Love In Action Is A Harsh And Dreadful Thing

Sermon-Proper 22A/ Pentecost +16
October 2, 2011
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“My God of peace, of joy and delight,
I offer you all my tears, all my ignorance.
My God of peace, of joy and delight,
I offer you all my fears and fractured promises.
You, my God, know all this, all this;
How poor I am, how small I am;
You, my God, know all this, all this.
Yet what I have, my God, I give to you.”
[Paul Verlaine 1844-1896]
Professor of New Testament Sharon H. Ringe writes about today’s gospel: “When people in authority challenged Jesus, he often responded to their challenges with a parable. If those challenging him didn't get the first parable, he'd give them a second one. Today's Gospel lection is just such a second parable addressed to the challenge posed by the chief priests and elders about the source of Jesus' authority (21:23-27).”
Remember the question Jesus was asked last week by the chief priests and elders?, “by what authority do you do the things you do?”
So Jesus tells a story on the elders. And guess what, they don’t like it.
For centuries Christians used this story to justify anti-Semitism. “See, it’s the Jews who were the problem.” But we know better. Jesus didn’t tell stories about the Jews-Jesus was a Jew. Jesus told stories about people, and that’s what we have to hear when we listen to this story.
Ira Brent Driggers writes: “The parable serves to show how the temple leaders have been entrusted by God and how they have rebelled against God. It also prophesies their violent rejection of the Son. Jesus' opponents understand all of this. They get the parable, but they reject its truth. "Yes, we are God's tenants, but we are not those tenants; and you are certainly not God's Son."
“We are not those tenants.” If we really listen to Jesus’ teaching, we have to put ourselves in the story. What if this story was directed against you? How do you respond when someone accuses you, names you, calls you out? One thing I’ve learned over the years is how well I handle criticism-even when it’s not meant as criticism. It is so easy to hear judgement from others-painfully easy. We just cut them out of our will, turn our backs on them, and sprinkle salt on the ground where they are standing. “We are not those tenants.” Jesus became harsh when confronting the Jewish leaders because they had one goal-and that was to keep their power, and he knew it. He was frustrated and angry that the people who were supposed to lead others in holiness and love, instead were consumed by their desire to stay in power. Driggers again: “we should avoid standing comfortably behind Jesus and waving our accusatory fingers at his opponents. Instead we should put ourselves in their shoes and risk being confronted by what Jesus has to say.”
How am I like these leaders? How do I emulate the tenants in this story, believing that the whole world is mine-and no one dare take it from me? How is Jesus speaking to me in this parable? “Martin Luther once said that sometimes you have to squeeze a biblical passage until it leaks the gospel.”
One thing, it’s not the landowner who says that he will punish the wicked tenants. The chief priests say that. The landowner, God, keeps sending messengers. God keeps trying to turn the Jewish people-and especially their leaders-around. God doesn’t give up, God doesn’t quit. The sending of Jesus, God’s son, is the most dramatic example.
Secondly, Jesus doesn’t threaten punishment, pain, or death to the Jewish leaders. He simply says that “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”
Does that sound, mean, nasty? Unkind? What if those same words were said to us? What if we also were told that the kingdom would be taken from us unless we started producing good fruit?
Have many of you have ever heard of Dostoevsky’s book The Brothers Karamazov? It is a wonderful book. There is a chapter in the book called, “A Lady of Little Faith”. A woman goes to the elderly priest, Fr. Zosima. She says that she has dreams of giving her life to help the poor. But she’s afraid they won’t be grateful. “Zosima-while remaining kind-delivers a scathing critique of charity, which is chiefly about controlling and defining the one who is in need. “I am sorry I can say nothing more consoling to you,” he concludes, “for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all. Men will even give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage.” This is from a sermon by Laurel A. Dykstra, a scripture and justice educator. “Love is central to the readings from Romans and Philippians this month. But the lections from Matthew, in which Jesus and his companions approach Jerusalem, lean more toward the harsh and dreadful. They ask what love means in practical terms. How do we resolve conflicts in community? How do we love one another in a world of complex economic and social relationships? How do we deal with authority and power? How do we honor our families?
“love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.”
“We are not those tenants” we say. We will bear good fruit. This is a difficult reading, and a challenging story. It seem so clear cut. Jesus wants to confront the authorities who are standing between him and his mission. He wants them to bear fruit. He chides them to do their job of loving God and leading the people. He bids them to love. They are afraid, they are defensive. They are angry. How am I like the wicked tenants in this story? Do I think that I have actually earned all that I have? Do I think that everything really is mine? Is my love more like a dream, or is it the harsh and dreadful kind of active love Jesus is advocating as he nears his death-a practical, long term, sacrificial love? Jesus meets head on the people who are standing in God’s way, and tells them a story. Instead of listening, instead of seeing, they plot, and conspire to get rid of him. “We are not those tenants” they say. So what kind of tenants are we?