8 October 2017 St. Athanasius Lutheran
Church
Pentecost 18
Vienna, VA
“What’s a God To Do?”
Text:
Isaiah 5:1-7; Matthew 21:33-46; Philippians 3:4b-14
(Psalm
118:1)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God
our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
There are two things
going on in the readings we heard today: bad grapes and bad tenants.
In the Old Testament
reading, the reading from Isaiah, the problem was bad grapes, sour grapes, bad fruit. God had planted a vineyard - that’s His picture
of the nation of Israel. He had planted them in the Promised Land, which He
called a land flowing with milk and honey. That’s a pretty good place to be. He
protected them, cared for them, fed them, and provided
everything they needed. But what did He get? Bad grapes, sour
grapes, bad fruit. The people turned to other gods. They didn’t walk in
His ways. They either forgot about God or took His care and love for granted.
Or, maybe this: they tried to have the best of both worlds. Have this God but
do things their way.
But their way - our
way - does not produce the fruit, the good, God is looking for. It never does.
In fact, it can lead to
the second scenario we heard today: bad tenants. In the Gospel, the reading
from Matthew, the problem wasn’t the fruit - it was that the tenants thought it
was theirs. All theirs. Once you start doing things
your way, once it becomes all about you, nothing else matters. In fact, if
anything or anyone gets in your way, tries to hinder your plans or slow your
down, they got to go. And so the servants the master sends are beaten, stoned,
and killed. They don’t even respect the master’s son. Kill him too. Kill him
and we’ll finally get what we want - it’ll all be ours. We’ll finally be rid of
that meddling master, trying to tell us what to do and what to give. It’ll all
be ours.
Bad
grapes. Bad tenants. What’s a God
to do?
Now clearly, these two
stories were told in a particular context. Old Testament Israel had gone wild,
and so God didn’t just allow them to be conquered by the nations around
them, He caused it. That’s how He fulfilled the words spoken by Isaiah.
Because His vineyard, His people, had gone wild, He had the armies of Israel’s
enemies come in, break down their walls, trample them, and haul most of them
off as prisoners of war.
But what, then, of the words that we sang in the
Introit today? Twice!
Oh give thanks to
the Lord, for he is good;
for his
steadfast love endures forever!
If you were Old Testament
Israel, marching away from your ruined land under the pointed spears of your
foes, it sure seemed like God’s love had an expiration date. That seems to be
what Jesus is saying as well: Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be
taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
So is God really good?
Does His steadfast love
really endure forever?
Or maybe we, today, considering these things, should
say it like this:
Is God really good for
me?
Will He love me
forever?
Now, as good Christians,
as good Lutherans, you know the answer to those questions here [mind]. But do
you know it here [heart]?
Do you know it when your
vineyard, your kingdom, all that you dreamed about and lived for and worked so
hard for, is slipping away or being taken away? Is God good? Does He love
me?
Do you know it when your
enemies seem to be winning? Is God good? Does He love me?
Do you know it when you’re
doing things your own way because you don’t believe that God’s ways really
work? Is God good? Does He love me?
Do you know it when there
are parts of your life that you’re holding onto, where you won’t let God in,
because you’re afraid what would happen if you did? Is God good? Does He
love me?
Do you know it when you’re
life is turning out quite differently than you thought or planned or hoped? Is
God good? Does He love me?
It’s easy to criticize
Old Testament Israel or the Jews in Jesus’ day when we hear stories like we
heard today. But the truth is that there are bad tenants sitting in this room,
in your chair. And sour grapes coming from your heart and
mind and mouth.
So what’s a God to do?
Because it shouldn’t be,
right? What has God done wrong? Oh, maybe you have a list of things you
think God has messed up; things He could have done better if He had just listened
to you! . . . Really? . . . Ever see a child
push their parent aside and say “I know how to do it!” No he doesn’t! So
sometimes you let your child try and fail. And sometimes that hurts. You and him. Sometimes you stop your child from
hurting herself. Sometimes you try to teach, and that’s hard, too. But all
those things come from love, even if the child doesn’t realize it.
So
too God. Even more God.
Because as human parents we mess it up, we get it wrong, we aren’t
always filled with love. Well, too, God has to step in to save us. To save our lives. To save us from our sins, from ourselves,
from each other, from our I want it my way
bad tenants, sour grapes, life. It may sometimes seem unloving. We might push
Him away. It’s my vineyard. Don’t come in here, Lord!
The apostle Paul was like
that. We heard about him in the Epistle, the reading from Philippians. God had
to knock him down and onto his butt - literally! - to
get him to realize what he was doing. And that all he was doing was rubbish.
Did God hate him? No, He loved Paul and had a plan for him.
And
you too. I don’t know what that plan is exactly and maybe you
don’t either. I don’t know how it’s going to all turn out. But it will probably
be in a way we don’t expect.
Last week at the conference
I was at the presenter told the story of a little boy who broke one of the two
bones in his forearm. The doctor didn’t cast the bone right away. Instead, he
asked the parents to leave the room for a moment, and then he took the boy’s
arm and snapped the other bone over his knee - so that the
first-broken-bone would heal properly; that both would heal together. When they
parents heard what had happened, they asked the boy if it hurt. He said no; it
actually started to feel better right away.
In ways we do not expect.
That’s how it is all through the Bible. I think we’ve kind of lost that
perspective, because a lot of the stories in the Bible are familiar to us and
we don’t get so surprised anymore. But if you could read the Bible again for
the first time, I think you’d get to a lot of points where you think: Oh,
yeah, I know what God’s going to do . . . and then the exact opposite
happens. He snaps the bone. And it doesn’t seem right and it doesn’t seem good,
and the folks in the Bible wonder: What are you doing God? Have you
forgotten us God? Why is this happening, God? God, are you mad?
Maybe
you too?
Finally he sent his son
to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son,
they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his
inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed
him.
Good grief, God!
Are you mad? After all that, what makes you think they will respect your Son?
Well, God was doing
something marvelous. Something to marvel at. Something unexpected. Laying a cornerstone.
And it’s not just Jesus who is the cornerstone - His gravestone is the
cornerstone. His gravestone that once sealed Him in the tomb, but now risen from the dead is that stone upon which He builds His
Church. It’s not Jesus as teacher or Jesus as a good man or Jesus as example or
Jesus as moral leader, but Jesus thrown out and killed - but now risen
and alive again - that is the cornerstone. That a Church can
be built on. That our lives can be built on.
So the question really
isn’t: God, what are you doing? Or, God, do you really love me? But this: What
is God doing to save your life?
What trouble is He not
allowing you to get into? What difficulty is He keeping you in because
it’s ultimately going to help you? What trial is strengthening you? What
weakness causing you to rely on Him?
Of course, you can go all
sour grapes on Him. You can throw Him and His Son out of your vineyard. You can
go after a life all your own rather than have His life that will last forever.
You can do that.
Or, you can repent of all
that rubbish in your life. But don’t rely on your own judgment for that -
because maybe you’re nose blind to just how bad your life smells right now and
you think you smell good and are doing pretty good. Don’t believe your nose -
or your eyes for that matter. Believe the Word of God. That what God says is
bad really is bad, and what He says is good really is, too.
So whatever your life,
your vineyard, looks like right now . . . if it’s all dried up, it’s nothing
that the water of God can’t make grow. The water of baptism
which gives new life. If it’s full of wild, sour grapes, it’s nothing
that the forgiveness of God can’t make sweet and good again. And it your vines
are all puny and weak and stringy, they’re nothing that food of God can’t
strengthen. The Body and Blood of Jesus that change even the worst vines into
good vines.
Because you really are,
as Isaiah said, God’s beloved. And God really did send His Son to
die for you. And He is really working all things to save your life.
So maybe the words of the
apostle Paul are good advice for us today.
But one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press
on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Straining. Pressing. Those aren’t easy words.
They’re faith words.
My life isn’t what I
thought it would be. I’ll strain forward.
Things are falling apart.
I’ll press on toward the goal.
I’m surrounded by sinners
and those who hurt me. I’ll forgive.
It’s too hard, too
confusing, too much. I’ll rely on His strength, not mine.
I don’t understand. I’ll
rely on His Word, His wisdom, not mine.
I can’t do it. That’s
exactly right. But His cross which breaks is followed by resurrection. And not
just on the last day - but even now. A new life for you now.
Just ask Paul.
This is the Lord’s doing;
and it
is marvelous.
The stone that the
builders rejected [really]
has
become the cornerstone.
Oh give thanks to the
Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast
love [really does] endure forever!
And yes, for you.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+)
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.