Why we do not give to God | Matthew 21:33-46 | Harvest Thanksgiving
Matthew 21:33-46
Happy Harvest!
Our reading today is a story that Jesus tells about tenants who do not give their harvest offering to the landlord.
‘When the harvest time had come he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce’ (v34)
‘He will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time’ (v41)
‘The Kingdom of God will be .. given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom’ (v43)
Happy Harvest!
Our reading today is a story that Jesus tells about tenants who do not give their harvest offering to the landlord.
‘When the harvest time had come he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce’ (v34)
‘He will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time’ (v41)
‘The Kingdom of God will be .. given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom’ (v43)
The audio of this talk can be found here
The focus when people usually look at this passage is – rightly – on the rejected Son who is the cornerstone of the Kingdom of God.
But today – our harvest – I’d like to focus elsewhere, at the reasons that the tenants reject the landlord and do not give him the fruit of the kingdom.
1. The tenants have forgotten the goodness of the landlord.
The vineyard, in this story, is the people of Israel. Jesus is echoing Isaiah 5.
God in love ‘plants a vineyard’. He gives it a hedge and a heart.
But the tenants in the vineyard, it seems, have forgotten his love.
And that response of love includes giving to God the produce of the harvest, the fruit of the kingdom.
It is the fruit of repentance, righteousness and mercy.
It is the response of gratitude, praise, trust and the offering of our lives, our time, our possessions and our money to the God who loves us.
The image that I put on the email and WhatsApp was of Abel making his offering to God.
The focus when people usually look at this passage is – rightly – on the rejected Son who is the cornerstone of the Kingdom of God.
But today – our harvest – I’d like to focus elsewhere, at the reasons that the tenants reject the landlord and do not give him the fruit of the kingdom.
1. The tenants have forgotten the goodness of the landlord.
The vineyard, in this story, is the people of Israel. Jesus is echoing Isaiah 5.
God in love ‘plants a vineyard’. He gives it a hedge and a heart.
And he gives it to tenants to care for it.
But the vineyard could also be this creation
We are told in Genesis 2 that God ‘planted a garden’ in Eden. And in the beginning, when God looked at creation, ‘it was good’.
He has given us a most remarkable planet in an astounding universe, or multiverse, or whatever. It has incredibly rich resources. You may have played the game: animal, mineral, vegetable.
And he has given it to tenants, to us, to be stewards of this creation, to care for it for him.
It is remarkable gift.
The problem is when we forget that this is a gift of love - that life is gift, that each of us is gift, that our abilities and talents and opportunities are gift, that all we possess is gift.
Augustine tells the story of the lover who gives to the beloved a precious ring. It is beautiful and precious. And the beloved falls in love with the ring, the precious, and forgets the one who gave the ring.
I’m intrigued that in this story the landlord says when he sends his son, not ‘they’ll really listen to him and give me my stuff’, but ‘They will respect my son’.
God is looking for a response of love to his love.
But the vineyard could also be this creation
We are told in Genesis 2 that God ‘planted a garden’ in Eden. And in the beginning, when God looked at creation, ‘it was good’.
He has given us a most remarkable planet in an astounding universe, or multiverse, or whatever. It has incredibly rich resources. You may have played the game: animal, mineral, vegetable.
And he has given it to tenants, to us, to be stewards of this creation, to care for it for him.
It is remarkable gift.
The problem is when we forget that this is a gift of love - that life is gift, that each of us is gift, that our abilities and talents and opportunities are gift, that all we possess is gift.
Augustine tells the story of the lover who gives to the beloved a precious ring. It is beautiful and precious. And the beloved falls in love with the ring, the precious, and forgets the one who gave the ring.
I’m intrigued that in this story the landlord says when he sends his son, not ‘they’ll really listen to him and give me my stuff’, but ‘They will respect my son’.
God is looking for a response of love to his love.
But the tenants in the vineyard, it seems, have forgotten his love.
And that response of love includes giving to God the produce of the harvest, the fruit of the kingdom.
It is the fruit of repentance, righteousness and mercy.
It is the response of gratitude, praise, trust and the offering of our lives, our time, our possessions and our money to the God who loves us.
The image that I put on the email and WhatsApp was of Abel making his offering to God.
 |
| The Offerings of Abel and Melchizedek. San Vitale, Ravenna, C6th. Abel offers a lamb; Melchizedek offers bread and wine. Above the altar, a hand represents God receiving their offerings. |
Abel and Cain, the sons of Adam, make an offering.
Cain’s offering of the fruit of the earth is rejected. Abel’s offering of livestock is accepted.
Does that mean God prefers livestock farmers to agricultural farmers? No.
Does that mean God prefers livestock farmers to agricultural farmers? No.
The story tells us that Abel offers the first fruits of the flock to God, whereas Cain makes ‘an offering of the fruit of the ground’.
Abel offers the first of his produce. Cain, according to some commentators, offers what is left over.
Abel sees the goodness of God. He recognises that God is the source of everything, and he is prepared to trust God.
Offering the first fruits is a bit of risk. You don’t know what is coming next. But Abel trusts God. Hebrews 11:4 states that ‘by faith Abel offered …’) It is his way of saying to God, you are the most important thing in my life.
And Cain. He does not see the goodness of God. Instead, it seems he pays lip service to God.
And we see with Cain what we see with the tenants in the vineyard. What begins as an offering made as lip service to God leads eventually to resentment and murder.
2. The tenants do not give to the landlord the fruits of the harvest because they assume that the distance of the landlord is the absence of the landlord.
In the story, the landlord goes to a distant country.
But it does not mean that he is absent.
He is there. The vineyard is a testimony to his care and provision. And he sends his slaves – his prophets and preachers - and then, in his love, he sends his son.
This landlord was not tyrannical or exploitative or only after the profit. If that had been the case, then there would have been no ‘son’ stage. There would have been the beaten and killed slaves and then the army.
It often seems that God is distant.
And it is easy to move from the assumption that because God seems distant, he is absent, and because he is absent, he does not exist.
We may believe in God and yet live as though he were absent. We make our plans, spend our money, face our anxieties—and never think to turn to him. His apparent silence becomes, in our minds, his irrelevance.
So naturally, we do not give the fruit of the harvest to God. Because, we think, he is irrelevant.
3. The tenants do not give to the landlord because they assume that they can take control of the vineyard without the owner
‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ Matthew 21:38
We think that we are the masters, the rulers of this world
We assume that our leaders, or our technology or our education can save us
It is the greatest hubris, pride. We believe we can live without God.
But we are the tenants not the owners.
So for instance, with climate change.
It is possibly one of the clearest examples of what happens when we think that we own this planet, and can do with it what we want.
Abel offers the first of his produce. Cain, according to some commentators, offers what is left over.
Abel sees the goodness of God. He recognises that God is the source of everything, and he is prepared to trust God.
Offering the first fruits is a bit of risk. You don’t know what is coming next. But Abel trusts God. Hebrews 11:4 states that ‘by faith Abel offered …’) It is his way of saying to God, you are the most important thing in my life.
And Cain. He does not see the goodness of God. Instead, it seems he pays lip service to God.
And we see with Cain what we see with the tenants in the vineyard. What begins as an offering made as lip service to God leads eventually to resentment and murder.
2. The tenants do not give to the landlord the fruits of the harvest because they assume that the distance of the landlord is the absence of the landlord.
In the story, the landlord goes to a distant country.
But it does not mean that he is absent.
He is there. The vineyard is a testimony to his care and provision. And he sends his slaves – his prophets and preachers - and then, in his love, he sends his son.
This landlord was not tyrannical or exploitative or only after the profit. If that had been the case, then there would have been no ‘son’ stage. There would have been the beaten and killed slaves and then the army.
It often seems that God is distant.
And it is easy to move from the assumption that because God seems distant, he is absent, and because he is absent, he does not exist.
We may believe in God and yet live as though he were absent. We make our plans, spend our money, face our anxieties—and never think to turn to him. His apparent silence becomes, in our minds, his irrelevance.
So naturally, we do not give the fruit of the harvest to God. Because, we think, he is irrelevant.
3. The tenants do not give to the landlord because they assume that they can take control of the vineyard without the owner
‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ Matthew 21:38
We think that we are the masters, the rulers of this world
We assume that our leaders, or our technology or our education can save us
It is the greatest hubris, pride. We believe we can live without God.
But we are the tenants not the owners.
So for instance, with climate change.
It is possibly one of the clearest examples of what happens when we think that we own this planet, and can do with it what we want.
And we cannot continue to chuck carbon into the atmosphere. And that means that we need to be prepared to make personal sacrifices. We need all our human creativity and ingenuity and hard work. And we need to work together.
But simply stating that is not going to help.
Driving people by inducing guilt or fear will not help. That will lead to apathy or despair or anger or self-righteousness.
And actually, we are talking about huge forces here that are far bigger than us. We are never going to solve climate change simply through our own effort. We also need God. In the end, it is not just work that will do it. It is work and prayer, hand in hand.
The listeners to Jesus’ story are shocked when Jesus tells them of how the tenants reject the landlord and kill his son. They say, ‘He will leave the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time’ (v41).
Do we?
But simply stating that is not going to help.
Driving people by inducing guilt or fear will not help. That will lead to apathy or despair or anger or self-righteousness.
And actually, we are talking about huge forces here that are far bigger than us. We are never going to solve climate change simply through our own effort. We also need God. In the end, it is not just work that will do it. It is work and prayer, hand in hand.
The listeners to Jesus’ story are shocked when Jesus tells them of how the tenants reject the landlord and kill his son. They say, ‘He will leave the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time’ (v41).
Do we?
Do we give him the fruits of repentance, righteousness, mercy, praise and generosity? Do we give to him the fruits of lives submitted to him
Is he the rock, the cornerstone, on which we have been broken, but on whom we can build our lives?
Do we give him the first fruits?
Today is our harvest thanksgiving.
We recognise that this world is a gift of love, and we say thank you.
We recognise that God is both distant and with us; not absent, but present. He sent his Son into the vineyard. We rejected him and killed him. But Jesus rose from the dead. He is Emmanuel, ‘God with us’. And he is here with us through his Holy Spirit.
And we recognise that we are tenants of this creation, not the owners
And so we respond with giving, with the first fruits
King David in the Old Testament desires to build temple, a house for prayer. And he asks the people to make contributions. And as he looks at their abundant offerings he is astounded:
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you”. (1 Chronicles 29:14-16)
Is he the rock, the cornerstone, on which we have been broken, but on whom we can build our lives?
Do we give him the first fruits?
Today is our harvest thanksgiving.
We recognise that this world is a gift of love, and we say thank you.
We recognise that God is both distant and with us; not absent, but present. He sent his Son into the vineyard. We rejected him and killed him. But Jesus rose from the dead. He is Emmanuel, ‘God with us’. And he is here with us through his Holy Spirit.
And we recognise that we are tenants of this creation, not the owners
And so we respond with giving, with the first fruits
King David in the Old Testament desires to build temple, a house for prayer. And he asks the people to make contributions. And as he looks at their abundant offerings he is astounded:
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you”. (1 Chronicles 29:14-16)
Comments
Post a Comment