Have Jesus as your partner
This is the sermon that was offered up during Eucharist on September 27, 2020 outside on the lawn at Trinity Episcopal Church in Muscatine, Iowa. The Eucharist service was also streamed to Facebook. Services were affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic and all people in person were physically distant and wore face coverings. The scripture readings were Ezekiel 18:1-4,25-32, Psalm 25:1-8, Philippians 2:1-13, and Matthew 21:23-32.
Almighty God, Let us go into the vineyard, whatever time of day it might be, and work for you, to do your will. May we go when you call us, but even if we don’t go then, let us go when we are able so your will is done. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My parents were card-players. Avid card players. They hosted card clubs, attended daytime card groups after they retired, and I’m pretty sure that each one of my children knew that they had a Grandma who was a card shark who would play for nickels if they wanted to get rid of excess pocket change. When I was a kid, I often sat in as a fourth person on a game of 500. From them I learned you could always count on your partner for a trick, and there was no shame in losing a hand or a game, because another one would be happening soon.
What does that have to do with the readings today?
Have you heard the saying “play your cards close to your chest?”
A person who is playing their cards close to their chest is cautious, and keeping their intentions secret. Details are on a need to know basis, and right now, in today’s Gospel, Jesus is not in the mood to give the temple elders easy answers. The chief priests want to put Christ in a trap because they are the moral authority of the day. They are tired of Jesus.
Now, to put this in context, this story comes in Matthew right after Jesus enters Jerusalem, riding on a donkey as the people shout Hosanna, Hosanna. It’s quite an entrance and they travel to the Temple, where Jesus overturns tables and throws out the money changers in the outer courtyard. The priests are outraged, and here, on the morning after, Jesus shows up again. And the people are on his side.
Jesus is cagey here and doing a type of political tango with the authority in the Temple of Jerusalem. The story we hear today is one of many he will tell over the next three chapters of Matthew, eventually leading up to the Last Supper and Crucifixion.
The Gospel of Matthew is written for Jewish people wherever they were located at in the Jewish Diaspora, so the audience knows the audacity that Jesus is displaying as a teacher who is in the Temple. He is telling the entire Jewish Community that he has a different interpretation of what faith is really about, and who is really worthy. He’s doing that in Jerusalem, in the Temple that represents the holy dwelling place of God here on Earth.
The question of authority is extremely relevant. The priests asking questions also are trying to be cautious, but they are comfortable with their power. Jesus speaking in parables, rather than quoting a verse or two of scripture is disconcerting to them. It’s not part of the rules of the way the authorities see their religion as being done.
Jesus is announcing that the rules are changing. Now, as a card player, that’s just not done. If you want new rules, get a new game. Make up your own. Jesus isn’t doing that. He’s telling them that the religious authority of his day has rotted from the inside out, and needs reform. The parable Jesus shares with us is a direct insult to the priests and scribes and elders. This parable is an in-your-face commentary and Jesus knew it. Being compared to the tax collectors or prostitutes of the day was not meant to be a compliment. Then, suggesting that such outsiders were closer to the Kingdom of God than those who worked in the Temple was meant to enrage. Jesus knew what he was doing.
The question needs to be asked, “What does that have to do with Trinity Episcopal Church here in Muscatine?”
First, I don’t ever want to have a meeting filled with suspicion and a lack of good will.
Second, I’m not going to make it my mission to insult anyone, and I surely don’t want to turn over any tables.
Finally, arguments about who has the highest authority, instead of the needed skills to do something, is not how community is built.
But I still think Jesus models something very important about second-chances in this parable.
We all fall down and refuse to do some things. Perhaps you are asked to empty the dishwasher, or clean up the backyard, or finish a task on a to-do list, and you conveniently ‘forget’ to do it. But later, you realize that another person was counting on you, and out of respect for them and the value of your relationship, you get up from the ball game or the book you were reading or a Sunday nap and do what you are asked.
Paul, in his Epistle to the Philippians, is much more specific about whose relational authority we should accept. It’s not about titles, it is about the Love of God emptied onto humanity and spread through grace to all of us. Paul tells us to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.
In card player language, that means: Resist the chance to play your cards close to your chest when it comes to Jesus. Ask Jesus to be your partner instead of your competition. That will allow us to build relationships with God, with each other, and with the community; and it will shift authority into its rightful place.
Jesus is asking us to move towards righteous action, echoing the statement in the Old Testament reading today: Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!
We follow the way of Jesus when we serve others, not out of a sense of puffed up self importance, but as a way to serve the community. We see that here in Trinity with those of our congregation who generously volunteer their time and energy and talents. In the next weeks and months, the owner of the vineyard (that’s God) may be asking you to help as we move forward and ask questions, and focus on the work Trinity is here to accomplish.
Just like in cards, we’ll lose a few hands. We’ll have some wins. But through it all, I hope we have some laughter and fun at the table. Most of all, though, I’m counting on Jesus to be at game, not keeping score, but using our hands and our minds to do his will to our best ability.
So pull up a chair and get ready to have Jesus as your partner.
Amen.
Comments