The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation
The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 22](A)
Isaiah 5.1-7 Psalm 80.7-14
Philippians 3.4b-14 Matthew 21.33-46
May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart, that
I may rightly and truly proclaim His holy Word. Amen.
Outline of a
Sermon Delivered Extemporaneously
1) In Act 1, scene 4 of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet the following exchange takes place between the
minor characters, Horatio and Marcellus (lines 87-91):
Horatio He waxes desperate with
imagination.
Marcellus Let’s follow. ‘Tis not fit to obey him.
Horatio Have after. To what issue will this come?
Marcellus Something is rotten in the
state of
Horatio Heaven will direct it.
a) This exchange occurs when
the characters have seen the young Hamlet run off after the ghost of his
father, and debate whether they should stay where they are–as he has ordered–or
follow.
b) Notice that Marcellus says
that something is rotten in the state of
i) The fish is rotten from the
head down. The king is corrupt, and
therein lies the problem.
2) We encounter rot of another
sort in “The Song of the Vineyard,” which comprises our lesson from Isaiah.
a) The prophet sings of a
vineyard planted with care by the Lord
which, despite this care, has yielded “wild” grapes.
i) Actually, in Hebrew the word
here translated as “wild” means “rotten”.
It derives from the verb root “to stink”.
(1) In other words, something
stinks.
b) But the rot is not here head
down. The Lord of the vineyard here, and the landowner in Jesus’
parable of the vineyard and the wicked tenants, are righteous.
i) It is those who inhabit the
vineyard who are rotten.
(1) The wickedness is in each
case a bottom-up phenomenon, a wickedness which results from the willful
violation of the top-down design intended.
3) So, where does this leave us
today? In the midst of economic crisis,
wars and rumors of war, security threats, worries over the possibility of a
pandemic and/or a famine, can we say that something is rotten?
a) And if we do say that
something is rotten, is this a top-down or a bottom-up problem?
b) In terms of the problems of
our economy, many would argue this is a top-down problem.
i) But that ignores the fact
that all of the bad loans that now require some sort of bailout are loans
spread far and wide throughout society, and that a desire to live beyond means
has to be a desire of the one buying what he or she cannot afford.
ii) So, top-down or bottom-up,
there is plenty of blame to go around in this world.
c) But what about really
top-down? To what extent can we say that
our problems are because of what God is doing or not doing?
i) What does Jesus say about
the wicked tenants?
(1) “... the
(a) And a different translation
makes the issue even clearer: “... the reign
of God will be taken away from you ...”
(b) The reign of God, by
which we mean and understand that God is king, that
God is in charge, that His will controls.
4) You see, when we listen to
what Jesus has to say–when He says that those who fall will be broken, and
those on whom judgment falls will be crushed–we naturally think of judgment.
a) And when we think of
judgment we think of Hell and damnation.
i) And so we should, for
despite however good and clever we may be, we cannot earn or win our own
salvation.
(1) Absent God’s grace, absent
the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ we are damned.
b) But, despite a need to keep
ever in mind that, whatever it is, Hell is something more than a metaphor, I
don’t want to focus today on Hell and damnation.
i) However tempting it is to
every preacher to at some point pound the pulpit and say something like, “Can
you smell it? Can you smell the fire
that is never quenched?”, that’s not what Jesus is
getting at.
(1) He’s not talking about last
things and the life-everlasting.
(a) He’s talking about life now,
and about what life is like when God does not reign in our hearts.
(2) He doesn’t say that the
wicked tenants will be tortured, but that the vineyard will be given to others;
others who will produce fruits for the Lord.
5) Judgment is real. Hell is real, but judgment is now.
a) Judgment is now, that for
those who turn from Him God takes away His reign.
i) And then what happens? What does it look like if we live and God
does not reign in our hearts?
ii)
... the wrath of God is
revealed ... against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their
ungodliness suppress the truth. ... for
although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but
they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were
darkened. Claiming to be wise, they
became fools ... Therefore God gave them
up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity ... because they exchanged the
truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the
Creator ... And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up
to a base mind and to improper conduct ...
Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve
[judgment], they not only do them but approve of those who practice them (Romans 1.18-32).
6) There’s a lot there, and we
could spend a lot of time going back through that passage in detail.
a) But, rather then do that,
let’s just note that there’s a pattern.
i) A pattern of a life of
futility, a life chasing nothing beyond momentary pleasure and
something-for-nothing
b) Sound familiar? Turn on the TV, and beside hearing a news story
about financial crisis or a story about the latest “celebrity” baby born to an
unwed actress–besides a preacher who’ll smile and tell you that God really
wants you to be wealthy–what are you likely to encounter?
i) A pattern of advertisements
which would have you believe that the most important things in life are that
you know your credit score and that something like Viagara might really work.
c) God gave them up why? “[B]ecause they ... worshipped and served the
creature rather than the Creator”.
7) So where’s the Good News in
all of this? Well, let’s turn back to
a) He first describes a
background and training that is extraordinary, and that would today qualify him
for a position in high leadership.
i) Maybe we’d be better off if
b) And then he says that none
of this matters, that he may “... gain Christ and be found in him... [that] through faith in Christ ... I press on toward the goal
... of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3.8-14).
i) Gain Christ and be found in
Him. That’s the Good News, that the God of
judgment is the God of mercy.
(1) That we may be in
Christ.
(2) That God may reign in our
hearts, that we may “produce the fruits of the kingdom” in this world, and in the next world reach the goal, the “heavenly
call of God in Christ Jesus”.
8) I pray for our country. I pray for us as a people and as a
Church. I pray for the world.
a) I pray that in a world under
judgment the Spirit may so move hearts that they will be touched by the
heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
i) That they may produce the
fruits of the kingdom.
(1) The fruits of love, of
mercy, of justice, of obedience to God’s will.
b) I pray that as we have
prayed in the psalm today,
Turn now, O God of hosts,
look down from heaven;
behold and tend
this vine;
preserve what your right hand has
planted (Ps. 80.14),
that we may turn, may repent;
that we may “... give to [God] the produce, [the fruits of the kingdom,] at
harvest time” (Matt. 21.41).
In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.