Trinity 18

Opening Verse of Scripture Matthew 11:28

Come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest 

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us your gift of faith that, forsaking what lies behind and reaching out to that which is before, we may run the way of your commandments and win the crown of everlasting joy; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

God, our judge and saviour, teach us to be open to your truth and to trust in your love, that we may live each day with confidence in the salvation which is given through Jesus Christ our Lord.

First Bible Reading Isaiah 5.1–7

Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watch-tower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts  is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!

Second Reading Philippians 3.4b–14

Even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel Reading  Matthew 21.33–46

 ‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watch-tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’

Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes”? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Post Communion Prayer

We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast: for here we receive you, here the memory of your passion is renewed, here our minds are filled with grace, and here a pledge of future glory is given, when we shall feast at that table where you reign with all your saints for ever.

Commentary

In our gospel reading Jesus uses the image of the vineyard, which we see in the Old Testament reading from Isaiah, to continue his message of judgement on the chief priests and pharisees for turning the Temple into ‘a den of thieves’.  And it’s easy to read lots of symbolism into the passage, but the words and exchanges are far more than that.  More than just a list of allegories about faithfulness and judgement with the vineyard standing for Israel, the landowner stranding for God, the tenant farmers standing for the leaders of Israel, the fruit standing for what is owed to God etc.   Today’s passage about the vineyard and winepress follows Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, straight after which He goes to the Temple to drive out all who were buying and selling there.  After this, Jesus begins to teach in the Temple courts, which is when the chief priests and the ‘elders of the people’ come to him and begin to question where Jesus’ authority comes from.  Several parables follow, one of which is our reading today. 

Jesus expands on the reading from Isaiah by introducing the concept of tenants, those who are responsible for the vineyard while the master is away.  As we’ve seen, clearly the vineyard is Israel, so the tenants are readily identified with the chief priests and pharisees, who have the responsibility to care for God’s people.  At the time of Jesus, tenants of land or a vineyard were expected to give the landlord an agreed portion of their crop as ‘rent’, but Jesus points out the tenants in His story have not done this, even though they had multiple opportunities to do so as more of the owner’s servants are sent to ask for a share of the crop.  They are just like the Old Testament prophets sent by God, to whom it seems no one would listen or take heed, and who themselves were ignored and persecuted by the leaders and their people.  The leaders who are listening to Jesus understand the full significance of the story.  But Jesus then amplifies things further.  He speaks of a stone rejected by the builders which became the cornerstone.  As the crowds entered Jerusalem a few days earlier preparing for the Passover they would be singing the pilgrimage songs, the Hallel (Praise) Psalms, Ps 113 – 118 with which the chief priests and pharisees would be very familiar.  The verse about the stone being rejected is a direct quote from Ps 118 v 22, and the cornerstone it refers to is nothing less than the cornerstone of the Temple itself.  Jesus is telling both about Himself (‘…by whose authority are you doing these things?’) and themselves, they as Israel’s leaders have not done what God has asked of them, and now they are rejecting the cornerstone that He has sent.  This is all the more pointed in that the Temple leaders at the time were overseeing a major renovation of the Temple, a project that began with Herod around 20 BC and would continue for the next 80 years.  It’s as if Jesus is saying that they might be rebuilding the Temple but in rejecting the cornerstone, the Temple they are rebuilding has no sure foundations.  In contrast to this, Jesus announcing Himself as the cornerstone of a new ‘Temple’, announces His ultimate victory and the body of believers, the church, which will be established forever.  That’s why Jesus states so bluntly to the religious leaders that the Kingdom of Heaven will be taken away from them.  Jesus also refers to two other scriptures with which the religious leaders would be familiar, quoting from Isaiah 8, where the Lord is a stumbling stone to the unfaithful, and Daniel 2, where the pagan kingdoms which will be shattered by the stone of the new kingdom which becomes a mountain filling the earth.  It doesn’t make for good listening to the Temple leaders!

Importantly, the passage indicates that the rejection of Jesus is the climax of Israel’s rebellion against God.  The tenants are identified with the Jewish leaders, not the Jewish people themselves.  Any conflict is between Jesus and the Jewish leaders, not Judaism.  Moreover, it is not the vineyard that comes under judgement but those who are in charge of it. 

This could all seem very dry and academic, but it does challenge us about how we steward that which we have been given to look after for God, the earth and its people.  Do we sometimes fail to see and hear what is before our very eyes and ears?  Do we sometimes need to see things from a new and different perspective.  That certainly happened to Paul.  In the reading from Philippians, he describes the transformation of his heart and mind as an example to others.  It’s an encouragement to them that anyone can undergo this same transformation if they, and we, open ourselves to Christ and the love of God that is poured out through His Son through faith.  Transformation that comes not though our own credentials or efforts but by simply accepting the ‘heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus’ in each of our lives.  Transformation that impacts not just ours heads but our hearts and souls, and enables us to catch a glimpse of our world through God’s divine perspective.

Sam Cappleman

Meditation

Paul’s letter to the Philippians is sometimes described as a letter of friendship and contains expressions of concern, encouragement, and gratitude.  Compared to some of Paul’s other writings it can a bit more straightforward to understand but contains nonetheless some profound insights into the Christian faith and how we understand Christ Himself.  Paul is very open in this letter and shares with great frankness why he follows Christ and the joy this brings.  He underlines the sense of grace and serenity in the face of rejection, adversity, and opposition.  He speaks of the incarnation and death of Christ and His exaltation as Messiah and Lord of all.  He speaks to disciples about the need to imitate Christ, even in His self-emptying, and encourages them regarding the supreme power of the resurrection.  In the passage from today’s reading Paul reveals his credentials and his commitment to his heritage, of which he is understandably proud.  But he mentions these in the context of them being utterly transcended by Jesus as Messiah.  Paul owed much of his understanding of God to his heritage and his Jewish faith, but it did not end there, his identity is now firmly rooted in Christ.  He looks to the future which will unfold, not just the past which has shaped him.  He no longer sees his worth in his earthly credentials or accomplishments but in the Christ who has enabled him to become a new creation, a child of the God he worships.  Paul’s new righteousness is not based on the law, but on that which comes through Christ as a divine gift to all, a restored relationship with God.

Sam Cappleman

The Gospel of Matthew shows one of the components of Jesus’ ministry was specifically to the people of Israel, the Jews, to call them back to their original experiences of God’s saving love and their genesis as God’s chosen people. Through Matthew both the people of Israel and the people of Christianity are reminded of just who they are in God’s eyes and how they are to respond. History has shown how, at one time or another, all of us can be resistant to the call of God and the mission of Jesus. The Gospel reading, which echoes and quotes a similar story in Isaiah 5, is a stark reminder that we need to be always open to the call of the Lord, open to hear His voice and obedient to His commands. Neither should we undervalue or waste the gift of the vineyard, which He has given us. We are holy stewards of His good news and His Kingdom and we are to share generously with all who share His creation with us.

Sam Cappleman

Hymns

• Christ is made the sure foundation
• Fight the good fight
• How firm a foundation
• I the Lord of sea and sky
• My song is love unknown
• Safe in the shadow of the Lord
• Praise to the holiest
• The head that once was crowned with thorns
• We have a gospel to proclaim
• When I survey the wondrous cross
• Jesus the very thought of thee

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Additional Material

Commentary

The alternative Old Testament reading is the Exodus version of the Ten Commandments. I am always struck how it was when the Israelites were lost and wandering in the dessert, at a time of immense need, that God met them and spoke with them in such a profound manner. They have been fed with the manna and the quail, they have drunk water that has come from a rock and now they are given the precepts on which so much of our modern society depends upon. Shortly after God gives these commandments to the people of Israel Moses approaches the thunder and lightening and the ‘thick darkness where God was’. It’s a salutary reminder that even in the darkness God is there, ready to meet with us however dire our apparent circumstances. Sometimes it can be easy to think about God and to pray when all is right with the world and ourselves. It’s another thing when times are difficult and we seem to have all the cares and worries of the world on our backs. Exodus reminds us that God is with us in our darkness and that He will lead us through into the lightness of His freedom and salvation. We have a hope and a confidence in Christ. And as strong as this hope and confidence is, Paul reminds us that our challenge can sometime be to put our trust in Christ alone. By Jewish and Roman standards Paul had every reason to be confident. He lists His Jewish credentials in the today’s Epistle. The Jews would see Him as a ‘good boy, from a ‘good family’, from a ‘good tribe’ with a ‘good education’. He’d make a ‘good catch’ for someone you can imagine the mothers all saying. He also has good Roman credentials which gives him a status in the society in which he lives. But he lays aside all these Jewish and worldly credentials to take hold of ‘that which Christ took hold of for Him’, a restored relationship with the Father. He wants to press on to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and even sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings so that He too can come through the darkness of the world into the light of Christ. 

The gospel reading brings to a head the debate which has been occurring throughout Matthew’s gospel, the exchanges between Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes where the Pharisees and scribes question the authority of Jesus and Jesus is questions their understanding of the Law, and by extension, of God. Landowner and vineyard would be understood by the listeners, and certainly by the chief priests and Pharisees as God and Israel. The wall symbolises the Torah, the law given to Moses so that the Jews could be God’s special people and a light to the world. The present tenants, the current Jewish religious leaders, know that the Messiah will take away their primacy. They must kill Him in order to retain the inheritance for themselves. Jesus makes it clear that He, as the stone the builders rejected, is the Messiah and that the Kingdom of God is now being taken out of their hands and given to those who will know what to do with such a privilege and responsibility and produce fruit and share in the harvest. In Hebrew the word for son is ‘ben’ and the word for stone is ‘eben’. The stone of Isaiah is linked to the Messianic stone in Daniel (Dan 2 v 31 – 45), the Kingdom that will never be destroyed, and both are linked to the son and stone and the coming of His Kingdom in this gospel story. For the Jewish listeners it’s a chilling tale. Paul sees himself as being one of the vineyard tenants and understands the importance of trusting in the Messiah alone. He realised that along with others he was not the perfect tenant of the vineyard and needed the salvation that the Messiah could bring. We too may not be the perfect tenants of the vineyard, God’s Kingdom on earth, but we too have a responsibility to hear God’s calling on our lives and respond to Him as Paul did, caring for His Kingdom and trusting in Christ as our saviour alone. That is the responsibility we have today as Christ’s church. And whatever state we or the church may be in, our Old Testament and New Testament readings reminds us that our confidence is in the God who meets with His people, sometimes in the darkness, and offers us all eternal life through the resurrection of His Son. It’s a reminder too that we are to take our responsibilities seriously, whatever they may be. In the recent news we have heard and read about what may be seen by some as a lack of responsibility in the financial markets which has certainly led to many people being in tough and difficult places at the current time. As the Jews found in the wilderness, God meets with His people in the dark places of the world. Indeed, sometimes it seems like we need to be in those dark and desperate place before we are desperate enough to meet with Him. As Paul’s life would testify, our security in not in the financial markets but in God alone and He meets with us whenever we turn to Him, in the dark places and the light, in good times and in bad, as we put our trust in Him alone as our Lord and Messiah. Sam Cappleman 

It is surprising to think that simply telling stories could get you killed, but words can be more powerful that the sword. In the stories which Jesus told his words were explosive. His stories or parables had meanings contained within them and they went off like time bombs in the minds of their listeners. Parables had been around for a considerable time but never before had they been used to such great effect. In Matthew 43% of Jesus teaching is in parables, Jesus taught in stories. They had the same effect as the time when in the Old Testament God sent the prophet Nathan to King David with a parable. David had arranged the unfortunate death of one of his soldiers called Uriah because he wanted to steal his wife Bathsheeba as one of his many wives. Nathan told David the story 

'There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meagre fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveller to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.’ 

We are told that when David heard this story his anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’ Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!  If Nathan had simply accused David it might have provoked anger, but the story beguiled him into a situation in which he was engaged in the narrative at a deeper emotional level. 

It was the same with parables, they touched parts of the person listening which ordinary teaching never reached. Jesus is the greatest teller of parables that has ever lived and because parables are easily remembered stories we know that when we listen to them that they are just about as close to the actual words which Jesus as is possible. These parables entered the ears of those who heard them and then when they least expected it suddenly they were engaged in what was going on in a way that they had never imagined. Jesus started off by telling a simple story about a farmer and his crops, or the owner of a vineyard and his tenants and then all of sudden people realised that it was not such a simple story after all, he was really speaking about them and God. 

The Pharisees would have listened calmly to the parable from Matthew today about a landowner who planted his lovely vineyard and who put it in the care of tenants. When Jesus told them that the tenants refused to pay and killed his slaves and even his son the Pharisees and everybody else would have been moved to indignation, thinking that the wicked tenants should get what was coming to them - just as did King David. However when they realised Jesus was comparing them to the tenants their reaction was very different from King David. Whereas David was full of remorse and realised his failings, they were furious and wanted Jesus arrested ! It was only the popularity of Jesus with the crowds who regarded him as a prophet that prevented this from happening. Nevertheless we know how this was going to end, Jesus had shown them to be unworthy of what had been entrusted to them and now he was their enemy and they would soon have him arrested and crucified. 

We know that this is an important parable because it is one of only three that appears in all of the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This is surprising because it is not one of the best loved of Jesus parables, but it is important because it shows clearly how Jesus was teaching that God was calling to an end the leadership of the Jewish people and was establishing a new community based not upon Judaism but himself. In his story Jesus is bringing to mind the long history of thinking of Israel as a vineyard as seen in Isaiah 5:1-7

'I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,

but it yielded only bad fruit.'  This passage had been used as a warning against Israel that because they had not been faithful they were going to be destroyed by Babylon and this came to pass with the Babylonian exile in 586BC. 

So in Jesus parable the landowner is God and the vineyard is Israel. The wicked tenants are not so much the Jewish people as their leaders, we know that Jesus had compassion on the poor ordinary people who were exploited by the religious leaders. However make no mistake it was bringing to an end God’s special relationship and provision for Israel. We begin with a landowner who must be wealthy. He spends money freely to make this an excellent vineyard even though it won’t produce fruit for at least four years. It would be possible to plant a vineyard without a fence or wine press or watchtower, and that is what most landowners would do. This landowner, however, does everything right—everything! He spares no expense in making this a first-class vineyard—a vineyard that lends itself to efficient operation—a vineyard that gives the tenants every advantage.When we understand this parable as an allegory, this means that God has done everything possible to give Israel every advantage. He has established an everlasting covenant with them—has led them through good times and bad—has given them the Promised Land as their inheritance—has given them the law and prophets to guide them.

In first century Palestine it was expected that tenant farmers paid an agreed portion of the crop to the landlord. This is a new vineyard, so the owner cannot expect much fruit for the first several years. It is important, however, that he show diligence in collecting his rent (or his portion of the produce). If the tenants can show that they have had unsupervised ownership of the land for three years, they stand a good chance of establishing title in their own names—taking legal possession of the land. By collecting rent on a regular basis, the landowner is protecting his title to his land. The amount collected is less important than the fact that the owner collects it and re-establishes his ownership. In the story the tenants have not met their obligations and when servants were sent to remind them, the tenants simply had them killed. The servants are the prophets who called Israel to repentance but who were persecuted by the leaders of the people. A little later in Chapter 23:37 Jesus will say

‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!   The allusion is to Israel’s treatment of God’s prophets. They killed Zechariah by stoning him (2 Chronicles 24:21)—beat Jeremiah and placed him in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:2)—killed the prophet Uriah (Jeremiah 26:21-23)—and “killed your (God’s) prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you (God)” (Nehemiah 9:26). (See also Matthew 5:12; 23:29-37).

The benevolence of the landowner is beyond expectation in that he gives the wicked tenants many opportunities to repent. Having beaten, stoned and killed the first servants, more are sent who are treated in the same way. Even so, there is a last chance when the landowner sends his son who of course represents Jesus, who comes after the line of prophets and who will be treated in exactly the same way. Our ‘Picture Paints a Thousand Words’ painting today is appropriate as it shows the scene when Jesus is arrested by the priests to be turned over to the Romans demanding his death. When Jesus concludes the parable by asking what the landowner should do to these wicked tenants, those who heard indicted themselves by saying  ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’ Jesus then explains the parable using an image of a cornerstone and a building from Psalm 118. This psalm would have been fresh in the minds of those present as it was shouted as he entered Jerusalem (Matthew 21:9) ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’  This Psalm celebrated the rescue by God of his people, Israel was like a rejected stone which had become the indispensable cornerstone! Psalm 118 was a pilgrimage song which celebrated the temple and its worship, but that privilege was to be taken away. No longer would Israel be God’s cornerstone. All of this would make much more sense at the time because the temple was in the midst of a great renovation. King Herod had begun the project in 20BC and it was not finished until AD63, so when Jesus said these words they were still building it. Religious leaders always have to be extremely careful when engaged in building projects. They can be viewed as vanity projects, great physical testimonies to the stature of the spiritual leader. You can imagine the pride of the priests and religious leaders at their great building project. When Jesus tells them that they have rejected the cornerstone he is attacking their building and all that it represented, them in particular. Jesus is saying that God is not going to have anything to do with their shiny new building with its super large stones that everybody so admired. The time was up for these wicked tenants who were responsible for building it. Instead God would build a new temple, one not made of hands, and the cornerstone would be Jesus himself. 

It is a bit confusing in that Jesus starts off talking about a vineyard and then talks about buildings and a cornerstone. However it makes perfect sense when you understand that the vineyard story is all about bad men rejecting God and as a consequence God will reject those bad men. They had built a giant temple and it would have amazing architecture and would of course have a cornerstone, but it had nothing to do with the God. They had rejected God by their selfish religion and therefore God was rejecting them. The Son he had sent, who they would kill, he would be the cornerstone of a new and living worship which had nothing to do with them. Charles Royden 

Meditation

For the Jews, feasts were held in celebration of good harvests several times a year. Jesus refers to the grape harvest in today's reading from Matthew. Jesus uses it to illustrate that the Pharisees had really lost the plot. They were so afraid that the Jews might be exiled to Babylon again, that they thought if they kept every law, both the written laws of Moses and the oral traditional law of their ancestors, that God would keep them safe in Jerusalem. Because it was so difficult to keep all these laws, rather than drawing people to God they had the opposite effect, they began to put barriers in their way. The Pharisees were misusing the gifts and responsibilities which had been entrusted to them and Jesus spoke out against this abuse. 

Rather than preparing the ground and making it fertile and ready for the harvest it was becoming more bleak and barren by the day. Not only had the Pharisees misused the gifts of God, most importantly they did not recognise the greatest gift which God had given the world, His Son. They liked to listen to Jesus, but they thought His ideas were too radical. Jesus told them repeatedly that they kept the letter of the law, but lost the spirit; they made a show of loving God with their public prayers, but they didn't have compassion for people and the harvest was being lost.

God has given us many gifts, some of which we celebrate through the harvest festival. We remember His goodness and provision for us and are challenged to use His gifts wisely. Many people are less fortunate than ourselves and we need to remember God loves them too, and often could use us, and the gifts He has given us (to look after) to demonstrate that love for them, not just at harvest time, but all the year through. Using the gifts He has given us in the service of others is one of the most appropriate ways of demonstrating our gratitude to God for what He has done for us. Sam Cappleman