As you know, last Sunday, we celebrated Harvest Thanksgiving in our parishes. As usual on our day of Harvest Thanksgiving, we heard readings relating to harvest time , and we heard the parable of the Rich Fool, a man who had a great harvest but kept it for himself which, whilst it might have made him rich and important in his own eyes, made him poor and foolish in God’s eyes. But we could have used many different readings last Sunday to say something very similar because the Scriptures are full of imagery taken from an agricultural setting and perhaps especially from harvest time. How many parables did Jesus tell, for example, that speak of harvesting crops of grain and fruit?
But these stories very often speak about harvest as a time to separate the good from the bad don’t they? As a time to separate the wheat from the chaff and the weeds, and as a time for separating good fruit from bad fruit. And because Jesus explained his parables to his disciples, we know that when the Scriptures speak about harvest they’re very often using harvest imagery as a metaphor for something else, and that the stories themselves are allegories intended to convey a deeper meaning. Jesus’ explanation of his parables tell us that what this harvest imagery is very often being used for is to speak about a different kind of harvest, not as harvest as a time to collect produce from the land, nor as a time to separate good crops and good fruit from bad, but as that time when God will gather all people together from the earth and separate those who’ve done good, those who’ve done his will, from those who’ve lived according to their own will and done evil as a consequence.
And this is the theme of our readings this morning. Our reading from Isaiah speaks about a vineyard that’s going to be destroyed because it produced nothing but sour grapes. We know this is an allegory for Israel and its unfaithfulness to God because Isaiah tells us;
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!
Isaiah also speaks about the care the owner of the vineyard, the Lord, had lavished on his vineyard. The Lord asks what more he could have done for his vineyard. He says,
What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
We know that one of the ways the Lord cared for his vineyard was by sending prophets to call the people back to obedience to the covenant they had with the Lord, and back to righteousness through that. We also know that the prophets were harshly treated by the people. They were imprisoned, beaten, and if they didn’t want to be killed, as some were, they had to flee for their lives. And this is the theme that Jesus takes up in this morning’s Gospel parable. He speaks about the landowner, the Lord, sending servants to collect the produce of his vineyard, the grapes, the good fruit of the vine. But instead, the servants are beaten and killed. These of course, are the prophets. Finally, the Lord sends his son because he thinks that the tenants of the vineyard are sure to respect him, even if they didn’t respect the servants he’d sent. The son in the parable is obviously Jesus himself. But of course, the tenants treat the son in the same way because they think that if they kill the Lord’s son, they can take the vineyard as their own. Jesus asks what will the Lord do to these tenants when he comes himself? And of course the answer is that he’ll put an end to them and give the vineyard to new tenants who will give the produce of the vineyard to their Lord.
This is a parable that serves as a warning. We know that the Lord’s vineyard is the House of Israel because the Scriptures tell us that . So this is a warning to Israel that, as Jesus tells his hearers,
“….the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”
We know that the fruits the Lord is looking for are justice, mercy, righteousness, love and so on. We also know that, through faith in Christ, the kingdom has been given to us; we are those new tenants of the Lord’s vineyard. But does that make the Lord’s demand for good fruit from us any less than it was from the old tenants? No, it doesn’t. The kingdom is given to those who do produce fruit. So this parable also serves as a warning to us too, that if we don’t produce the good fruit the Lord is looking for, we’ll come to the same sorry end as those old tenants who mistreated and killed the Lord’s servants and his Son.
We might think that this warning doesn’t apply to us is the same way that it did to the people of Israel. I’m sure we all accept that whilst the Church does produce good fruit, and it does produce a lot of good fruit, there are a few bad apples in there too. But we don’t beat people up and kill them for pointing that out, in the way that the people of Israel did to the prophets. And we certainly don’t mistreat and kill Jesus so that we can take over the Church for ourselves. Or do we? Actually, yes, we do. We do these things in all sorts of ways.
As I said, we must accept that amongst the good fruit the Church produces there are a few bad apples. But try pointing out to a bad apple that they are one and see what happens. People who see things that are wrong in the Church, or people in the Church who are doing wrong, and speak up about it can be just as harshly treated as those servants of the Lord, the prophets, were by the people of Israel. They might not be physically beaten and killed, but they can be made to feel very unwelcome in the Church and by the Church. They can be criticised, be the subject of slander, and be ostracised by the Church, or at least by those members of the Church with the most to lose if people actually listened to these prophetic voices and acted on what they said. They might not be imprisoned or killed, but they can be silenced to the extent that they may as well be locked up or dead. It happens. But what do we think the Lord will do to those who treat people so badly for simply asking people to produce the fruit the Lord wants? Will he not treat them in the same way as the landowner treated the tenants in this morning’s parable?
But even if this happens, surely we can’t be accused of killing the Son so that we can have the Church as our own? Well again, yes, we can, and we do. How often have we seen things happen in the Church, things done by people of the Church, that are contrary to the teaching and example of Jesus, and yet these things are simply accepted and become the norm? How often have we seen and heard things that are contrary to the teaching and example of Jesus being promoted as the way the Church needs to do things? One way we see this so often in the Church is in the way the Church mirrors society. I’ve mentioned before the example of a parish in a world-famous medieval market town which has eleven clergy attached to it, whilst in less affluent or perhaps less famous places, two, three or more parishes have to share one priest between them. Is this inequality based on worldly wealth and status really what Jesus taught and showed in his earthly life? No, it’s not. And if the Church thinks this is right and good and acceptable, isn’t this a case of the tenants killing the Son and taking over the vineyard?
Another way this happens very often in parishes is in the ‘Church as social club’ situation that I’ve also spoken about in the past. That’s what happens when certain people in a parish decide the Church should be made up of their friends and people who think like them, like the same things they like and want the same things they want. What usually happens then is anyone who doesn’t fall into those categories can be made to feel unwelcomed, unwanted and unvalued. Those who aren’t in the ‘club’ can be excluded from things and prevented from having a voice in the Church. People can be deliberately kept off PCCs and other decision-making bodies in the parish or, if they should happen to be on something like that, shouted down in meetings or have their ideas ridiculed. Do we find authority or approval for treating people like this in Jesus’ teaching and example? Do we find approval or authority for taking over the Body of Christ in this way in Jesus’ teaching or example? No, we don’t. But this happens too, and when it does, what is this other than tenants killing the Son so that they can take over the vineyard? And what do we really think the Lord will do with those who do these things when he comes? Will he not bring them to the same sorry end that the landowner did to the tenants in this morning’s parable?
Scripture tells us that if we want to be gathered into God’s storehouse we must bear good fruit. The prophets tell us this; Jesus tells us this. In his Letter to the Galatians, St Paul lists the fruits we’re called to produce, the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. And Jesus tells us that we’re to show these fruits, these qualities, to all people, not just to our family and friends, not just to those whom we like and who like us, not just to those whom we agree with and who agree with us, not just to those who are wealthy, high and mighty in worldly terms, but to all people, whoever and whatever they are. This is what it means to bear and produce the good fruit of the vine that God wants from us. If we can produce this fruit, we have Jesus’ assurance that the kingdom of heaven will be ours. If we don’t. Well, then we have Jesus’ warning what we can expect come harvest time.
Amen.
Propers for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Trinity 18) 18th October 2023
Entrance Antiphon
O Lord, you have given everything its place in the world, and no one can make it otherwise.
For it is your creation, the heavens and the earth and the stars:
you are Lord of all.
The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us your gift of faith that,
forsaking what lies behind and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments and win the crown of everlasting joy;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:9, 12-16, 19-20
Philippians 4:6-9
Matthew 21:33-43
RCL (St Gabriel’s)
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:9-17
Philippians 3:4-14
Matthew 21:33-46
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 