spiritual disciplines

Love God with All You Have and All You Are (Sermon October 26, 2014)

Matthew 22:34–46 (NRSV)

The Greatest Commandment

(Mk 12:28–34; Lk 10:25–28)

Dallas Willard RESOURCES http://www.dwillard.org Renovation of the Heart

³⁴ When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵ and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷ He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

⁴¹ Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ⁴² “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” ⁴³ He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

⁴⁴    ‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?

⁴⁵ If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” ⁴⁶ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Last week we were faced with one of the hardest realities that we must face as followers of Christ. The idea that all that we have really is not ours is something very difficult to consider. That concept that I am sure most of us would rather not dwell on because it goes against much of what we have grown to accept in our cultural identity. There is a reason that it is necessary to bring that concept to light again and again as we traverse the pathway toward eternity, because only when we begin to recognize the reality of stewardship over ownership can we begin to see beyond ourselves to see the image of Christ that is in all people. That one concept defines who is Lord in your life, and I admit that I struggle with that concept daily. I want to own, I want to call something mine, I want to be in control of my own destiny, and to blaze the trail of my own life. I want to be lord… I want to be lord.

Do you see why this simple concept of stewardship verse ownership can be dangerous?

The Pharisees came to Jesus asking Him questions and testing His teachings against their understanding of the Law. They liked how He silenced their opponents in the influence over people. But they needed to determine if He should be considered an ally or an enemy. So one of their leaders, a person that knew the Law intimately, came forward and asked, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” This question is one that is very similar to the concept of ownership verses stewardship, because at the heart of the question is the idea of control and lordship. What commandment is most important? They ask this question so that I can make sure that one thing could be covered allowing them control over every other aspect of their lives. This question is very important and speaks deeply into the spiritual condition of the first century culture in which Jesus made His advent. There has been a shift from the traditional and historical understanding of faith to something a bit more secular. A few years ago we watched a video called, “Everything is Spiritual” and in that video we were given a view that in ancient Israel there was not a division between that that is spiritual and that that is natural. That true spirituality is holistic incorporating every aspect of who we are as human beings. But this question the Pharisees ask shows an emergence of the compartmentalized human. There is an emergence of an idea that one can separate out and personally own one aspect of our lives and still be considered holy as long as we follow the most important commandments. Where did this foreign concept come from and how did it gain ground among a people set apart for the glory of God? This concept came from the western world, the Greek and Roman influence over the people. This idea of a compartmentalized man comes from the polytheistic culture where one can live as you want as long as you bring sacrifices to the temple to appease the gods.

Jesus answers them saying, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Have you really considered what that command is actually saying? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind? In the Gospel of Mark and Luke the same conversation is recorded and they add one other phrase, “with all your strength.” This concept is not new to Jesus but has always been the law, a concept alluded to at least three times in Deuteronomy, but what does it really mean?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart. The concept of the heart is one with very deep spiritual significance, and there is a reason that it is the first in the list every time this concept is alluded to in scripture. The heart was seen as the center of the man, that core or the very essence of who you are. The heart is the rhythm or the beat to which your life revolves. The wisdom of Solomon says guard your heart with vigilance for from it flows the springs of life. Protect the heart, guard it with vigilance because that is the core or the source of who you are. Now they did not have the medical knowledge we have today, but they knew that there was something very important about the heart because when the heart stopped everything else did as well. The ancient understanding of the heart was that all or our hopes and dreams, our passions and our temptations came from that central beat of the heart. It was necessary to guard our heart not because it was the source of evil but because what we allow deep in the core of our being will be pumped throughout. Love the Lord your God with all your heart means make God central above everything else, allow the spirit of God to course through the veins and capillaries of your life, saturating every aspect of who you are. Letting the rhythm of God become the beat by which you live your life.

Love the Lord your God with all your Soul. The concept of the soul is one of spirit or breath. So love God with every breath. May the love of God will every word that we speak, and may the love of God be a fragrance that we inhale and exhale. It is the breath that connects us to the world around us, it is the air that is filled with the spirit of God from the ancient Jewish point of view. That is why the law required their clothing to have a fringe to represent a connection to the spirit that was surrounding them, plugging them into the essences of God.

Love the Lord your God with all your mind. The word translated as mind means thoughts, intentions, and purposes. So to love God with our mind means letting our all of our thought and actions be directed by the wisdom and spirit of God.

So Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, Soul, and Mind literally means every aspect of your life should be devoted to honoring God. Honoring God from your very core, your thoughts and actions and with how you connect with the world around you. Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they have corrupted the faith, they have brought in foreign concepts of religion into a lifestyle of devotion to God, and that the first thing that they must do is God back to the faith of their fathers. Live, breath, and become a holistic person made complete in the relationship with God.

We live in a culture that likes to compartmentalize our lives. We like to be able to have our business life, family life, religious life, social life each aspect of our life divided up into nice little boxes where that are easily managed. We like to be lord. Jesus is telling us that that kind of existence is contrary to the life God intends for us to live. That type of life is disconnected and dead, there is no rhythm, no breath, and no mind. This is the very thing that the early Friends saw when they rebelled against the Church of England, a life that was disconnected and compartmentalized. Where people could have facades that they would wear into the steeple houses that were religious and then a totally different face when they went out and lived the other six days of the week. So they said that all of life should be a sacrament, holy and devoted to God.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your Mind. But that is just the beginning. The Pharisees asked for the most important commandment, Jesus gave them two because they are connected. Love your neighbor as yourself. I want us to stop and consider this along with the idea of loving God with all that we have and are, and connect it to the concept of ownership and stewardship. If we are lord the core of what we do is devoted to building ourselves up, but if God is at the core of who we are then the things of God would then be the purpose of everything that we do. Last week Jesus taught us to give the emperor what is the emperor’s and what is God’s to God. It was mentioned last week during our time of open worship that the image of the emperor was stamped on the currency but the image of God is stamped on the human. That image is stamped on every human. So if God is at the core of all that we have then we give all that we have to honor His image that is in every human around us.

Think about that for a bit. Let the laws of God flow through your mind, the dietary laws, the laws about mildew on clothing and in buildings, and the laws of hospitality and fair treatment of even the aliens living among the tribes of Israel. Every aspect of the law is devoted to honoring and preserving the image of God that is present in every human life. Take care of the body, take care of the dwelling places, take care of those around you, honor God with everything that you have because all that you have is not yours but God’s, because everything we have is stamped with His image.

This leads us to a very difficult questions, do we do this? Do we nurture and feed that which is God in ourselves and honor that which is God in those around us, not that we ourselves are divine but because we have the image of God within us. Do we divide our lives up into nice little manageable portions in which we can lord over or do we allow the Spirit of God to course through our veins and become the very essence of who we are and what we do? Do we hoard up the things of this earth stamping our image on them and saying that they are our own or do we allow the image of God to seen on every aspect of who we are? Are we living our lives, every aspect of our lives, our work, family, our community, environment, and our faith, as a sacrament and sacrifice to God? Are we honoring the image of God in our neighbor, even if that neighbor is different than us in some way?

These are very tough questions and if we are honest we each would have to say no. No. Each one of us in some way has failed to love God completely. Each one of us has failed to allow God to completely weld every aspect of our lives together so that we can completely honor God and love our neighbor. But there is hope. Jesus came because we as humans cannot do this alone, all have fallen short, but Jesus who is fully human and fully God did it for us. He took on our humanity, lived the perfect human life for us so that those that call on his name can be joined into his humanity and stand complete before God, not by ourselves but in Him. And if we seek to join Him in His life He will empower us to be made more like Him, molding us to become the people we were created to be, complete in him to love God completely and to love our neighbor. We join Him in his life by making it our customer to worship to or to acknowledge that we are not God. By taking time to withdraw from our daily grind to join with him in prayer in an isolated place speaking to the Father and being filled and directed by the Spirit, breathing in the very breath of God and connecting with Him so that we can then be directed to love and to live the love of Christ with others. That rhythm of life, that holy rhythm shown to us by Jesus Himself is where we will find the strength and the power to live our lives as a sacrament fully devoted and saturated by God. It is in that lifestyle that we can be covered with the life of Jesus where it is not ourselves but Him that people will see, and we give back to God what is his.

Let us now enter into this time of open worship, seeking to Love God with all of our heart, and with all of our soul, and with all our mind, and be directed in how we can love our neighbor as ourselves.

Clothed in Christ (Sermon October 12, 2014)

Psalm 23 (NRSV)

Psalm 23

The Divine Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

¹     The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.

⁴     Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

⁶     Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

Song: Be Still, My Soul, by Leigh Nash

Psalm 106:1–6 (NRSV)

A Confession of Israel’s Sins

¹     Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord, or declare all his praise?

³     Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times. Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people; help me when you deliver them; that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory in your heritage.

⁶     Both we and our ancestors have sinned; we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly.

Psalm 106:19–23 (NRSV)

¹⁹    They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a cast image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

²³    Therefore he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

Song: Breathe, by The Brilliance

Philippians 4:1–9 (NRSV)

4 ¹ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

² I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. ³ Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵ Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹ Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Song: Hands and Feet, by The Brilliance

Matthew 22:1–14 (NRSV)

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

(Lk 14:15–24)

22 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. ⁴ Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ ⁵ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶ while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. ⁸ Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. ⁹ Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ ¹⁰ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, ¹² and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Song: Open Up, by The Brilliance

There are few things more festive as a marriage. The celebration of marriage is a beautiful mystery that spiritually binds two people together as one, but it also extends bonds and roots of two families, and even communities forming connections that span through time and space. Yes I agree I might just be a little dramatic but marriage is an amazing things. In all of our discussions on divorce, premarital relationships, among others I think we often forget to express just how powerful and amazing marriage can and should be.

Because of this powerful symbolism marriage has been used as an illustration in many different faiths, but probably the most prominent of those illustrations comes through the symbolism of God and Israel. In most cultures marriage was performed as a business contract, or property transfer, but among the Jewish culture marriage was and still is a symbolic representation of the bond that binds the people of Abraham with God. Every aspect of their celebration from the canopy the bride and groom stand under, to the wine and the breaking of the glass point to this relationship between the people and their God. Every element of the ceremony has symbolic and deep theological meaning, but it does not stop with the ceremony. The feast is just as filled with meaning. The feast is where the community is strengthened and they celebrate the joining and hope of extension into the next generation. Often we forget just how powerful a good celebration can be to the spiritual health of a community. This is why Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding feast, and this is why Jesus uses the illustration of the feast to teach about the kingdom of God.

“The Kingdom of God can be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.” Jesus begins. The Kingdom of God, the nation of Israel, the king and a wedding. It is often said that when the tribes of Jacob left Egypt and were waiting at the foot of the mount Horeb that the tribes were standing under the canopy of God’s presence while Moses received the law or the covenant, under that canopy the people of Israel were united to God. They were married to God, which is why so often the prophets of old speak of the adulterous nation that chases after other gods.

So we have a king giving a banquet, and he sends out his servants to call those invited in, but they would not come. He then sends the servant out another time to tell them that the dinner is ready. Before we think too ill of these people it is important to know that in ancient cultures they did not send out invitations like we do today for many reasons: 1. it would be extremely expensive and 2. Not everyone could read. They would send out servants first to tell them that the preparations were being made, so that those that were invited could prepare for the feast. Then when the animals were slaughtered and cooking they would send out the servants again to announce that the banquet is about to begin. At this time the entire community would come and celebrate. But this is the twist in Jesus’ story, instead of the community coming to the banquet they made light of the celebration, they continued to work on their farms, they went on selling their goods in the market place, and some out right refused violently.

This is where the story gets into the deeper meaning. The king has invited people to his son’s celebration and they refuse. Why, they have to run their farms, take care of their business, and be nasty to others. Jesus is saying the community is broken. The term community is an important one, it is a compound word built with common and unity. There is no unity in this area, they are all just out there doing their own things. They are so involved in their own lives that there is no room to celebrate the uniting of families and the expansion of their nation. This is something that our culture struggles with as well. Our culture is built on individualism, which is not always a bad thing, but it can become sinful if we become too focused on self and neglect those around us. All too often we use our busy schedules to neglect spending time with our families and our friends, and this same busyness often causes us to neglect the ones that need us the most. But Jesus does not find our busy schedules to be a legitimate excuse, in fact he condemns it. Those that reject the king’s invitation were found to be enemies of the state and their cities were burned to the ground.

This says quite a lot about the things we set up as priorities. I myself often struggle in this area, I have worked since I was in Jr. High on the farm, I feel like I must work, when I do not have things in my schedule I can become depressed and feel worthless. But as I walk further down the pathway of life with Christ I have found that it is those times that I invest in others that are the most meaningful. It is the times that I am not at work that the greatest memories are formed. Yet I still struggle in this area, and ask for prayer in this area of my own life.

The king in the story does not let the banquet wait though, he then sends out the servants a third time. This time he sends them out to the main streets or highways, out into the countryside to bring in anyone and everyone to celebrate the joy of his son’s marriage. The servants go out and they bring everyone, the good and the bad. Think about that for a moment. The ones that were considered worthy to be invited first were destroyed and then those considered unworthy were brought in, no strings attached, the good and the bad. Does that make us squirm just a bit? The good and the bad were brought in accepted as they were at that moment.

These people were brought into the new community, a community built around the king and his son, there is no regard for history, or current state. They are just accepted as they are and celebrate. As they come into the banquet the king treats them with the same respect as any invited guest to a wedding. They are each given a wedding robe. This is a custom that we may find odd, but it is very interesting. It is a symbol that all present in the celebration are equal. The wedding robe conceals everything that may be used to express personal pride. Think of it as a sort of uniform. When we wear a uniform, everyone in that uniform is equal, they are seen as employees of a company or as students of a particular school. The idea of a uniform is to provide equality, and to celebrate membership in some common group of people. The wedding robe is a symbol and expression of celebration for the one being married, it is to provide an equalizing factor to everyone around so that all attention can be directed to the ones being celebrated. It is a wonderful symbol.

But the king looks out at the guests and he finds one person that has refused to wear the robe. If everyone else was wearing a robe it would not be hard to spot the one person that was out of uniform. This one person is attracting attention to themselves instead of allowing the attention to be directed to the bride and groom. This is a powerful statement, although the guest is speechless before the king the judgment is swift, the guest is removed from the community.

This is a powerful story. The judgment of those that refuse to participate in the feast of fierce and for the one that is not covered by the wedding robe it is just as harsh. Jesus finishes this parable by saying, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Those are strong words, they scream out at us that our lives are not to be our own, but that every aspect of it should be focused on one thing, to bring honor to the son of the king. How well do we do that? We speak about being clothed in righteousness and being covered by the armor of God, but do we actually allow that to happen in our lives? When people look at us do what do they actually see?

This is the very reason why the early Friends distilled our expressions of faith down to the very simplest form possible, because every aspect of our life should reflect the light of Christ. Every word that we say should be of simple speech not filled with flattery but truth and equity. That our attire should be simple and modest, not to attract attention to ourselves but so that it would not distract from Christ in us. That worship should focus on the very core properties of faith, true words and actions.

Many are called to Christ, but only a very few will choose to live for Christ. We live in a culture that focuses and takes pride in individualism which is contrary to the call of Christ. The call remains, it is given to the good and the bad, the honorable and the disgraced will you come to the banquet of the son, or will you let the things of this distract us from the celebration? The chose is ours, we can come in common unity or we can stay focused on ourselves. All those things that we find so important will be burned to the ground and the memory left to blow like dust in the wind. It is the community that is important, it is the expansion of the kingdom to the next generations, it is the binding of families though time and space that we should celebrate, it is the marriage of God to the people that should be our desire, clothed in the wedding robes that are Jesus. God Himself taking on human form to live among us and for us. Who take our goodness and our failings and wraps himself around us so that all that can be seen is his glory. Let us be that kind of a community. A community built on unity and equality in Christ: loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the love of Jesus with others around us (the good and the bad.)

Open Worship: A time of holy expectancy, where we as Friends commune with God in Prayer and silence expecting to hear His voice and answer His call to speak or act.

Song: Christ be With Me, by The Brilliance

Working the Vineyard (Sermon October 5, 2014)

Matthew 21:33–46 (NRSV)

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

(Mk 12:1–12; Lk 20:9–19)

³³ “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. ³⁴ When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. ³⁵ But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. ³⁷ Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ ³⁹ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

http://wallpoper.com/wallpaper/france-vineyard-426800

⁴⁰ Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” ⁴¹ They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord’s doing,

and it is amazing in our eyes’?

⁴³ Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. ⁴⁴ The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Allegory is probably one of my favorite dramatic, and literary forms. Allegory is very similar to a parable or a fable because it is a story that has a message to it, but it is different in many ways because allegory has layers of meaning. Most people are aware of the great allegorical works of C.S. Lewis from reading the Chronicles of Narnia, but there are several other storylines that apply this concept. The great science fiction novel Dune has elements of allegory, as does The Lord of the Rings (although Tolkien would argue with you about that since he claimed he despised allegory. Even some movies are filled with allegory, the movies that make us think and ponder contain plots that are built with allegorical elements, movies like Star Wars though very entertaining can provide lessons for life. There is even a religious movement based on the concepts presented by the Jedi of this series, with over 8000 members in fifteen different branches. Why mention allegory? Because often Jesus spoke in parables, but sometimes he spoke in allegory. The parable of the wicked Tenants is an allegorical story that is layered with meaning, and probably the one parable that challenged the religious leaders to the degree to seek the elimination of the divine rabbi.

The interesting thing about this story is that no matter what era of history we read it in it seems to apply. The ancient Fathers of the Church who interpreted pretty much everything as an allegorical message to Jesus, saw layers that could be applied not only to the contemporaries of Jesus but also to the culture and society of their day, and oddly enough most commentators through the ages have continued to read this story in much of the same way.

Jesus speaks of a landowner that planted a vineyard. The interesting thing about a vineyard is that vineyards are a lasting investment. They take time to establish and time to become profitable. Most varieties of grape vines take a minimum of 3 years before they produce fruit, and often do not produce an abundance of fruit for another few years. So one does not simply decide to plant grapes on their property like they would wheat, they must plan and budget so they will be able to survive for the duration. But once the vines are established, if they are properly maintained, they will survive for generations.

It is not hard to recognize that the vineyard that Jesus speaks about is the Kingdom of God, which during this time frame was mainly thought of as the nation of Israel, but I have mentioned that allegory is layered with meaning and as the concept of the Kingdom of God expands so does the story.

The second thing mention is that the land owner builds a fence around the vineyard. Fences are defensive devices used to keep things in as well as keeping things out. Vineyards are a high risk high profit agricultural investment, not only today but throughout history. People that operate vineyards are some of the most protective people in a community and rightfully so. Grapes are very sensitive and tasty. The fence was to keep a variety of beast from intruding into the vineyard uninvited, a wide variety of animals would do whatever they could to gain a taste from the vine and often do great damage to the plant. But the worst beast of all is humanity. Greed and jealousy have been part of the human condition since Cain and Abel, it has continued to grow since and cultures have attempted to temper this through various means. Things like a fence were not only to keep animals out but also to provide a deterrent to theft. Let us think about the fence some more. Fences in ancient times were not like fences today, wire in ancient times was so difficult and time consuming to produce that it would not be used something such as a fence, but for jewelry. The drawing of metal into wire started in ancient Egypt but would only be done with the softer and more beautiful metals such as gold. It was not until 19^th century that the technological advancements in drawing metal into wire became feasible for uses as common as fencing. Ancient fences were basically walls, and the more important or valuable the contents inside the fence were the taller and thicker the walls became. So as we imagine a fenced in vineyard, we should imagine a fortress and not a pasture. We should imagine stone walls or tree trunks driven into the ground fortifying and protecting this land. Since trees were fairly scarce in Israel it would most likely be a stone wall taller than a man, and it would probably be capped with clay embedded with sharpened ceramic shards to provide greater protection from the beasts that seek to destroy.

God has provided a means of protection for those that follow Him. The ancient Laws handed down from Moses are like a wall to protect the followers of God. Things in those law when investigated deeply we can find scientifically what exactly God was protecting the people from. Things like parasites that can be present in foods that are not properly cooked or stored, allergic reactions, even the threat of molds and mildews we hear about so often today were included in the Laws of Leviticus. Also included in those laws are conceptual ideas that benefited the community as a whole laws about protection of people on you property, how one should treat resident aliens, and even debt. Many of these concepts history cannot prove were ever fully followed, but when tried the community grew and justice prevailed for all people within.

Next the owner builds a winepress and a watch tower. These items provide added value. A tower provides early warning to danger as well as greater defense. The wine press provides the ability to add value to the produce of the vineyard. Like the fence this protects the livelihood and wealth of the community.

Then after the landowner builds and establishes this vineyard he went off to another country leaving the land under the care of tenants. When harvest came he would send servants back to the vineyard to collect his portion of the produce. It is difficult for most of us to understand this portion of the story because many of us are not involved in agriculture. But most agricultural land is not owned by those that tend to the crops. Even today’s farmers rent large portions of their farms. When one rents land there is payment, today payment is generally a cash value and the farmer can keep the total crop, or the rent is a fraction of the produce. The story Jesus tells is alludes to a fractional rent concept. The Land owner comes by at harvest time to collect his portion of the crop. The tenants began to think that the owner was asking for too much, so they mistreated the servants, killing those that he sent. To the point that the owner sends his son to collect what is rightfully his. The rebellious tenants then kill the son thinking that they will liberate themselves from the land owner. Jesus then asks, what will happen to these rebellious people? The people first listening to this story tell Jesus that the land own will forcefully remove the tenants and give the land to others that will give what is required.

The allegory of this story is that it is layered. The concept applies to agricultural relationships, as well as cultural and religious concepts. Like I said before the vineyard is the kingdom of God, the fence or the protective force surrounding the kingdom is the law or the church, the wine press and tower are our lives, and the tenants are the leaders within. Think about that for a moment. The lessons that Jesus applied to the leaders of Israel 2000 years ago, are still very relevant today.

God has established this world and has set us up as stewards of his creation. He has given us boundaries to live within and as long as we stay within those boundaries our lives are generally protected. But often times we take matters into our own hands and begin to think we are in control. We rebel. We begin to think that we are the masters of our own destiny. When this happens our lives become more complex and complicated.

Greed and jealously creep in, and we cut corners instead of being honest. This happens at every level, in corporations, and in families. Children think that they deserve cookies and they will take them without asking, greed. Corporations wish to make more profit so they use inferior products that cheat their customers out of money, greed. Those that work begin to think that others are keeping them from success and they demand more, jealousy. Some even go so far as to take matters into their own hands and take what they think they deserve, which is both greed and jealousy.

These are the things that devour culture, these are the things that the very laws of God were given to protect us against yet from the beginning of time we have rebelled against them. Empires have fallen because of the elements behind this story. We no longer hear about the great Assyrian empire outside of history class because they fell due to greed and jealousy. We no longer see Pharaohs sitting over the Kingdoms of the Nile because of greed and jealousy. The sun now sets on the British Empire because of these very same elements.

We are no different. We as a church are no different. We as a culture are in the very same place as so many before us. God has given us a simple life to live. He calls us to love Him with all we are and with everything we have, and to love our neighbors. He can make this call because he is the land owner all we have is really his and he can make those sorts of demands. And when we rebel, he will take what is perceived to be ours and give it to others. Isaiah cried out in his vision from God saying, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

We live among people driven by greed and jealousy, we often times get caught up in the very same things, but God is calling us to something better. He is calling us to become a people that live a different rhythm of life, one that makes it their custom to worship Him that will withdraw to isolated places to spend times in conversations with Him in prayer, and will listen to His words and minister to the needs of those around them. This is the rhythm of life that Jesus himself lived while he was among us, the very son of God sent to call humanity back to God. But often we want to live a life of selfish rebellion. And instead of embracing the life within God’s loving arms we instead want to control everything for our own personal profit. What does that give us?

Today, like every day, we can make that choice to turn from the pathways leading to destruction and begin to journey down the pathway with Christ. Today, like every day, we must choose to be a person and community that will live for God or live for ourselves. We can be rebellious tenants or faithful friends. Today we can begin to build a community that is loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit and living the love of Christ with other.

As we enter this time of open worship and holy expectancy, the time of communion with God as Friends, let us each reflect on this multi-layered story, let us put ourselves inside and walk around for a bit, and ask ourselves and our God where we can improve as individuals and as individuals within our community and culture as a whole.