Parable of the Vineyard 2022

We're still celebrating the birth of the Theotokos,

the mother of our Lord and our Savior, so let

us continue to be enthusiastic about that and

what that means. We have the feast day on Thursday.

We've heard a number of parables and gospel accounts

recently. which speak of the reception or lack

of reception of people to the Lord's message.

Of course, you know about the rich young man

he turned away. You know about the unmerciful

debtor who was forgiven yet couldn't forgive.

And today, we have this incredible parable. It's

a difficult story. It's not a warm, religious

message. It's rather harsh. But it's mixed with,

on this day, the gospel from John, which you

see at football stadiums, right? Now football

season started, so we read that verse. That must

be the connection. No, God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son. You see that

in the end zone at all these football games on

television. When you combine this together, then

this is a message with some hope for us. It's

not all bad news. But the church does want to

warn us. It wants to give us, this is what happens.

This is what you might expect. On Palm Sunday,

after being lauded as the Messiah, of course,

the people were looking for a military leader.

a political leader, a leader with worldly power.

As Jesus came into Jerusalem, see the fresco

up there, he is praised with shouts of Hosanna,

and blessed is he that comes in the name of the

Lord. And then he spoke that parable which you

just heard. A householder planted a vineyard.

And he sent in servants to care for it. I'm not

going to review the whole thing. But this story,

which is time for self -examination for us, is

a prophecy by Jesus of what had happened in the

Old Testament. Do I need to review that? The

prophets being killed? You know, the master sends

in... Servants to collect. He wants what he has

planted. He wants the fruit of that vineyard.

And the servants are killed. It's a prophecy

of what would happen in the next few days. That

is the crucifixion and death and resurrection

of our Savior. The master of the vineyard says,

I'll send my son. He has full authority. They

will respect him. St. John says about that. And

what's the response of the people taking care

of the vineyard? Oh, he's the heir. We'll kill

him. There's nobody left. It's all for us. Let's

kill him and seize his inheritance. St. John

says about that that God so loved the world that

he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes

in him should not perish but have everlasting

life. You're going to hear those words at the

anaphora in the liturgy when we're doing the

canon preparing for the consecration. For God

did not send his son into the world to condemn

the world, but that the world through him. might

be saved. Here is the coming of the Son of God,

which this parable foretells, his rejection and

his crucifixion. All this Jesus is speaking on

just a few days before his arrest. It's a story

of the rejection of the Son of God by the people

that God himself had constituted and brought

together and made a people. Not the nation, the

political nation of Israel, but the religious

people. Now this is a preparation that we hear

this parable today. It's a preparation for us

for the upcoming feast of the cross. And I look

at this incredible back wall. The whole story

of the gospel. The whole sorrow of the cross.

Christ praying in the garden. Apostles sleeping.

Christ being arrested. Christ being beaten. The

trial, the denial of St. Peter. Again, a rejection

of Christ because he was ashamed of the gospel

message. And then before Pilate, behold the man

and the crowds chanting, let him be crucified.

Let me just add here in a parenthesis. We are

the wild branch. The wild branch that is grafted

on to the tree of faith. The faith of Abraham.

The Jewish faith. They had the Old Testament

teachings. They had the law of Moses. They had

the revelation on Mount Sinai. They had the sacrifices.

Despite their lack of receiving their own Messiah,

which this parable is so clear about, Jesus of

Nazareth, God still has plans for them. They

are his beloved. It does us no good to think

that this parable is about the bad Jews then,

and the bad Pharisees, and all the people that

turn away from Jesus Christ. This gospel is speaking

to you and me. What's the point of reading it

if we don't take it personally? This is for us.

But remember, St. Paul is very specific in his

epistle to the Romans. He says, has God cast

away his people? Certainly not. For I am also

an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe

of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people

whom he foreknew. He has plans for them. It would

seem that thinking about our own response, my

own sorrowful sins before God, my lack of any

spiritual fruit, it would seem that what we have

experienced in the church life, God's love, the

Holy Spirit, the visit of just recently of that

precious Mers streaming icon, should prompt us

to feats of love, feats of love of God and our

neighbor. We see the cross, and there is the

example of sacrificial love and his love pouring

out to us so we can be like him, to be in communion

with him, to be his light. Let's remind ourselves,

brothers and sisters, as the liturgy does at

the Anaphora, about all that we have from God,

all that he's given us. Take yourself back to

Pascha, to the night and morning of Christ's

resurrection, to what was said in all of the

weeks following Pascha, the saints, all saints,

the Feast of Pentecost, all saints of America,

the visitation of the precious icon two weeks

ago, all the accounts of God's love and his healing

and trust in us. What is our spiritual maturity?

Why do we keep turning away from the Lord? Do

we have misplaced expectations of God, disappointments,

being mad at God, upset at God because he owes

us something? Do we have shame? So we can't move

forward. Like those Galatians that St. Paul says,

foolish Galatians, who has taught you another

gospel so soon? I'm amazed. He's telling them,

You can't be ashamed of the cross of Christ and

his message. This is the life and salvation for

the world. Is it because of some besetting sin

that we bear no spiritual fruit? Our passions

keeping us away? Is it avoidance of confession

and the grace and the forgiveness we will receive

from Christ? The actualization of the love of

God on the cross. is what we receive in confession.

This is an amazing mystery of the church. Do

we justify our sin before God? Are we ignorant

of all that God has done because we don't read

the scriptures, because we don't listen to the

gospel when it's read, or the epistles, and if

we don't understand what we hear in church, we

don't take the initiative to look into it for

that week. Remember, yes, the gospel stories

these last few weeks are speaking about a terrible

rejection of Christ. But never forget the parables

of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost

son. We call that the prodigal son. All of this

can be healed. Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, the

late and great Metropolitan of London. said this

in a sermon. Consider all this that I've just

said and ask yourself, am I not a worker in the

vineyard? And am I not one of those who pushes

Christ away from every time he enters my life?

Do I not say, get off my path, get out of my

life. I want to be the God, the master. I want

to manage everything. Thus speaks each one of

us, not so rudely, not so blasphemously, but

in actions and in rotten words. We must come

to our senses. I have said many times, says the

Metropolitan, that we are saved because God loves

us. Yet not by the love of God only, but by our

response to this love. If our wish is merely

to reap the fruits of the cross, of the crucifixion,

of the passion, and return nothing to God, and

give nothing to our neighbor for whom God has

died, except a momentary thought, we are alien

to everything that God has accomplished for us.

This isn't a sermon today to make us feel good.

I'm looking at myself first. When I speak like

this, and I figure I'm probably not the only

one. I do hear confessions frequently. We all

need to remember that the Lord expects an account.

Now, this is not something we can put off until

we think he's going to come again, whenever that's

going to be, or we die. He expects an account

of the fruit from what he has given us. So let

us joyfully, consistently, knowledgeably serve

him and we will bear that fruit of the grace

of the gift of the Holy Spirit and receive that

peace of heart which no one can take away from

us. And we're being built up now. We're being

built up as stones in this great edifice of God's

life. Amen.