Merely Tenants

Matthew 21:33-46

[Jesus said,] “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 watchtower. 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.

A couple of times, every other week these days, I drive by an apartment complex that sits right next to the Cancer Center at Community North Hospital. It looks very much like the apartment complex I lived in for a couple of years, my Junior and Senior years in college, and I found myself waxing nostalgic about those days and that apartment. Part of it is surely the coming of Fall and the changing weather and the fact that I sat in on the Alumni Advisory Board meeting of my alma mater a couple of weeks ago…

Part of it is that many of our college friends – and two of my roommates from that apartment – have been reaching out in some lovely ways in response to Christa’s cancer diagnosis, lately …

And part of it is that I remember how carefree and fun it was – not just because I was a college student having all kinds of fun – but because I remember that it’s actually kind of nice to be a tenant, living on someone else’s property; in someone else’s building; and not having to deal with all the things that go along with being the landlord, the landowner, the one holding the mortgage.

My “To Do List” back in college included classes and homework, a very part-time job, and parties. I didn’t have to worry about mowing the lawn or changing filters, or staining the deck or repairing that screen, replacing the carpet, touching up the paint, washing the windows (I still don’t wash the windows), but you understand.

The benefits of leasing from somebody else who’s responsible for all of the things on my to-do list doesn’t sound like such a bad deal, right about now. And it made me think about this morning’s parable.

Jesus tells about a landowner who’s planted a vineyard and who’s checked off a bunch of stuff from a pretty hefty “To-Do List”: a fence for protection, the digging of a wine press, the building the watchtower. And, rather than live there himself, he leases it to some tenants – some college kids, maybe – giving them all they need to get by in the world.

But the tenants don’t seem to understand the nature of a “lease.” Not only don’t they appreciate all that’s been shared with them, but they aren’t inclined to keep up their end of the bargain. When the landowner sends for his earnings and his rent, they won’t pay. Not only that, but they beat and stone and kill the ones who come to collect.

Finally, after trying a couple of times to get what’s his, the landowner sends his son – with the expectation that those tenants will have to respect him – he’s the boss’ son, after all. Much to the landowner’s surprise, I’m sure, the tenants kill the son, as though he were just another of their boss’s slaves.

Of course, Jesus’ parable isn’t just about some tenants and a landowner and an actual vineyard outside of Jerusalem somewhere. And the chief priests and the Pharisees who are listening to Jesus aren’t as think as you dumb they are, either.

They eventually realize that Jesus’ parable is about them. They are the tenants who’ve been given the blessing of God’s kingdom to share. And Jesus wasn’t just talking about a vineyard or a wine press or some grape juice, either. This parable is a story about life as God’s children, charged with the fruits of the kingdom – things like forgiveness and hope and new life; peace and love and justice and grace.

The chief priests and the Pharisees weren’t honoring the terms of their lease, if you will. The people of Jesus’ day were lifting up rules that kept people out. They were sticking by traditions that made themselves the sole beneficiaries of God’s grace. They were making it hard to see that God’s love was meant for the whole wide world. They were trying desperately to keep God’s good news and blessings all to themselves. Their list of works “To Do” and of sins “Not To Do” was extensive and overbearing and more than anyone could possibly manage.

But, if you’ve ever rented an apartment, you know you aren’t always allowed to just paint the walls whatever colors you want, are you?! You might just get yourselves evicted. And as tenants in God’s vineyard, that’s how I see what the chief priests and Pharisees were up to. They were putting up walls and building barriers and drawing lines in the sand about just how much love God – the owner of it all – really had to offer.

And Jesus’ story isn’t just about the Pharisees or the chief priests either, of course. Jesus’ story is about you and me, too. And that’s not always an easy thing to hear.

If God is the landowner, we aren’t always the best of tenants, if we’re honest. We don’t always recognize that all we have and all that we are have been given to us by God – not just for ourselves, but for the sake of the world around us.

We don’t always remember that we are merely tenants. And we forget that that can be a real blessing if we’ll let it. When we forget that…when we start acting like we own the joint…when we start pretending like the vineyard is ours, we get ourselves into trouble, just like the chief priests and Pharisees of Jesus’ day. We start building our own walls and putting our own boundaries around God’s grace for the world. And we start painting it all with our own colors of judgment and condemnation. We start coming up with our own lists of things to do or not to do – for others, of course – that don’t always line up with what God would have for any of us.

So it makes you wonder where the good news is here, doesn’t it? What’s Jesus’ point? Are we just supposed to admit our failure, hand over the keys, and wait for our eviction … for God to snatch the kingdom from us, like Jesus seems to promise God will do?

I don’t think so. I think we’re called to see what a blessing it is that we don’t have charge or responsibility over what ultimately belongs to God. I think we’re supposed to put down our own To Do List and pay more attention to God’s.

And I think we’re called to thank God for not giving up on us yet. We’re called to be thankful that God – as the owner of it all – finally did send the Son. And we’re called to be thankful that Jesus shows us what it means to be children of God, to be faithful servants, and to be responsible, grateful, generous tenants with the gifts God pours into our lives.

We do our best to do what God would have us do, then: love, forgive, bless, heal, preach the good news, etc. And when we fail… when we get distracted… when we lose our way… we’re reminded that God sent Jesus, in the end, to take care of the rest.

Of course, I’m glad I don’t rent that college apartment any longer. I love the house I’m blessed to call home. I remind myself as often as I can that it’s all a blessing from God. Even the “To Do” lists that overwhelm me sometimes are valuable ways to remember how grateful I am for what I call “mine.” The same is true with all the blessings and responsibilities that come with being a child of God, trying to live life in the Christ-like ways of patience, generosity, forgiveness, humility, love, and so on down that holy kind of “To Do List.”

Jesus does kind of let us have it in this morning’s Gospel parable, right along with those chief priests and Pharisees. He does sort of put us in our place. But if we soften our hearts, if we will see ourselves as tenants more often – merely tenants, thank God – of the most gracious landlord – we will see ourselves as fellow workers with Jesus, the Son, doing God’s bidding for the sake of this world and this Church we are blessed to call “home.”

Amen

A Pet Blessing Parable

Matthew 13:44-50

[Jesus said,] “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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The kingdom of heaven is like a Pastor who had two dogs, one was old and graying – not the sharpest knife in the drawer – but a very good dog. Potty-trained. Free to run and roam, inside or out, wherever she pleased. The “queen of the castle,” to use the language of parables … until the puppy showed up.

It happened in the early days of a global pandemic, when mutts … mixed-breeds … lower caste hounds were hard to come by, honestly, because many in the kingdom decided that pandemics and quarantine made for a good time to rescue a new puppy from the pound. Anyway, while the new puppy looked as though she could be the offspring of the older, aging queen, the queen had no love for the newer, younger, cuter, cuddlier, apparent “replacement” version of herself. There was – and continues to be – a fair amount of – too much, really – weeping and gnashing of teeth.

All of this is to say, if you didn’t know – or haven’t figured it out, yet: the Havels got a new puppy in June. Her name is Rosie. Her predecessor and big sister is Stella. Rosie likes Stella infinitely more than Stella likes Rosie. You can tell that, again, by all of the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But there are moments of grace, every once in a while, between the two. Stella has always had the power to remove Rosie’s head, with those gnashing teeth, should she so choose. Yet, even when the Rosie was small enough to sneak between her legs and steal her food – right from under her nose or straight out of her mouth or bowl or whatever – Stella would just back up and watch, and wait for a human to come and save the day.

And, Stella watches Rosie ravenously, shamelessly, ungratefully eat three meals a day – because that’s what a puppy does – while Stella only gets two meals a day; once in the morning and once in the evening. (Stella’s on a diet.) And Rosie gets to go on longer walks, too; and on field trips with Dad to the church office; she’s allowed on more couches and chairs and beds than Stella was ever allowed to enjoy; and Rosie has all the toys, too – bones and stuffed animals and rubber chewies, too, just like Stella used to play with back in the day. And Rosie does not share.

Rosie always beats Stella upstairs or downstairs or to wherever the action is – sometimes knocking the old-girl’s legs right out from under her on the way. And, truth be told, Rosie probably gets more love, cuddles, and playtime, too – if anyone were keeping score. And Stella watches it all from a distance, in her new favorite hiding place, in the shadows of the big chair in our living room most of the time.  

So, truth be told, the kingdom of heaven is like a Pastor who had two dogs, not because of anything the Pastor and his family say or do in all of this. But all because of how that big, old, grumpy, geriatric hound, Stella, lives and moves and breathes and loves us all in spite of it all.

See, Stella doesn’t need leashes and fences and electric shock collars like she used to – or like Rosie certainly does. Stella stays close by, she knows who will care for her, and Stella follows the rules because she’s learned that life is better – and best, really – when she does what her Master asks of her. There’s a lesson about faith and obedience for all of us, there, I think.

And couldn’t we use less weeping and gnashing of teeth in our world these days? – in our politics, in our churches, in our schools, kitchens, on social media – and if that means taking a break in the shadows of your favorite hiding place, then take a lesson from Stella.

We could all stand to be more generous with our food and our toys and our resources, too – and if that means giving it up and giving it away so that someone who needs it more might have a chance, then there’s a lesson from Stella about living in God’s kingdom, there, too.

And forgiveness. There’s always room for more of that. Fewer grudges and far more grace, I mean. If Stella’s keeping score, you wouldn’t know it. She comes running more often than she used to. She sits back and waits her turn. She always receives and gives the love, even if she’s second in line for it nowadays. There’s a lesson about kingdom-living if I ever heard one.

All of this is so much of what’s behind this Pet Blessing thing, really, if you ask me. Yes, it’s about celebrating God’s care in and for creation. And yes, it’s a fun way to introduce our furry and feathered family members to our flesh-covered, two-legged human friends at church.

But it’s also a great way to see, and to remind ourselves, and to understand the nature of God’s grace through the animals who love us so well – who let us love them, in return – and who show us how to be, and be grateful for lives lived in the kingdom of God’s grace, in and for the sake of the world.

Amen