A Bully Named Pride
Today’s Gospel text is a parable. A story told by Jesus to connect with people
who have different understandings. Jesus
as the Son of God, could not explain the mind of God to humans who have never
experienced the mind of God. So he told
stories and whether any of them actually happened, we don’t know.
But today’s parable describes a landowner who built a
vineyard and all of the necessities to farm it.
Then he leased the property with the understanding that rent was paid by
portions of the harvest.
The story was meant to help explain God’s persistent
activity of reaching out to us equally persistent stubborn and prideful human
beings. By using examples of the times,
Jesus told the Pharisees that God had created the world (like the landowner
creating the vineyard) and placed us in it as tenants to till the ground, to
care for the plants, animals, and one another, and to bear fruit.
In the story Jesus also acknowledges that we as prideful
humans perceive that we have been given ownership of God’s creation. And keeping with a contemporary story in
their time to make a connection, Jesus references prophets, scribes, and
Himself as slaves and the landowner’s son.
He describes the Pharisees and us (tenants) as bullies in a sense,
wanting to keep the fruit for ourselves rather than to give back to the
landowner (God). The Prophets, scribes,
and the Son were all killed because we didn’t want to
give up our personal control or our pride to God.
In
the beginning of Scripture we hear God tell Adam and Eve that he has provided
them with all that they need and they are to till the ground, care for the
animals, and manage his creation…it’s called stewardship. They are to care for God’s creation. As are we.
But we like the tenants are bullies with our personal pride.
It’s
easy to point out the flaws in others; to take to task those who are bullying
us. But we too are bullies. In our own minds we have taken ownership of
God’s creation. We want as much for
ourselves as possible. We consider those
who do things differently to be untrustworthy.
And if their traditions are different, they are wrong.
Jesus
repeated in the Gospels, ‘Do not fear’.
Fear is not found in love and compassion for one another. Love and forgiveness are the anti-fears. Jesus didn’t bully anyone by saying, ‘Believe
in me or else’. He simply loved and
forgave. He walked the talk. He overlooked our histories. And in our baptism, God has claimed us as his
own just as he did with his Son. Jesus
loves you and forgives you. And he asks
that you too love and forgive, seeing others (even in their differences) as
brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.