LENT 5 - 2007
March 25, 2007
(Isaiah
43:16-21, Ps. 126; Philippians 13:8-14; Luke 20:9-19)
LOVED
LIKE A BABY
St. Christopher’s,
MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE
MEDITATIONS OF ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH
AND OUR REDEEMER AMEN
Did you notice the sign at the driveway? I have used that phrase before and frankly,
it comes from my own amazement ... my own spiritual life. The sign says: “Amazing! God loves YOU”
Do you find that amazing?
Or is it just a “ho hum” – no big deal?
Another thing you may have noticed as you walked into the church
was that we STILL do not have flowers around the altar, we still have purple
colors, and we STILL are using the Rite I service. Those changes are to remind us that are STILL
in the season of Lent.
Those two observations come together in an interesting way. We are reminded about the season of Lent
because in our crazy and fast paced world it is so easy to forget things. Lent is the season for remembering –
remembering what Jesus did for us — remembering Jesus did it because God loves
you – us.
Lent is the season for us to remember .. and for us to consider
the implications of that information.
What are the implications of what Jesus did for us? And that God loves us?
Last week I spent time with my one month old granddaughter. I was reminded me of a talk I heard on a
retreat weekend many years ago. The
speaker asked: – Why do we love babies? ... Why do I love those
granddaughters? Why do parents love
their tiny baby children?
Consider this ... if ANYONE has done NOTHING AT ALL to deserve to
be loved ... it is a one month old baby.
Caroline’s repertoire is fairly small: She eats, sleeps, fills her
diaper, and cries. ... Occasionally she just lies there looking around - trying
to decide which of the 4 to do next, but most of the time it is eating,
sleeping, filling the diaper, and crying. .... Who could possibly love such a
creature?
The fact is that she, and all the other babies ever born ...
including us ... including you and me have done absolutely nothing to deserve
to be loved. And yet they .. we are.
If a baby could intellectualize the experience we might say to
them: “Amazing! People love you!”
One of the most difficult Lenten lessons to learn is that we are
the tiny babies in our relationship with God.
Our actions are only slightly more impressive than eating - sleeping -
dirtying diapers - and crying.
Now twist your perspective and place yourself back into the role
of parent or guardian. This child who
does not deserve to be loved ... yet is loved by us. ... What is our
expectation of that child? ... Be honest now!
Don’t we at least hope for some appreciation? Some response to our love and our actions for
that child?
The landowner planted the vineyard and allowed people to use
it. The landowner created ... birthed
... the lives for these people. And that
foolish landowner expected appreciation ... expected a response ... Well,
expected a POSITIVE response!
Instead the landowner got rebellion, opposition, anger, and even
violence. ... And yes, unlike many parables we can fairly simply identify the
landowner as God. You really are not
supposed to make such direct connections when studying parables, but this one
is pretty straight forward.
The landowner created the life for these people and rather than
appreciation, or even being ignored, the people turned against him.
Jesus asked the people: “What
should the landowner do now? The
landowner who created the situation, loved the people and was met by opposition
rather than appreciation?”
When Jesus gave the just answer to that question, the landowner
will destroy those creating problems and give that life to others, the crowd
responded: “God forbid!” .... From that reaction it appears the crowd
understood what Jesus was saying. The
crowd understood the implications for themselves.
Jesus is telling a parable – one of His clearest teachings. Even the scribes and chief priests understood
it! .... We may have assumed this teaching is about the relationship between
the religious leaders and God ... that the religious leaders had failed God ...
and it is about that. BUT we need to
consider how this teaching goes way beyond that limited situation. ...
Consider, as I said, what if ... What if this parable actually was also
intended for us?
Understand that the landowner was not asking for everything. The landowner was operating a franchise. The landowner received some small percentage
of the income from the vineyard. The
people received work, income, possibly a place to stay in exchange for the
landowner’s share. ... And they refused to pay ... they refused to
respond. And they especially refused to
be appreciative of what the landowner had created for them.
What if ... what if we look again at the tiny baby who is loved
and given everything without ever earning any of it? What if we remember that we were ... and are
such tiny babies? What if we take the
time to consider what the landowner ... what God is asking from the tenants ...
from us?
So let’s take this story and turn it around. The landowner created the vineyard, found
people to live there and farm it with the understanding that a portion of the
profit would go to the landowner, and then in faith (if not confidence) left
the land for a while. In other words,
the landowner did not stick around to control every aspect of their lives but
allowed them ... expected them to do what is right? (Here is one aspect of the story we should
avoid over reacting to. God has never
gone away and left us.)
Now imagine we are at the harvest season and the landowner
returns. What is a reasonable
expectation for the landowner? ... Appreciation? ... Thankfulness? ... A share
of the harvest?
Does any of that seem unreasonable?
Now flip it over and imagine that we are speaking about God and
us. We are speaking about a God would
created this world, this universe. A God
who created us and placed us into this world – which was created for us.
Don’t over analyze a parable, but if that is your tendency,
remember the harvest would come every year.
This is not about the end of time.
So imagine ... actually a good reflection for Lent ... imagine that
God comes to you and asks what you have accomplished with all that was given to
you? AND, what have you ready to return
to God? What portion of the harvest that
God made possible have you ready to return to God?
God loves you ... and me ... and that is amazing! But God also has some expectations. Some perfectly reasonable expectations for
us. Just as parents have expectations
for their children, God has expectations for us. Do we live up to those expectations?
Expand the image from a vineyard to a farm with several
crops. Imagine that the farm has corn,
and wheat and soybeans. The landowner
comes back and asks how each crop has done this year. And the landowner asks for a portion of that
crop as ... payment? Payment is not
quite correct and neither is tribute. It
is something closer to the scriptural first fruit sacrifice but you get the
point I hope. The landowner ... God asks
for the status and His share.
Now the landowner, and God, have every right to ask for
100%. Our loving God does not, but most
the time we fail to provide even the smaller portion.
Imagine that the crops include worship — do we live up to our
responsibilities in true worship and prayer?
Do we provide an ever improving crop?
The crops include learning — do we live up to our
responsibilities in learning about God?
Becoming more knowledgeable about God?
And I don’t mean all “head stuff” - important though that is. Just as it is important to gain more
knowledge, information about our spouse — deepening the true relationship with
our spouse is more than data. Do we
provide God with an ever more knowledgeable and deeper relationship?
The crops include doing — do we live up to our responsibilities
in serving God? ... And that can be subdivided into the crops of time and
treasure. Do we give God a reasonable
amount of our time? .... In the Rite I service there is phrase which has always
struck me hard: we offer and present unto
thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies to be a reasonable, holy, and
living sacrifice unto thee .... “reasonable” – not excessive. Do we give God a “reasonable” sacrifice of
our life and resources? Or do we give
only the left over crops which fell on the ground?
Knowing the honest answer to those questions ... at least for
many of us, and hear the word “us” ... knowing the honest answers to those
questions is why I say it is AMAZING that God loves us. Despite our failures, our weaknesses, our
lack of appreciation — God still loves us.
What will the landowner do?
The landowner will behave in a very irrational way, and continue to love
us. May we provide a better harvest next
week than we did today.
AMEN
We have previous sermons on our website. To read an earlier sermon just enter: www.st-christopher.org/sermondate. For example, the July 16, 2006 sermon can be found at:
www.st-christopher.org/sermon06-16-06
CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation. (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to: ken@st-christopher.com)