Jesus’ Unfinished Parable

 

            I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again
—Parable are stories told about one thing, to make a point about another…
stories that aren’t easily digestible,
instead parables are stories that sit with you for a while
—you need to chew on them, until they start to chew on you.

            Now today’s parable is a curious one
—the only story Jesus doesn’t finish…
it is Jesus’ unfinished parable.

Let us pray

 

            My sacred imagination (or perhaps my sense of humor) always hears parables as a comedian setting up a joke:
“Have you heard the one about the landowner who planted a vineyard, put up a fence, dug a wine press, built a watch-tower…”

            “Why yes, yes we have, Jesus,” I imagine Peter saying,
“It’s Isaiah’s parable about the vineyard that produces rotten fruit…
It is Isaiah’s creative way of looking at his society and saying,
‘All is not well here.’”

God lovingly cultivated a relationship with his people,
gave the Laws of Moses,
reluctantly agreed to anoint David and his line as king,
accompanied his people through thick and thin
—Idolatries, Invasions, Injustice…
as things got worse God sent the prophets, who would again and again call the people back to faithfulness…
and yet, somehow, for all the pleasant planting,
justice was jilted and produced bloodshed,
seeds of righteousness yielded horrific fruit.

I’d imagine most nations could fit our own life together into such a story.
Here in the US our laws were planted to bring forth the fruits of
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…
yet there have certainly been times when:
-our strange fruit has been death dealing,
-we’ve grown weeds that are constraining, confining, and repressive,
-we’ve accidentally (or God help us intentionally) planted gardens of sorrow and sadness.

Yes, Isaiah speaks of bad seed.

 

And Jesus tells a similar parable
—or at least starts to…
it’s like Isaiah’s story, but with one key difference
—instead of focusing on the vineyard,
he focuses on the tenants,
the renters tasked with caring for the land…
people who are supposed to be good stewards of the land.
People who, unfortunately, confused stewardship with ownership.

They see themselves as owning the vineyard
—leaders who see themselves as owning the people of God.
Folks who confuse people with things
—who turn their neighbors into objects,
who don’t recognize that God’s image is firmly pressed on all of our siblings
—your neighbor belongs to God!
In fact, all of this belongs to God!

Imagine how we’d treat each other,
if we knew that the other person belongs to God!
Imagine how grateful we would be if we understood ourselves as stewards not owners
—Perhaps we would be caught up in gratitude
—wow, it is all a gift!

 

            Jesus tells of the landlord
sending servants to collect what is owed him,
and these tenants,
who are owners in their own mind
—these bad stewards
—proceed to do violence to the servants,
beating, killing, stoning them…
their bodies, one imagines,
become compost and fertilizer for the garden…

            So, the Landowner sends his son,
who the tenants plot against
—they seize him, throw him outside the vineyard walls, and execute him there…
and Jesus then asks, “What will the landowner do to these tenants?”

 

            And here’s the thing we easily get wrong about this parable…
if we don’t read carefully,
we imagine the response by the religious leaders is Jesus’ response,
Jesus’ ending to the story…
but in point of fact, the next words are those of the religious leaders.
Their response is:
“Kill ‘em and take their stuff.”
“Retaliation!”
“Respond to hate with hate.”

            These are not Jesus’ words, to be clear.
Not his ending,
but the ending written by the Religious Authorities.
This is not the Kingdom of God.
An eye for an eye is not Jesus’ way.
Replacing “Turn the other cheek” with a slap fight, is not of God…

It is also not the proper response of wider Judaism either
—as Rabbi Hillel taught around the same time as Jesus was teaching:
“What is hateful to you,
do not do to your neighbor.”

            Yes, the golden rule that is common across cultures and religions
is ignored by these religious leaders who respond to Jesus,
and by their own words they condemn themselves,
as they have sewn, so shall they reap.

Their judgement, “put those wretches to a miserable death and find other tenants.” It is like the Prophet Nathan’s condemnation of King David for the Rape of Bathsheba… Nathan describes for David a despicable man who steals sheep,
and David goes berserk with condemnation,
and Nathan drops the truth bomb saying, “You are that man.”

And so, Jesus’ story about the vineyard ends,
turning down the Religious Leaders’ dead end…
The parable is left unfinished…

 

Unfinished at least in words
—but the story is finished in Jesus’ own body.
After this extended back and forth with the religious authorities in Jerusalem,
Jesus embodies this story…
instead of simply a parable,
a story pointing to a reality
—he lives the story into reality,
so that the story of Stewardship and Grace
might be told to the whole wide world!

               Have you heard the one about the landowner,
who deeply loved his vineyard,
poured himself into it,
leased it to tenants,
sent servants to collect the fruits of his labor:
Jeremiah was thrown down a well,
Isaiah ridiculed,
John beheaded
—then God sent his son, Jesus.

              The Son was seized,
taken outside the walls of Jerusalem—that vineyard,
and executed there.

            But that’s not the end of the story
—the rejected stone, becomes the cornerstone.
Nothing, not even Sin, Death, and the Devil, can overcome it.

            The Son did not stay dead.

            He interceded with the Landowner.
He uproots the Religious Authority’s recommended “miserable death”
and plants life.
He renews every garden and vineyard,
transforming hate into peace,
pride into love,
loss into hope,
sorrow into salvation…

His Spirit tirelessly gathers and produces good fruit.

Amen.