"The Parable of the Greed-Blinded Tyrants"

This past Monday and Tuesday - was it really less than a week ago?! - I spent about 20 hours with my cousin, Rosemary (who goes by "Ro), and her husband, Pete, in the village of Roslin, Scotland. Roslin, which is less than nine miles south of the city center of Edinburgh, was a sleepy little hamlet until the early 2000s, when Dan Brown's blockbuster novel and film, The DaVinci Code, thrust Rosslyn Chapel into the spotlight. But unlike the approximately 150,000 tourists whose annual visits are prompted by Brown's fictional tale of a search for the Holy Grail, my cousin and I were on the trail of a much more personal mystery: Why did our great-grandfather and great-grandmother relocate in the mid-1880s from northern England to Roslin, where they lived for several years and where four of their eleven children - including our grandfather -- were born?

What Ro and I discovered during our 20 hours in Roslin didn't even come close to the sensational stuff of a best-selling story, but it was deeply satisfying to us. Historical records hint that our great-grandfather Edward, a carpet weaver, was recruited to come north and help Roslin Glen's new carpet factory establish itself. With the help of a local guide from Rosslyn Chapel and a local taxi driver, whose own grandmother and great-grandmother had once lived in the now-demolished company cottages near the factory, Ro and I were able to stand in the very place where our grandfather was born almostl40 years ago. I can't think of a single word that describes the experience, but it felt good to be there. It was intriguing to imagine what life might have been like for the people who lived in that small temporary community a mile downhill from Roslin village itself, and I found myself pondering questions such as these: How well did the people who lived here get along with each other? Where did they get food and other supplies? Did the families attend worship in the village? Did the children go to school? What was daily life like for our great-grandmother, who was caring for many small children while living far away from family? How was people's health affected by the "rotten fruit" produced by the factory-the toxic carpet fibers and fumes floating in the air and the caustic chemical dyes being dumped into the river upstream? Was that the cause of the kidney cancer that took our grandfather's life when my mom was only 14 and Ra's dad was 19?... I also wonder: When our great-grandparents looked back on their time in Roslin, did they mostly feel satisfaction or regret, or did they experience some mix of the two? We have no correspondence from them, so we'll never know the answer to those questions; indeed, that's true for most people throughout history  And yet even though there's much we'll never know, I still think it's helpful to learn something about our ancestors because their experiences continue to live on through us in mysterious ways. Also, I find digging through ancestry records and walking through graveyards to be quite humbling; these things serve as good reminders that what matters most in this life is bearing what Jesus calls "good fruit" - that is, "fruit that will last."¹ As my cousin's husband, Pete, said to our very lively 75-year-old innkeeper at breakfast on Tuesday morning, "We're all just visiting here, aren't we?!. "

"We're all just visiting here, aren't we?!..." When I heard Pete say that, I thought, "Yes! Spot on!... We're only here on this earth for a relatively short time, and even though every life has its share of hardship and even though humankind is currently facing a perfect storm of crises that often seem insurmountable, I would argue it's still an incredible privilege to spend time here in God's vineyard. It's an incredible gift to experience the beauty of creation, to love and to be loved, to gather with all of you in the presence of the Holy One and to remember that we are God's beloved children. And it's an incredible gift to then go out into the world to do Christ's work: the work of bearing and sharing good fruit-- fruit that will continue to give life to the world long after you and I have gone to sleep with the ancestors.

"We're all just visiting here, aren't we?!..." Since God is the Creator of all that is, seen and unseen, we humans are never the true owners of anything. Ultimately, all things and all people belong to God, who lovingly created everything and declared it to be "very good." We humans are also part of God's creative work, and Scripture makes it abundantly clear that we're to be stewards -- that is, loving and responsible caretakers of God's beautiful blue planet. In fact, the first biblical reference to our roles as stewards comes in Genesis 2:15, where it's said that God placed the first human being, Adam, in the garden "to till and to keep it." In other words, Adam was given the task of cultivating the land to provide food for himself and his family, but he was also charged with caring for the land and keeping it healthy, so that it would continue to produce for future generations.

BUT...you and I don't have to look far to see how humanity has failed to be good stewards, do we?! Everywhere we look, we encounter increasingly volatile weather patterns; raging wildfires; widespread extinction of species; rampant discrimination, cruelty, violence, and warfare.... It seems everywhere we turn, we're met with insatiable greed that's widening the gap between rich and poor, robbing people of their health and livelihood, and further fueling the destructive power of authoritarianism and corruption.... Friends, I'm sure you're aware, as I am, that the harmful policies and actions we encounter in our day are being taken by powerful people who break laws left and right and who tell whopping lies to seize whatever piece of God's garden they can get their hands on in order to claim ownership for themselves… Like the wicked tenants in Jesus's parable from Matthew 21, these powerful usurpers don't care about the vineyard or its produce. They also don't care about the people who work there. Indeed, their defiant, destructive behavior toward the owner's servants and son reveals that they don't even care about God, who is the true owner .... The only thing they do care about is hoarding the earth's produce and increasing whatever profit they can glean for themselves.

In today's gospel reading, Jesus tells the challenging story that's often been dubbed "The Parable of the Wicked Tenants." But I'd like to rename it "The Parable of the Greed-Blinded Tyrants." The tenants are clearly motivated by greed, and they are by definition "tyrants" because they've grabbed for themselves the power that rightfully belongs to the vineyard owner. Furthermore, they proceed to abuse their newfound power in oppressive and brutal ways by hurting and killing the owner's servants and son.² The disease of greed that afflicts these tyrants is so strong that it blinds them and warps their logic I mean, what reasonable person would think they could get away with killing the owner's son and stealing his inheritance?!... So, let's cut to the chase: Why does Jesus tell this difficult and highly prophetic parable, anyway? I think one reason he tells it is to confront the religious leaders in Jerusalem in the hope that they'll recognize and repent of the damage their hypocritical and harmful actions are causing within God's "vineyard," which, by the way, is a well-known scriptural metaphor for. God's people, Israel. However, in Matthew 21, Jesus redefines "vineyard" to mean God's Kingdom when he tells the religious leaders that because of their misguided teachings and wicked actions, " ...the kingdom of God will be taken away from [them] and given to a people that produces its fruits "³ So, in telling this story and then posing a follow-up question for his audience about the possible consequences of their actions, Jesus lets it be known that God is not mocked or bedazzled by those who bask in the spotlight of their own hubris. Essentially, Jesus tells the scribes and Pharisees, "God sees what you're up to, and you will be held accountable both for the harm you inflict on others and for the blasphemous way you use God's holy name to "baptize" your evil actions "

Now, I obviously can't speak for you, but in spite of my deep conviction that God is ultimately a God of grace who is actively working to bring ALL people home to God, there are definitely days when I yearn for the tyrants who are hurting so many of God's vulnerable children today to be held accountable. [Show of hands if you feel this way, too!.  Yeah, I knew I wasn't the only one longing for justice and accountability!...] I long for justice for our indigenous neighbors, who've had their land stolen. I long for accountability for those who are cutting food and health care benefits for the poor, while increasing profits for the wealthy. I long for justice for our immigrant neighbors, many of whom are being grabbed and deported without due process. I long for accountability for those who are inflicting cruel, discriminatory policies on women and LGBTQ people. And, well, you can fill in the blanks... because there are so many other things for which justice and accountability are long overdue!... That said, I'll be the first to admit I don't have a clue what divine accountability will look like, but I do trust that God's justice is always restorative, rather than retributive. For example, look at how God rehabilitated Moses after he'd murdered a man who was whipping a Hebrew slave.... And consider God's complete makeover of Saul: God took this chief persecutor of the early Christians and converted him into the Apostle Paul, who became a powerful witness for the gospel!... And so, given the witness of Scripture, tradition, and experience, I suspect God will always be a lot more gracious and forgiving than we humans could ever be -- thanks be to God because we ALL stand in need of grace! {Amen?...} Here I have to smile because I'm reminded of the story of Jonah, who has the audacity to complain when God forgives the sins of the wicked people of Nineveh. Remember how Jonah sulks and says, "I knew it! I knew you were a God who was gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment!? "⁴

Friends, I love that little anecdote because like Jonah, you and I stand in need of relentless grace and infinite mercy because those are the things that help us remember who we truly are: We are children of God, created in the image and likeness of our loving Creator, who has called and commissioned us through the gospel of Jesus Christ to be caring stewards of the whole creation because it belongs to God. And so, as we prepare to leave this sanctuary today to go out and bear good fruit- the lasting fruit of love that gives life to others - let us go forth in the strength of Jesus the Christ, who feeds and equips us with Word and Sacrament and the sustaining gift of this community. May we always remember that the light of Christ abides among us, in us, with us, and through us for the sake of God's Kindom⁵ -- both now and in the age to come. Amen.

"The Parable of the Greed-Blinded Tyrants"

1 Cf. John 15:16.

2 See Merriam Webster's definition of "tyrant": 1. a. an absolute ruler, unconstrained by law or constitution; b. a usurper of sovereignty; 2. a. a ruler who exercises absolute power oppressively or brutally; b. one resembling an oppressive ruler in the harsh use of authority or power.

3 Matthew 21:43.

4 See Jonah 4:2.

5 In recent decades, the word "kindom" has become popular as a substitute for "kingdom," since "kingdoms" aren't so common anymore. Also, the word "kindom" better conveys the relational aspects of loving God and neighbor.