Tear Down This Hedge!

Welcome to Hill Country Homilies, weekly homilies from Holy Annunciation

Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Annunciation is an

old calendar Orthodox Church, sharing the faith of the apostles

and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth.

Now let's listen to this week's homily.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and

the Holy Spirit, glory to Jesus Christ. Have a seat

if you wish. Now, some of you are old enough

to remember when Europe was both literally and symbolically divided

by a massive concrete barrier called the Berlin Wall. Others

may know of it only from history. It was built

in 1961 by the communist government of East Germany. And

the wall stretched throughout the city of Berlin and became

the most visible symbol of a world divided between liberty

and totalitarianism. Families were separated, freedom of movement was restricted,

armed guards stood watch to prevent people from crossing from

the Soviet East to the Allied West, and many died

trying to escape from one side to the other. In 1987,

President Ronald Reagan stood before that wall and famously challenged

the Soviet leader, demanding, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

And two years later, the wall was gone. And that

which had been separated began to join together in a

new era of freedom. Now, you may be wondering why

I begin a homily with a story about the Cold

War and the fall of communism. But the story really

isn't about the fall of communism. It's about that wall

and everything that it stood for. And today's gospel, likewise,

begins with its own account of a wall. We all

know the parable of the wicked vine dresser that was

read today. A landowner plants a vineyard, entrusts it to tenants,

and departs into a far country. And when the season arrives,

he sends servants to collect that which is rightfully his.

But his servants are beaten, they're rejected, and they're killed.

More servants are sent and they suffer the same fate.

And finally, the owner sends his beloved son, believing that

they will respect him. For the tenants not only cast

him out, they murder him as well, believing that they

can then lay claim to his inheritance. And we understand

clearly what the Lord is describing. The servants are the

prophets whom God sent time and again to Israel, but

they were rejected. And the son, of course, is Christ

himself rejected again. and crucified by those who should have

received him. And we also know the outcome. The unfaithful

tenants are judged and the vineyard is entrusted to others

who will render its fruits in due season. A prophetic

image of the judgment that would befall unbelieving Israel and

the calling of the Gentiles into the kingdom. Yet because

these themes are so familiar to us, we often hurry

straight to the crime and the punishment. But before we

do so today, it's worth pausing at the beginning of

the parable and asking a different question. What had the

owner done for the vineyard before any of this tragedy unfolded?

The gospel reading begins, there was a certain householder who

planted a vineyard and hedged it round about and digged

a wine press in it and built a tower and

let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country.

So right off, we can see that the householder who

represents the father didn't just plop tenants into the middle

of bare land. Instead, he carefully prepared everything that they

would need to bring forth the good fruit. He planted

the vineyard before the tenants were even there. He placed

a hedge around it and made both a wine press

and a tower. In other words, he let out his

vineyard to the tenants he chose with all that they

needed to flourish. The fathers of the church tell us

that each of these items symbolize God's provision for the Jews.

The winepress represented the altar upon which they would offer

their sacrifice to Him. The tower represented the temple from

which the worship of God would be given. And before

any of that, we are told that He hedged it

round about. That is, this entire vineyard was enclosed by

the sort of thick, tall hedges that you might see

in photos of royal gardens or arboretums. the entire vineyard

was protected by this hedge wall. When the fathers speak

of this hedge, they characterize it differently in what precise

representation is intended. But to a one, they represent it

in a similar manner. Blessed Theophilact, whose commentary is said

to be the best mirror of the mind of the

church in matters of scriptural interpretation, says that the hedge

represents the law which prevented them from mixing with the Gentiles.

This encompasses a literal prohibition on mixing, for instance, the

bar under the Mosaic Law on intermarriage between Jews and Gentiles.

But since it's evident... that the Jews and the Gentiles

were in commerce regularly, the hedge is interpreted to mean

not just the law of Moses, but all laws that

were intended to represent and to preserve the chosen nation

of God from pagan influence. So the hedge is intended

to represent a protection for the tenants, for Israel. But

this is the thing about walls. They can both protect

and imprison. And if all things were prepared for the

husband to bring forth fruit for the householder, then the

fact that they slew the servants and the son tells

us that something went horribly, horribly wrong. And what went

wrong was the law itself, or rather its misuse. We

all know that the law was given to Israel after

the fall, but why was it given? The law was

never to be an end to itself. It was never

a path to salvation. Rather, the law was given to

preserve Israel, to restrain sin and to prepare mankind for

Christ and to protect the true worship of God until

the coming of the Messiah. As St. Irenaeus pointed out,

the purpose of the law was to prepare them for

the coming of Christ. Yet the Jews remained unwilling to

be subject to it. All this law erected for their protection,

not from outside enemies, but from their own hard-heartedness. all

this law became the seed of their destruction. Irenaeus reminds

us that not only by actual transgression did they set

the law of God at naught, but they also set

up their own law in opposition to it, which is

termed even to the present day pharisaical. And so this

law that was intended for their protection, for their education,

remember Paul calls the law a tutor, to bring us

to Christ, and ultimately their reunion with God turned instead

to a prison which separated them from their Lord, and

which caused them to slay the prophets that were sent

for their edification, and finally even the Son who was

sent for their salvation. Walls often seem to offer protection

and safety when we walk in fear of the world

around us. But as Christians, we're not to fear the

material world which God has made for us. We are

to fear God, before whom even the angels fall down

and cover their faces. And so having betrayed the very

Lord who planted them in this vineyard, the tenants find

themselves punished and cast out. And the vineyard is then

open to new tenants who will render to the Lord

the fruits that he is due. Archbishop Averke warns us

not to understand this parable as being about the second

coming of Christ. Rather, he speaks of it as to

the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the end of

the Old Testament priesthood. and the fall of the Sanhedrin

scribes and the Pharisees. The new vine dressers are the

apostles and their successors who become the pastors of the church.

And of course, one of the first things the apostles

had to deal with was the question of the law.

And what was meant for those outside of Jerusalem now

to be joined to Christ in his body, which is

the church. Because the first Christians were Jews. They worshipped

in the temple. They kept the feast. They'd been raised

under the law of Moses. But as the gospel spread

among the Gentiles, a great controversy emerged. Must these converts

also be circumcised and keep the whole Mosaic law in

order to be saved? The apostles gathered in Jerusalem, it's

in Acts 15, to decide the matter. And after hearing

from Peter and Paul, Barnabas and James, they concluded under

the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also in Scripture, that

the Gentiles were not to be placed under the yoke

of the Mosaic law. Instead, they imposed only a few

necessary restrictions for the sake of holiness and peace within

the church. In other words, the apostles quickly recognized that

the law had served a divine purpose in preparing for Christ,

but that with the coming of Christ, a new stage

in God's plan had become. The church was not abandoning

the law as though it had been evil. Rather, she

had understood that its purpose had been fulfilled in the

Messiah to whom it had always pointed. And for those

who protest, let us remember what St. John Chrysostom says,

recollecting Paul's epistle to the Galatians, he writes of the

time before Christ, the law, then it was our tutor,

and we were kept shut up under it. not as

an adversary, but as a fellow worker of grace. However,

after the coming of Christ, continued subjugation to the law

may hinder those who, like the Gentiles, seek after Christ.

So Christus continues, but if when grace has come... It

continues to hold us down. It becomes an adversary. For

if it confines those who ought to go forward to grace,

then it is the destruction of our salvation. The law,

despite its intended function, in spite of its laudable intentions,

became a prison for the Jews. Applied outwardly, it became

a stumbling block for the Gentiles. And since no man

was ever saved under the law, what place could it

even have when Christ has conquered death and made for

us a path to the resurrection? The apostles lay upon

the faithful a few simple requirements to keep peace in

the church. Christ calls us to live out two great commandments,

to love God and to love our neighbor. When we

put on Christ, we need to be neither imprisoned nor

stumbling blocks to our brothers. We do not need a

tutor when we have beheld the teacher face to face.

And having said that, let us be clear in our

understanding of those traditions that the church has bequeathed to us,

because perhaps the greatest mistake we can make is to

think that orthodox praxis is some sort of a new law,

replacing the old one, just another list of rules with

different content, because it's not. We fast, we pray, we

keep the feasts, we make prostrations, we confess our sins,

not because God needs these things, not because we can

earn salvation through them, but because these are the actions

of those who love God. A husband doesn't remain faithful

to his wife because a law book commands it. He

does so because he loves her. A child who loves

his father does not ask, what is the minimum required

of me, but delights in all ways to please him.

In the same way, the practices of the church are

not chains placed upon us, but the language of love.

They are age-old examples by which love for God is learned, expressed,

and deepened. If we keep them merely as legal obligations,

we begin to build our own prison. We begin to

plant a new hedge. But if we keep them out

of our love for Christ, then they cease to be

burdens and become a joy. For the Christian life is

not about conformity to a code, but communion with a person.

The law could command obedience, but only Christ can teach

us to love. So brothers and sisters, as we depart today,

let us tear down that wall of legalism that tangles

so many in today's world. Let us focus ourselves on

the two great commandments of love, love of God and

love of neighbor. And let us embrace the praxis that

we have received, not out of fear, not out of duty,

but out of love for God, making our small offering

of ourselves out of our own free will. And having

been made sons of God, not by the law, but

by faith, let us draw near to Him who has

given us a promise through His incarnation, voluntary ascent upon

the cross. To Him be all glory, honor, and worship

of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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