Why Justice is Important
Matthew 21:33-45
Receive so that you can Give
Our faith is personal but not private. Our faith is communal but not the to be equated with group think. What does this mean? It means there is a balancing act when it comes to faith. One should take personal responsibility when it comes to faith which means you should take the truth claims of faith and think through how it applies and plays out in your own life. When you do that, it makes for a powerful testimony. On the other hand, it means that one should also remind yourself that faith is not a solo-song but one written to be sung in a choir. Faith shouldn’t be all about “me”. It should also be about “ all of us”. Not only about the one but also sometimes about the many.
We are at the end of an era called modernity. The emphasis in it was much on the individual as well as on the rational objective. We are entering a correction on that or a balancing of it by more local and tribal expressions of what it means to be human and in community. Both are good. We live in interesting times. Each find their own way through this balancing act but there is help in doing this. The Bible does give us valuable input on how to do this.
In this parable we find individual actions and group think. It really isn’t a beautiful story nor one with a happy ending. Maybe that was intentional. Maybe it’s like this parable whispers to us that if we don’t like the way this story goes, we should attempt and ensure to write a better one with our own lives. How can we do that?
Take stock of what you have received
The problem with these guys, one of their big problems, was that they did not give what they were supposed to. But paradoxically the solution did not lie in them simply giving more. Neither does it for us when we find ourselves unable or unwilling to give. The problem of giving is not solved by attending to your giving but by attending to your receiving.
Look closely and you will see that this parable starts off by going into detail about what and how they received this piece of land. The wall, the winepress and the watchtower were really nice add-ons, at the time probably luxuries. A wall kept enemies and predators out. It made for better productivity as it gave those who laboured, the ability to focus better on the task at hand. There were many things less to worry about when you had a wall. The same could be said of the watchtower. You couldn’t be caught off guard with a watchtower. It also gave you a good perspective of how things progressed in the garden. The winepress was off course, a means of production. It cut out the middleman. It increased your profit.
It is safe to assume these luxuries didn’t come with your average vineyard. You either had to add it yourself or come by without. One could describe these three items as “free money”. Now the attitude and actions of the renters contrasts with this “free money” they have been bestowed with. It is like they acted as people who did not receive these things and added it themselves. They didn’t take stock of how much they have received.
There is nothing more hurtful than when you give someone a gift that is either expensive or picked out lovingly and that person doesn’t even notice it. It is an indication that the person doesn’t appreciate it or you. It is a sign of that ugliest of human traits rearing its head…entitlement.
Now I don’t want you to say “Amen” and judge this to be a good sermon. Ok, I want that too but let us take this even further. I want you to right here, right now identify a wall, a watchtower and a winepress you have been blessed in your life. Something you recognize as a gift of God that not everybody got and that makes life possible or meaningful or even worthwhile and easier for you. I want you to remind yourself that that wall, winepress and watchtower’s effect might have been greatly increased by your toil efforts and care but that it is at its core, an undeserved gift of grace. If you do that what will happen? No small thing! Your life will be so much more of a better story than that of the renters in this parable. And wouldn’t we all like that very much?
It is a secret of the Kingdom. The only way to become, willing, eager, and generous givers is to become grateful receivers of God’s grace and to recognize what you have already been given. And it is always a good idea to start with Nature. If there is one thing we overlooked and underappreciated for too long, it is what enormous gift we have been given in nature…
“The famous Italian diver Enzo Mallorca dove into the sea of Syracuse and was talking to his daughter Rossana who was aboard the boat. Ready to go in, he felt something slightly hit his back.
He turned and saw a dolphin. Then he realized that the dolphin did not want to play but to express something.
The animal dove and Enzo followed.
At a depth of about 12 meters, trapped in an abandoned net, there was another dolphin. Enzo quickly asked his daughter to grab the diving knives. Soon, the two of them managed to free the dolphin, which, at the end of the ordeal, emerged, issued an “almost human cry” (describes Enzo).
(A dolphin can stay under water for up to 10 minutes, then it drowns.)
The released dolphin was helped to the surface by Enzo, Rosana and the other dolphin. That’s when the surprise came: she was pregnant!
The male circled them, and then stopped in front of Enzo, touched his cheek (like a kiss), in a gesture of gratitude and then they both swam off.
Enzo Mallorca ended his speech by saying: “Until man learns to respect and speak to the animal world, he can never know his true role on Earth.” ~ Vangelis.”
Yes Enzo and until it is recognized for the great gift it is…
Know thatViolence begets more violence and doesn’t solve anything
The opposite of giving what is due is not, not giving. It is violence and killing. Violence is grabbing and taking what was not meant for you. In this parable beating weren’t enough, it had to go to killings. Killings weren’t enough it had to go to stoning. Murdering servants wasn’t enough, it had to go to killing the Son Himself. When Jesus asked the crowd what the landowner should do, they all shouted that he had to revert to even more violence. Can you see how violence begets more violence in an endless cycle of violence? Jesus’s response is interesting. He points out that God will indeed disenfranchise the entitled murderers but it’s almost like He is saying God will build and even better vineyard instead of just retaliating. God will answer with good that conquer the evil, not stop the bad by more bad. In verse 44 He indicates that those that choose the way of violence needn’t be crushed. They will crush themselves against what and who is good. If ever there was hope for the battle between good and bad in our world-this is it.
Last Sunday I said that we must sometimes embrace and enter conflict. But meaningful conflict doesn’t have to mean violence. Actually, violence diverts attention and wastes energy away from the issue and its solutions. A commitment to non-violence or at least as little violence as possible in a broken and violent world befits followers of Jesus. May our lives and world never look like a US presidential debate.
Konow what the fruits are God are looking for; know it is all about the fruit
I think one of the most important key’s in this parable is the fruit. If you don’t get what the fruit means, much will be lost to you. Throughout this parable Jesus uses imagery from the Old Testament. A vineyard for instance, is the symbol of God’s people, Israel in the Old testament. The renters are the Jewish leaders and the servants sent out are the prophets. The fruit is justice. There is justice for oneself, something God grants everybody. But his part, referred to here is justice to those other than yourself. In the Old Testament that was most often three kinds of people; Widows, the poor and immigrants (often referred to as strangers in the land).
These workers were not only self serving, they were self serving to the point of hating everybody that pointed in the direction of justice for the marginalized. Jesus said elsewhere that a tree will be known by his fruit. In Matthew 25 Jesus sketches the final judgement and again the fruit is that according to which He distinguishes between those that really knew him and those that claimed to know him. These works of righteousness is not the grounds on which they are saved, but it’s the inevitable fruit without which nobody will get saved and that will never lack in anybody that is saved.
How you can know that you know the Lord is not by adding a few of these things to your chore list and ticking it off. How you know you know the Lord (and that He knows you) is whether you love bringing justice mercy and peace to people other than yourself increasingly. And strangely enough people that love pursuing such justice seems rarely to lack justice mercy and peace about and for themselves. Don’t walk out of here saying: “I must do more for others”. Walk out of here praying: “Lord make me love doing good things for others even more so that I might know You for who You really are”.
This week a whole bunch of you prepared meals for people you haven’t even met or established the merits off. This week, a congregant gave me a high quality sleeping bag for the homeless person who lives in a tent next to your church. This week Bob took time out of his busy schedule to take me to Burger King, just for a chat. This morning you left the comfort of your home where you could have watched many good sermons in flashy churches to be with God’s people in your flock. This week, God got his desired share of the harvest of your life, not to say we have fully arrived and attained perfection. May He increase our love for all people and justice.
Close
Acts of justice is not how you get saved. But it is the direction your heart and actions moves toward when you have been touched by Jesus. Jesus is the farmer that produces in us the fruit God is looking for and also the ability to love those fruits and its pursuits.
Micah 6: 8 states:
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”
Amen