Matthew 21:33-44 — Sermon by Scoggins Berg

Let us pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

May it uh be spiritual food for us this

morning. And may it be a two-edged sword

that cuts the lies and brings hope

through your truth

in Jesus name. Amen.

Today's gospel reading

is one of the harshest words Jesus has

ever uttered to us.

When I was given the gospel reading with

these hard words a few months ago, I

thought to myself, "Father Craig is

brilliant.

leave town and hand over the tough text

to a nobody like me.

So, brace yourselves.

And if you are brand new today

and offended by anything I say, I would

love to hear from you. Please send an

email to me at c stephvensccasav.org.

Uh

Jesus is shockingly intense in today's

parable.

The tone Jesus takes is that of a parent

who suddenly walks in to see their child

playing with a big knife surrounded by

friends.

Anybody other than me done that?

And the child freezes

because the parent is so intense,

serious, disappointed, angry,

but caring

at all the same time. This tone of

intensity, anger, and care is that of

Jesus in our story today.

My hope this morning

is that you would be that startled child

open to receiving an intense warning,

one that is also of life and death.

Throughout history, you can see major

threats to people coming to Jesus.

Whether it was when Christianity became

the state religion of the Roman Empire

in the year 380, mixing government and

faith, the church splitting into two in

1054,

cementing factions up through present

day, the violent Christian crusades of

the 11th and 12th century, or more

recently, Pastor Jim Jones, a wolf in

sheep's clothing, who led his church

into a cult. immediately leading 918

church members to their deaths.

What is the biggest threat today

in your minds? Maybe take a few seconds.

What is the biggest barrier

to people coming to Jesus?

You can easily point your finger at a

number of reasons and and I'm sure you

came up with maybe a valid one,

but did anyone come up with

you

and me

as the biggest threat?

Based on Jesus's teaching today,

what Jesus points out is the biggest

threat, what by far upsets him the most,

the most upset we've seen him in 33

years

could possibly be you and me.

My good and humble friend during college

during a moment of revelation said if he

were to ever make a t-shirt, it would

read, "I am the biggest part of my

problems."

Before we look at you as a barrier, it

is only fair that I point at myself

first.

I have helped propel the gospel

and heard it.

I helped while being a missionary in

Bosnia and mentoring at risk youth in

Cincinnati.

But I hurt the gospel by being quick to

anger with my sons who could easily

mimic that out in the world. or being

over overly competitive on the soccer

sideline as a coach, allowing my dark

side of triumph to overtake my witness

with fellow coaches and parents and

or allowing my pride to be triggered in

the workplace

when I feel undervalued and coming off

like a jerk to my boss.

I am the first to receive this warning

from Jesus.

But here at Christ Anglican, I have seen

the gospel propelled forward like the

Mels hosting two teenagers from Africa.

Christy launching a transformative

homeless ministry. Ana, Craig, Michael,

Lynn as small business owners, providing

great service, ministering to employees

and patrons alike. Tom's outreach and

care for SCAD students. Amazing examples

here of salt and light. And I'm looking

at many of you and I can the flooding of

of thoughts come in as to well as well

as your salt and light. But for most of

us,

what I want to put before you today

is to consider that we are the biggest

threat to people coming to Jesus.

Our biggest temptation in America is to

talk the talk. But Jesus needs us to

walk the walk.

There is hope from our readings today.

If you stay connected to the vine, you

will produce the most amazing fruit that

others may eat from.

We desperately need this in America, in

our communities, in our city. If you are

a Christian

in name only,

attend on Sundays like it is a club and

are good at being good,

you are dead on the vine.

And according to Jesus, you will be

trimmed off the tree.

My go-to daily devotional by Oswald

Chambers says, "Have you ever heard the

master say a harsh word? If not, I

question whether you have ever heard him

say anything."

Jesus Christ says a great deal that we

listen to but do not hear. When we do

hear, his words are amazingly hard.

The parable by Jesus from our gospel

reading today is given in the midst of a

few days where we see Jesus greatly

agitated.

And we will spend our time today in the

parable of the tenants

uh in Matthew 21 uh page 982 in your pew

Bibles.

We find Jesus five to six days before he

would take on the sin of humans on the

cross. He has entered Jerusalem on a

donkey, went to the temple to teach, but

found merchants profiting off the poor,

and comes hungry upon an empty fig tree,

but curses the tree, making it wither to

death.

When I was young, I can remember my

father would only get angry and curse uh

maybe, you know, in a different way than

Jesus probably

over two things. McDonald's drive-thru

orders that were messed up and bad

tasting fruit.

This fig tree story is a massive

foreshadow for our parable today. So

after killing the tree, Jesus then

returns to the temple courts angry for

sure. And the religious leaders now come

to question his authority.

A very bad beginning to this week. He

answers the religious leaders with our

parable today. And any parable given by

Jesus needs a breakdown for sure. And

because I dabble a bit uh in the theater

arts, I have particularly been focused

on the breakdown of the multiple

characters in this story. So, a a

vineyard is created by a landowner

played by God

and entrusted to a few tenants played by

the Jewish rel uh leaders that are

hearing him tell this parable. and they

are at work

to to the land as farmers and produce

its fruit for the the owner. And at

harvest time, the land owners send

servants played by prophets to collect

the fruit. The tenants run the servants

away, which depicts how the prophets

were persecuted in the Old Testament.

And in a final attempt, the landowner

sends his son played by Jesus. And the

tenants kill the son to take his

inheritance. At the end of the parable,

the moral of the story or main truth is

Jesus saying to the religious leaders,

"Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom

of God will be taken away from you and

given to a people who will produce its

fruit."

When the chief priests and the Pharisees

heard Jesus

say these things, they knew he was

talking about them.

My mentor at work for five years was

Mike Gerson, uh, speech writer for

President George W. Bush.

And in our monthly phone call, he would

always remind me, Christians shouldn't

point the finger at the other tribe,

whether across political lines or

denominational lines.

We need to point the finger inward,

holding our own tribe accountable.

This interchange this morning between

Jesus and the religious leaders is

exactly this idea of Jesus pointing the

finger inward.

You never see Jesus pointing with anger

outward

at non-believers,

at prostitutes and tax collectors. He

had compassion.

But the religious leaders should be

fruitful leading people to God. But

we're doing the opposite. And Jesus

harshly proclaims, "You will be kicked

out of the vineyard and replaced."

He said this in the parable right before

ours today. And he says it right after.

A few days later in the week after he

said this, Jesus goes on to describe the

life of these religious leaders. Why is

he so angry at them?

And there's a series of woes to you

religious leaders, which the Greek word

for woe here is ooi.

And I had to include some Greek uh for

my son Solomon who was literally this

week translating Greek for his college

class while simultaneously facetiming me

and Sheila. Um I I think this is I guess

what quality time looks like with a

college son these days.

Ui means a cry of mourning or wailing.

I don't know if you have ever heard

wailing before, but it is a sound you

never want to hear again.

Jesus is full of deep sorrow and anger

over how the religious leaders were

living out their life and publicly calls

them out. So remember the child with a

knife tone.

I mourn that you preach but do not

practice. I weep that you have created

heavy burdens for others that you do not

carry yourselves. I wail that you

elevate yourself in public and create

disciples twice as much a child of hell

than you are. I am angered you tithe but

you do not care about justice and mercy.

You look good on the outside, but full

of greed and self-indulgence on the

inside.

One word to summarize Jesus's judgment,

hypocrisy.

According to research done recently by

the Barner Group investigating why

non-Christians

doubt Christian beliefs.

The top response selected

was the hypocrisy of religious people.

This hits at the heart of Jesus's

concern in this parable and why he is

leaning so heavy into religious leaders.

They are getting in the way of people

coming to him. Jesus says, "If anyone

causes one of these little ones to

stumble,

it would be better for them to have a

large millstone hung around their neck

and to be drowned in the depths of the

sea."

Jesus is gutwrenchingly concerned

because you play a critical role in

people coming to him

or not.

Bottom line,

he needs us to walk the walk.

Because though you are not a religious

leader

in the first century, everyone observes

you. Everyone is watching you in your

family, in your neighborhood, in your

classrooms, in your office, in your

boardrooms, and on the sidelines.

As the 80s jam by the rock group The

Police, sung by the infamous British

rock staring

says, "Every move you make, every step

you take, I'll be watching you."

Where is a fantastic British singer like

Carrie when you need him? I need needed

some help there, Carrie.

Jesus says each of you are like a tree

in a vineyard that should produce fruit

that the world sees and can eat from.

A few weeks ago in Washington DC

uh and I shared this story at Compline,

so forgive me uh for hearing it twice. I

I witnessed an Anglican priest

walk into his senator's office for a

meeting to share his heart on ending

extreme poverty in Africa.

a very humble priest from a very small

congregation who wasn't sure he had any

influence

to wield in the most powerful public

square in the world. The opposite vibe

of the religious leaders we have been

reading about today when he nervously

walked into the Senate office for the

first time in his life. The legislative

director for the senator, a young man in

his late 20s, immediately smiled

because he recognized the priest.

He walked straight over to the

unassuming pe priest, past the other

prominent faith leaders in the room and

said with a big smile,

"Pastor,

I'm not sure if you remember me,

but six years ago, I was passing through

Casper

and I came in at the very end of your

church service.

You noticed that I had missed the entire

service and after everyone had left, you

performed the entire service over just

for me.

I've always wanted to find you and tell

you that that was the single most

transformative moment in my life.

This pastor walked the walk and he had

fruit hanging from his tree. The ripest,

juiciest, most crisp fruit that this

young man has ever tasted

and it changed his life.

The kind of fruit the owner of the

vineyard dreams of.

This is the litmus test for us on

whether you are producing fruit in your

life.

Does your extended family, neighbors,

co-workers, classmates, do they draw

close to you?

Do you have lowhanging beautiful fruit

that has an aroma they want to taste?

If not,

your spiritual roots are shallow

and either you don't produce anything

or you produce nicel lookinging fruit

that tastes sour.

My grandfather was a Minnesota farmer

and I grew a pepper once and on my back

porch. So, due to these amazing

impressive qualifications,

I would like to offer some farming tips

as we close this morning.

One farming tip, one option is to let

God trim you.

Let him cut the dead branches.

This is painful and takes time

to grow back. But Jesus says, "Every

tree that does not bear good fruit is

cut down and thrown into the fire."

Trimming branches is much better than

the whole tree becoming rotten.

for sure. Another option to be fruitful

is to follow the seasons of planting,

growth, and harvest. And remember, trees

don't bear fruit every day of the year.

Winter brings death and then rebirth.

Every tree that will reach harvest first

has to go dormant.

And Lent is the perfect natural time of

annual surrender. and then spring burst

forth and your tree will grow but only

if it is connected to the vine. Jesus

says,"I am the vine, you are the branch.

Abide in me and I will abide in you."

This is where your nourishment from the

foundations of the earth comes from.

Then add water, sunshine, time. This is

what I call the fanning the flame of the

Holy Spirit season

which might be the most important and

overlooked step and we are warned by

Paul not to quench.

Oxford dictionary says to quench means

to extinguish.

You can kill fire with lack of kindling,

wet wood, lack of oxygen or just

straight water. These are the

characteristics of the religious leaders

and which all lead to extinguishing the

fire.

At home, I have a homemade sauna

in my backyard where I cook rocks in a

fire pit and then transfer the granite

rocks into the sauna with a pitchfork,

oven gloves, you know, trying to look

cool for Jason.

show off my Norwegian heritage a little.

As if that does it.

And please don't imagine a nice cedar

cozy room with benches.

Think homemade igloo

using my boy's jungle gym dome uh

wrapped in pool tarps. That that's

that's the picture.

But keeping the fire going is the most

important aspect of this process. I

start with the flame with dead wood,

then it grows, and then I fan the flame

so the rocks don't get cold and are not

useful. Maybe you have found this to be

so.

Fanning the flame is a secret process.

It occurs each day in a secret place in

your prayer closet

where you slam the door, distancing

yourself from the physical to enter into

the spiritual.

This is God's gym where he inspires you,

teaches you, corrects, and disciplines

where the fruits of the spirit will

manifest.

What an amazing test of disciplehip to

fan this flame,

particularly when no one can see you do

this hard continuous work.

As a tree in a vineyard, you will suffer

drought,

be ravaged by storms,

but if you withstand,

you will be a beautiful, strong,

fruitful tree. A tree that Jesus would

walk to and smile with delight and not

curse.

A tree that for those doubting Christian

faith

has fruit that they can taste and see

that the Lord is good.

The good news this morning is that

though your hypocrisy could be the

biggest hindrance, you could be a part

of the biggest solution.

Once there was a landowner

who planted a vineyard.

He entrusted it to you,

the farmers to produce fruit.

At harvest time, he sent servants to

collect the fruit. And due to your

meticulous,

unwavering

walking the walk life, the servants

couldn't even begin to carry the heaps

and heaps of harvested fruit.

The vineyard owner was so proud of you,

he sent his son to see it with his own

eyes.

The son was so delighted and full of

pride, he said, "Go therefore

everywhere.

Go now to the driest, sunscorched,

abandoned vineyards, and be good

farmers,

making disciples of all the nations.

May it be.

Amen.