Full of Ourselves
Luke 20:9-19 Isaiah 43:16-21
I came home from college that first Christmas vacation so
full of myself. I discovered that in just 3½ months, from
September to December, my mother had become a hopeless country
bumpkin. Now it was our tradition to have Christmas dinner at my
grandparents’ home. We had gone there for as long as I could
remember. Since my mother wasn't an especially good cook, she was
always assigned the appetizers. “You aren't going to bring Cheese
Whiz and saltines, are you?” I asked, rolling my eyes. I don't
know why I bothered to ask. She always brought Cheese Whiz and
saltines — ever since Cheese Whiz came on the market in the early
fifties. “My cousins will be there!” She didn't answer me…
*****
Let's step back into the setting of today's gospel for a minute:
Even before today's conflict, Jesus enters Jerusalem and immediately
stirs up the wrath of the chief priests, the elders and the scribes by
throwing the moneychangers out of the Temple. But these leaders
are afraid to touch Jesus because as Luke says, “they did not find
anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they
heard.”
Jesus had begun teaching daily in the Temple area in Jerusalem.
The tension and suspense were increasing daily. There was no turning
back now. The Pharisees and the scribes have challenged Jesus’
authority. They haven't been able to trap him with words and they
are afraid to go too far because he is so popular with the people, the
masses.
On this particular day Jesus begins to tell the people the Parable of
the Vineyard, also called the Parable of the Wicked Attendants.
The crowds have been growing every day. All kinds of people have
come to hear Jesus. Since he had been preaching and teaching on
his way to Jerusalem, many had followed him to the city. But the
courtyard isn't filled with just those who love him. Lurking in
the shadows are those who feel threatened by him, although they won't
admit it — full of themselves and sure of their correctness. The
Pharisees and the scribes gather there, too.
Jesus’ message is crystal clear. It is obviously directed at the
Pharisees. They have not given back to God the fruit of the
vineyard. They have been so busy defending the faith they have
forgotten to live it. They are outraged at Jesus’ words.
Perhaps the message hit too close to home.
It's easy to stereotype the Pharisees. After all, they were all
narrow traditionalists. The written law and its preservation were
all they knew. It is interesting to me that after Jesus’ death,
many of his most bitter enemies sympathized with his doctrines.
We know that Paul was a Pharisee as were his fathers before
him. What happened to change him and others?
The great depth and richness of the Bible is evident in the fact that
after all these centuries, it speaks to us in ways that fit this time
and place. It speaks to us in ways that are relevant to our lives
right here and now.
We may not force an issue by physical violence but there is a part of
us that can be pretty stubborn about our own points of view. I know I
can! “It's always been done this way.” “We tried that once
and it didn't work.” “I'm sure I'm right about this.” Sometimes
we are prisoners of our habits. We are filled with the ways
things always have been and there is no room for anything new. OR
sometimes we indiscriminately fill ourselves with every single
thing that is new, throwing out the old with no examination of its
worth.
*****
My mother didn't answer me. She wouldn't discuss the appetizers
no matter how many times and no matter how many clever ways I brought
up the subject.
Just before noon on Christmas Day 1958, all seven of us piled into the
pickup — four in the front and three in the back. I had just read
The Grapes of Wrath. We could have been the cover for
that book. My mother clutched a brown paper bag to her shabby
winter coat. I knew it was the appetizers. I hoped against
hope that the bag contained hearts of palm and imported olives — two
things I had been introduced to at a faculty reception during my first
semester at college.
My mother was entirely too jolly as she began to pull stuff from the grocery bag…
*****
How does the parable of the wicked tenants apply to us? What is Jesus trying to tell us? Explorefaith.org
introduces a Lenten discipline this way: “Lent is a time to be
intentional. It is more than giving up sweets for 40 days, or
trying to be more devout. It is really a time to look seriously
and intentionally at our lives — who we have been, who we are, and who
we are becoming.” I’ve been observing this discipline
during Lent. The journaling question for the first week in Lent
was: “What patterns are keeping me bound in routines that are shutting
me off from the wonder and dynamism of life?”
Perhaps today's parable is asking us the same thing. Perhaps it
is asking us to examine our lives. Am I observing the letter of
the law while ignoring the spirit of the law? Am I so concerned
with following all the “rules” that I miss opportunities to love and
serve others? Am I so concerned about others following the
“rules” that I waste energy that could be used in much better
ways? Am I so full of myself that I think pseudo-sophistication
is the same thing as maturity? Have I grown up yet?
*****
My mother was entirely too jolly as she began to pull stuff from the
grocery bag. She didn't even go to the kitchen to do it.
She stood right there in front of God and all our relatives in the
living room. I wanted to look away but a dreadful fascination
forced me to stare at the bag. First, she pulled out her
Tupperware lazy Susan serving dish. It was followed by a cheap
package of paper napkins. Next came the disgusting Cheez
Whiz. I couldn’t bear to look as she pulled out the last
item. She paused dramatically, making sure I was watching, as she
slowly pulled out the final item — the crowning glory of appetizers — a
box of Ritz crackers!
*****
It's not easy to look at the patterns of our lives with total
honesty. It's a lot easier to fool ourselves. It's a lot
easier to throw up smoke screens and to fill ourselves full to
overflowing with diversions and empty stuff — to be so full of
ourselves that there isn't room for anything else.
As hard as it to be honest with ourselves, it’s even harder to
change. It's an uphill battle. It's an endless
battle. There are lots of avalanches along the way and we get
buried all over again. Sometimes pseudo-sophistication parades as
maturity. Sometimes knowledge parades as wisdom. Sometimes
the Pharisee in all of us overshadows the beautiful spirit in all of us
that is just aching to come out.
It sounds pretty grim doesn’t it! Yet, there is good news.
We heard it in the lesson from Isaiah today. Listen again:
Do not remember the former things, or consider
the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs
forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the
wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor
me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people
whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.
There is hope; there are wonderful possibilities because
God will make a way in the wilderness of our lives if we only turn to
him. God will form rivers and nourish us during the desert times
in our lives if we only turn to him. Even during the swift and
varied changes in our world, our hearts can be fixed on the true
joys. We don't have to do it alone and it’s never too late.
As we come to the end of another Lenten season, may we let go of the
excess baggage; may we empty ourselves of the old that’s worn out as we
make room for the new things that God is offering us. May we walk
the road to Jerusalem so we may share in the joy of the Resurrection!
Amen.
The Rev. Betsy Porter
MARCH 25, 2007
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