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MAKING THE SHIFT!
Making the Shift is a Sermon based on Matthew 21:33-43. It was preached at the Redlands United Church of Christ in Redlands, California on World Communion Sunday, October 6, 1996
by The Rev. Dr. James S. Vuocolo, Senior Minister & Life-Coach
Biblical Text:
"Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted
a vineyard, put a fence around ft, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They \MI I respect my son.' 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir- come, let us kill him and get his inheritance." 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who YA[i give him the produce at the harvest time." 42 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 is amazing in our eyes'? 43 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. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls." 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet. (Matthew 21:33-43, New Revised Standard Version)
Today's Gospel lesson tells a story about a very special place - a beautiful, and well-cared for vineyard. This parable appears not only in Matthew, but also in the twelfth chapter of Mark and in the twentieth chapter of Luke.
Like many of the other parables found in the Gospels, it teaches a tough and significant lesson - but it's not necessarily the lesson that so many think or believe it to be!
Many different scholars have looked at this story from several different vantage points - and many of the sources I've consulted, once again, this past week have called it a "parable
of judgment". Yet I believe that it just may be time to state that this is, in reality, a parable of grace! But in order to see and understand it as such - we each have to make an internal shift of focus and perspective! Making that "shift" for ourselves is really what today's message from this preacher is all about!Traditionally, the owner and creator of the vineyard is God.
The servants are his messengers, the prophets, and the son is Jesus Christ. You and I, the listeners, are cast in the role as being the tenants of the vineyard.As such, this parable asks us to pass judgment upon ourselves. This isn't ever an easy thing to do - but it IS a necessary step toward redemption, if an internal shift within us
is ever to take place. This parable causes us to take stock of our own priorities ... To look at how we spend our time and our money, and most especially, how we tend to our relationships with others.When I consider a story like this, I like to think about it from
the viewpoint of the various participants in the drama. The first person in this story is the owner of the vineyard. The vineyard owner is not a mere title holder to the property but rather, is actually its creator. He cleared away the stones and planted the vines. He built the hedge and watchtower and dug the winepress. There was nothing more to do for the vineyard than what the owner had done.Perhaps you have had a similar moment of satisfaction as I assume that the vineyard owner did. The owner then turn this perfect vineyard over to a bunch of less-than-perfect tenants.
Once the owner is denied the fruit of the vineyard, we meet
the next characters in the story - his servants. The servants are essentially messengers. The message they bring is not well received. Perhaps they should have worn their "Don't shoot--I'm just the messenger" T-shirts! Those of us who have ever worked in some supervisory position can certainly identify with these poor folk. They have a big responsibility but only a small amount of authority.The owner responds by sending the next character, a person of authority,his own son. But he was found to be threatening to the tenants of the vineyard, and put to death. This brings us to the tenants, or "wicked husbandmen" as they are sometimes called I'd rather not identify with this group, but I'm afraid it's not that difficult. They decided that they weren't getting what they wanted and took it upon themselves to change the deal. You can call them greedy and lazy, or you can call them aggressive and efficient. I'm sure the tenants felt that they were justified. After all, they were doing all the work - so why shouldn't they receive all the rewards?
Well now that we've looked at this story from the traditional vantage points, it is time to state a rather Un-traditional interpretation ... Suppose the owner and creator of the vineyard is NOT really God. Suppose it's just old Ernest Gallo, up north
of here? The servants are actually messengers (or agents) from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (the INS); and the son is Ernest, Jr. You and I, the listeners, are the migrant workers in the vineyard - many of us who risk our lives and well-being to labor without a "Green Card" in order to assist the rest of our families who remain south of the border!Let's theologically take this one more step ... Suppose not only is God NOT the owner of the vineyard - but not a personage at all! Remember how elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus said that "God is spirit" (John 4:24)?
Well then, suppose he was right - and the only reason he ever called God, "ABBA" was to denote a RELATIONSHIP that can ideally exist between us, rather than a personality? What then? And what has to "shift" within each one of us, in order for us to actually "get it", i.e. to actually hear and appreciate this as being "Good News"?
My good friend and colleague through Coach University, Edward Shea says that "Traditionally, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the self in relation to the Other is at the center of things." That's what Martin Buber's "I-THOU" imagery was all about.
"But", Ed says, "in contemporary relationship (a.k.a. Imago) work, the self in relationship is seen to be at the center. Consequently, the extent to which the relationship impacts upon the individual has as much power as the individual has upon the relationship!" And this constitutes a brand new way of thinking for most of us! I know it does for me!
In this new way of thinking, GOD IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US! Consequently, the Spirit resides in the very act of breaking and consuming the bread and the cup - precisely because we do it TOGETHER, and in COMMUNION with our sisters and brothers throughout the world this day!
I believe that our own advanced personal development is
the essence of what we traditionally call "Grace"; and that relationship is the context in which God is born! This is what
the late Kirk Dewey (a beloved former members of our congregation) used to refer to as being the "life force" from which we are created and to which we return! And this is precisely why I've said to you before that relationships are all we have, at the end of the day - when all is said and done, and our lives in this present form, have ended.This is also why stories are so vitally important in each generation! It's no accident that the words Communication, Community and Communion all have the same root, etymologically speaking - that being "commune". For whenever we reach an advanced level of personal development <which is a state of Grace>, we are, in fact, "communing" with one other! We are, to coin a phrase "in communion" with one another! And that's what it's really all about, this thing called Life Abundant and Life Eternal! Communing with one another! For whenever we are in communion with one another - we are "in community", i.e. "at one" with God! Precisely because God is a verb!
Ed Shea reminds us that "Liturgy is the experiential container" which provides us with the means necessary to revisit this spiritual reality. And we can only do so over and over again precisely because God is NOT an entity or substance!
Whenever we are able to genuinely mirror one another in a relationship - that IS God! According to Ed, "The committed relationship is the point at which God arrives!" And I believe he's right!
Ed says that, "Consciousness mutates to energy; energy mutates to matter and form; matter and form mutates to actions that are a reflection of consciousness." And that's precisely what today's parable is all about!
But in order to see it - to really "get" and understand it - requires that we make an internal "shift" to see that God is a verb and a process - not an entity! And this, you see, is precisely why it is that Jesus says, "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." (Matt. 21:43b) Because attitude goes along with it! We can't be "in communion" without the proper attitude!
Ed says that "Listening is a power that validates the other. Everything is about connection. Connection is what makes dialogue sacred. When we make connection the goal - the sacred occurs." And again, I think he's right! We aren't "in communion" with many of our sisters and brothers in the drug and gang and criminal communities precisely because we choose not to be!
But here's the gestalt - ready to make the shift? "One's wound is one's salvation. Through it we connect to another. Wounds invite the sacred." Here's a final thought from Ed Shea that is the jumping-off spot to enter into the holy ... We only relate to one another through our own woundedness - and so our ability to be "in communion" with one another is dependent upon the extent to which we are willing to bare our wounds to one another! Or, to use Ed's phrase, "To confess our wholeness" to one another.
Ed says that "Every wound comes wrapped in a blessing." And also, "One's wound is one's salvation (because) Through it we connect to another. (Our) Wounds invite the sacred."
Stop now and look around you, where ever you are in life.
You are in the midst of a vineyard of creation, and you are called upon to help care for it. Your own vineyard may not have a single grapevine and it may have suffered through some difficult tenancies. Yet it is still God's good creation. You are called upon by Christ to be His disciple. He trusts you and will sustain you . The response we make, each day, is up to us individually and collectively.May each of us be blessed to choose relationship as being our ultimate concern; that we too, might be in communion with God and with each other this day, and forever; through Jesus Christ our brother.
Amen and Amen.
Note: Pastor Vuocolo is indebted to Edward Shea's comments during a telephone session with a Special Interest Group of Coaches who work with Clergy and Laity on 9/28/96 as provoding a contemporary theological foundation for this message. Edward Shea is an Imago Coach who may be contacted via email at: coachimago@aol.com
© 1996, 1999 by J.S. Vuocolo. All rights reserved.