicked tenants. If you feed the wolf of mistrust, the wolf will take over and so skew your behavior that you won't be able to think straight or even dimly recognize God's consistent and patient grace.

     This parable and the previous one of the two sons, was told during Jesus' final days in Jerusalem before he was arrested. Unrest and suspicion in Jerusalem at all levels was rampant. How could Jesus with few disciples, no army, and scant political backing be a sign from God? How could Jesus ever possibly be a lasting influence in the course of history by offering good news and forgiveness to anybody who wished to accept it.? Why would God be so forgiving anyway?

     The wicked tenants, of course, thought that they could continue to mistrust and reject the owner with no immediate consequences. Any sort of accountability or reckoning appeared to be a long way off. Jesus was saying no, signs of God's love are very, very close. If you continue to feed the wolf of mistrust, anger, and revenge today, it will have immediate consequences.

     Like the two sons, this parable is not a "once upon a time" or "long, long ago tale" about certain people on one side of the street and other people on the opposite side. It is about our struggle with the wolf of suspicion and fear against the force of trust and hope. It reveals the struggle in our personal life, our church life, and our national life, with profound consequences in each, depending on the wolf that we feed.  Jesus originally told the parable to a tense, agitated crowd in the narrow streets of Jerusalem as he asked what would be the end of those who fed the wolf of mistrust? Even today the parable continues to ask us, "What type of wolf do we feed today?"

     And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.