St.
Martin in the Fields Church, Atlanta
I feel it is important for the church
today to preach forgiveness and grace even as it challenges people to try and
live better lives.
O God be in my mouth as I speak for you and fill this
place with your great grace, that we may leave this place less of what we use
to be and more of what we ought to be, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
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.”
Prior to the D-Day landings in 1944 Dwight Eisenhower
published a message that was given to every soldier, sailor and airman. Perhaps
you have heard these words before:
“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward
which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you.
The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In
company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other Fronts, you will
bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi
tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe and security for ourselves in a
free world.”
After reminding his troops of the difficulty of the undertaking
and the allies various victories since 1941, the General closed with these
inspiring words:
“I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty
and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck.
And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble
undertaking.”
Of course, after more than sixty years we have gotten use
to the idea that the D-day landings were a great victory and success. The
passage of time has effectively obscured the sleepless nights that Eisenhower
and his generals had as they worried about the 1,000 different things that
could have gone wrong.
And while the General Order that was posted before the
landing is well known, most people forget that Eisenhower also scribbled another
short message that he kept in his back pocket for the day of the landing. It
went like this:
“Our landings in the Normandy area have failed to gain a
satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at
this time was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air
and Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or
fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”
If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine
alone.
It is of course interesting that Eisenhower chose to keep
this note. He could just as well, have tossed it in the trash after he knew the
landings were successful.
Perhaps, though. he decided to keep the note to remind
himself of the uncertainty that goes along with having responsibility.
As the supreme commander of Allied Forces, he knew that
success in battle has many fathers who are glad to claim their son, but failure
in war is an orphan, and he alone would have taken the blame if the landings
had failed.
His willingness to accept responsibility stands in stark
contrast to most of our national leaders today who seem to spend most of their
time looking for other people to blame. Of course congressional inquiries
aside, blaming other people is always a lot easier than taking a hard look at
our own shortcomings.
I am sure if we had the tenants of the vineyard here from
our parable, they would have given us lots of excuses for beating up the land
owner’s servants and killing his son.
Maybe they would have said, the servants were rude, the
son was arrogant….Maybe they would have blamed their upbringing, or their
environment for their reprehensible behavior.
But you can bet that they would never have taken
responsibility for what they did. It would have always been someone else’s
fault.
That is why it is so rare to read something like
Eisenhower’s note today, because he honestly embraces his responsibility and
the potential that any great human endeavor can have for failure.
Acknowledging our own responsibility in a community of
faith is also important particularly as we welcome new members this morning
through the sacrament of baptism.
This issue of our accountability within community brings
to my mind two points from Jesus’ parable that I wished to share with you
today.
First, Jesus reminds his listeners that God had given to
those in positions of religious leadership a great trust. We must remember that
Jesus’ primary audience for this parable is the religious leaders and
authorities of the nation of Israel. The chief priests and elders of the temple
would have understood that they were the central characters, they were the
unruly tenants of the vineyard.
The parable is a critique of their stewardship, how they
have been taking care of things for God, and most importantly of all their
leadership. Consequently to understand the parable today, we have to be willing
to apply it to the modern church.
As church members or as the religious establishment, we
can all too easily fall prey to the trap of self-righteousness or at least
think that we are somehow better and more holy than everyone else.
To quote a well-known theologian, Uncle Ben, in the movie
Spiderman, “with great power, comes great responsibility.” The church forgets
this truth always to its spiritual determent.
Secondly, in his debates with the religious leaders of his
day, Jesus reminded them with parables that membership in God’s kingdom, being
invited to the heavenly banquet, should not ultimately be a human concern.
Although Jesus is not shy about attacking religious
leaders, he wants those that suffer to know that God is always ready like the
father of the prodigal son to welcome them back home once they repent.
Jesus felt that Israel’s leaders had forgotten this part
of their mission. Being a light to the nations, being a spiritual or moral
example, was not about self-righteousness but instead letting people know that
God loved them even when they don’t quite measure up.
In this context, we can see that Jesus’ story is an
invitation for us as the current tenants to leave the confines of the vineyard,
and to start inviting folks to share in the goodness of God’s all encompassing
love.
The fruits of the harvest are for all God’s people.
This is why I feel it is important for the church today to
preach forgiveness and grace even as it challenges people to try and live
better lives.
The church’s primary role is not here to remind people
they don’t measure up. Most people already know this.
Instead, we have a role as our Lord’s evangelists to help
people get to know God better. To remind them that they aren’t perfect, we
aren’t perfect and thank goodness that God loves us all anyway.
This is where our baptisms this morning take on an added
sense of importance. For when we baptizing children, young people and adults we
are not creating perfect Christian people. If I claimed this you would probably
want your money back.
No, for in Christian baptism we remind ourselves that as a
church, we are on a journey together, it will have ups and downs, it will have
D-day landings and Little Big Horns, but one day it will end in the embrace of
a loving God who will welcome us like the father of the prodigal back
home.
The honest acknowledgement of our imperfections should
bring us a sense of freedom and release not despair.
No longer are we a slave to the false god of perfectionism
but we embrace our brokenness and gain strength through the weekly renewal that
comes from common worship and the body and blood of our Lord.
This is what it really means when we stand up and
proclaim, that we will support these people in their new life in Christ.
For just as that crumbled piece of paper in the back of
Eisenhower’s pocket reminded him that he was not perfect, responsible Christian
life today acknowledges our capacity for sin and our great need for God’s
grace.
This is what brings us to this fount as we once again
re-claim our inheritance as God’s sons and daughters and welcome each other
back home.
In a few moments through the waters of baptism the
landlord is going to be coming around to see how we are doing.
What kind of welcome are we going to give to him, what
kind of welcome we will give to those who pass through this life giving water?
What kind of responsibility are we ready to take?