One of the joys of lockdown was the return of birds to our garden. We became more aware of birdsong and the calming effect of the natural world to our well being. I enjoyed seeing a goldfinch for the first time as it drank from the bowl outside my window. I had never realised how stunningly beautiful these colourful birds are. We were created to live in a garden. The Bible begins with the garden of Eden and ends with a new heaven and earth where humans are surrounded by trees and the river of the water of lifeWe were created to live in harmony with and care for all creation, not to exploit it for our own ends. We become healthier in body, mind and spirit when we care for a garden or allotment or walk in the country. We are calmed when we stroke our pets and become close to animals.Our gospel today is the middle parable in which Jesus asks us his listeners to look at the Kingdom of Heaven as a vineyard, a place which if tended and nurtured brings forth much fruit.Last week’s parable was about workers hired to tend the grapes. Although they were all treated well by the generous landowner, they were hired workers. They enjoyed the profits, but the vineyard didn’t belong to their family. In this week’s parable, a father sends his sons into the vineyard to share in the family business.The first refuses to go and later changes his mind, whilst the second agrees to go and then doesn’t bother.It is so frustrating when someone agrees to do something and never gets around to it, whether it is at work, in the home or at church. If vines are not pruned and the grapes are not collected, a vineyard will fall into ruin. A garden doesn’t look beautiful without helpWho are we in this parable, the one who appears agreeable but is lazy and doesn’t bother or the one who appears to be rude and obstinate but eventually gets the job done? As children of the vineyard owner the sons are immensely privileged. They will enjoy the benefits and produce. One day they will inherit the land. It is in their interests therefore to look after their father’s property.Jesus told this parable in the temple to the chief priests and elders who were questioning his authority because Jesus had challenged theirs. He had just ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey while the crowds proclaimed that he was the coming Messiah. Furthermore he had overturned the tables in the temple of the money changers who were selling animals for sacrifice at extortionate prices.The chief priests and elders were exploiting those less powerful than themselves for profit. When Jesus sees people exploited he is angry.We know Jesus acted under the authority of his heavenly Father, he is Israel’s Messiah and he was right to challenge exploitation in his Father’s house of prayer. Do we challenge exploitation when we see it?Jesus knew that if he answered the question about his authority, he would immediately be condemned so he responded with a question about John the Baptist. Did John’s baptism come from heaven or from humans? The chief priests knew that whatever they answered would condemn them. If they answered that his baptism came from heaven, they were guilty for not getting their lives right with God and acting on John’s teaching.If they said John’s baptism was of human invention they risked the wrath of the crowd who had repented of their sins, returned money to those they had extorted it from and who were behaving more fairly.The image of the vineyard in scripture represented Judah who God had planted and expected to bring forth fruit.As leaders of the Jewish people, the chief priests should have been looking after the people in God’s vineyard, not exploiting them for their own purposes.As those well versed in scripture, they had said yes to God but had not done what they had been called to do. They needed to repent.The tax collectors and prostitutes however, were like the son who had been disobedient, yet repented. They had listened to John the Baptist when he told them not to extort or use violence to gain more money than was their due and be generous if they had more than they needed. They had repented and therefore would enter the kingdom heaven before the unrepentant chief priests and elders.God has created a beautiful world of great variety and abundance. He wants us to enjoy it, not exploit it; to look and listen with wonder, to touch, taste and know the goodness of God.We are labourers in God’s vineyard. We are not slaves but his children who should long to share in the task of sowing and reaping fruit for the Kingdom of God.Sir David Attenborough has reminded us in his television programme “Extinction,” that the human race faces a tough choiceIf we continue to exploit the earth for economic purposes and compete on a global scale, we face destruction.The earth is warming up quicker than we expected. Millions of species, particularly insects are being lost. The effects of flooding, fires and less land and natural habitats mean animals and humans live more closely together. The consequences are that pandemics like COVID 19 are likely to be more frequent as diseases jump from one species to another.There is likely to be a lack of food and the poor suffer first.Our Philippians passage reminds us that Jesus came to show us a different way. We are not to do anything from selfish ambitious or conceit. Instead we are to have the same mind as Christ Jesus who did not regard equality to God as something to be exploited.Instead he took the form of a slave and suffered and died for us.Like Jesus we are called to serve, to look after each other’s interests before our own; to tend and nurture the natural world and care for all who should be sharing in the fruit of God’s vineyard.We are to be, loving, compassionate and humble like Christ. I am thankful for all those who continue to serve in our part of God’s vineyard here at St Leonard’s, in the churchyard, during our services, in your giving of gifts and money and in the phone calls you make showing your love for each other. Because you are children of God and family, you do it without reward or monetary gain. In the face of natural disasters and the pandemic we are humbled.How could humans think God would allow exploitation of his beautiful world to go unchallenged? Post pandemic, is it really viable to carry on exploiting God’s world? In serving and dying for us Jesus became God’s rescue plan both for us and for creation. Let’s be like the tax collectors and prostitutes, repent of our sins and accept Christ’s love in our lives. Until that day when every knee will bow to him, may we be like Jesus serving in God’s vineyard.
The story Jesus told of the workers in the vineyard and the book of Jonah both contrast the generosity of God with our human tendency to be mean and self righteous.Have you ever been jealous? Have you watched someone else received the recognition or reward you expected? You had to smile and congratulate someone who you knew didn’t deserve this prize any more than you did, while inside you were hoping you’d be the one getting the praise. Life isn’t fair. When we have to stand aside and watch someone else get the glory, the money, the nice house or the friend or date we wanted, it hurts. We get what the Greeks called the “evil eye.” That green-eyed monster, envy, ruins our joy.The parable of the workers in the vineyard exposes the inequality and lack of justice in our present world system where there has never been equal pay for an equal day’s work.Some of the workers in God’s vineyard such as home carers, mums, volunteers in charity shops and food banks, toddler groups, youth groups, etc, either get paid nothing at all or get paid very littleOthers, including CEOs of big companies, banks, you tubers and footballers are paid more than most of us could imagineThere are no lazy idlers in this story. The landowner, (the rich guy) gets up very early in the morning and goes out to hire labourers. He agrees with the workers the usual daily wage. He is not undercutting anyone. He pays the going rate. Local farmers, despite COVID 19, have still hired workers from Eastern Europe because there were insufficient British people prepared to live on site and earn low wages. I find this sad. It reminds us that the poor across the world have to survive on much less than the poorest here.The landowner went out again at 9.00 am to the marketplace to negotiate more workers. Because these workers weren’t hired early on, they know they have little hope of being hired that day.There was no social security system to keep them fed. The landowner didn’t offer them the daily rate. He just said, “I will pay you whatever is right.”Most employers try to get away with paying as little as possible. Without a contract or proper agreement, these workers could have little expectation of a fair reward. The landowner went out again at noon, at three o’clock and five to hire more workers.At five pm when most of the working day was gone, he asked those waiting in the marketplace why they had been standing idle all day. The answer was obvious. No one had hired them.There are many in this position today, desperate for work. On the news this week, there were five hundred people who applied for a part time cleaning job.These were well qualified people who had been in decent jobs in the past. They had families to feed and mortgages to pay. They didn’t want to sit idly at home on benefit.The landowner had compassion on the unemployed and sent them into his vineyard.When evening came the landowner called his manager and told him to pay his workers the daily wage whatever time they started work. Instead of looking at how much profit he could make, he looked at the needs of his workers.Maybe he called in the workers who had started last first so they wouldn’t be sneered at or looked down upon by those who had worked all day. When those who had worked since early morning received their pay, they grumbled self righteously that those who had only worked for an hour received the same pays as them when they had slogged through the heat of the day.Despite the grumbling, the landowner called the disgruntled spokesperson, friend. He had done him no wrong because he had paid the daily rate agreed upon. The landowner had chosen to be generous with what he had.The tenth commandment is “You shall not covet.” It is easy to covet what other people have, particularly if we have worked hard and don’t feel we have been rewarded sufficiently. Like the older son in the parable of the two sons we can feel bitter about our lot and not recognise how privileged we areIf, like those who had worked all day we have a working contract, we are particularly blessed.Commentators are far too quick to spiritualise this parable and say it is about our envy for those we consider less deserving who receive God’s gift of life and spiritual gifts late.Whilst it can and should be applied to jealousies within the pecking orders of our churches, I believe it was designed to speak about wealth and economic privilege. Wealthy recipients of God’s material gifts have a responsibility to be like the landowner, value the poor and the unemployed and raise their self esteem.We are too quick to place ourselves in the world’s pecking order, instead of seeing ourselves as God sees us.The landowner overturned expectations as Jesus does by saying, “The first will be last and the last first.” Our spiritual, mental and material gifts come from God. Whilst we are all equally loved by him, we are not equally gifted or able. Those judged to be the least in our worldly system may be judged great in the Kingdom of God where our pretentions count for nothing. God wants to see all of us living fruitful lives, working in his vineyard.Jonah hated the Assyrians. They were his nation’s violent, cruel, powerful enemies. He ran away to sunny Spain to avoid delivering the message of judgement that God sent him to proclaim. We Who When we look at the desperation of Syrian refugees, devastation in Yemen and the predicament of modern day Nineveh in Northern Iraq which suffered much at the hands of Islamic State in the last ten years, we can understand why Jonah didn’t go.Jonah had earlier declared that "deliverance belongs to the Lord,", a deliverance he experienced when the fish spewed him onto dry land, yet he God’s generosity towards Nineveh.Eventually obedient, the residents of Nineveh, repented and God turned from his anger against them. Jonah was so angry he behaved like a spoilt child wanting God to take his life.Jonah complains " I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing," Surely there cannot be salvation for the residents of Nineveh?Jonah learnt that God’s generosity and forgiveness extends even to evil non Jewish regimes.God calls us all into his vineyard to be co-workers with him.In our daily lives at work and at home, we are called to reflect Kingdom values of extraordinary generosity and love, proclaiming Jesus to those we look down upon and or see as our enemies.Jesus showed this amazing generosity by loving his enemies and dying for us on the cross. Let’s be thankful for God’s generous gifts today, treat everyone we meet the same way, as equal to us, and be happy when we see others blessed. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, may God help us to be generous towards them in our thoughts, words and deeds.
The story Jesus told of the workers in the vineyard and the book of Jonah both contrast the generosity of God with our human tendency to be mean and self righteous.Have you ever been jealous? Have you watched someone else received the recognition or reward you expected? You had to smile and congratulate someone who you knew didn’t deserve this prize any more than you did, while inside you were hoping you’d be the one getting the praise. Life isn’t fair. When we have to stand aside and watch someone else get the glory, the money, the nice house or the friend or date we wanted, it hurts. We get what the Greeks called the “evil eye.” That green-eyed monster, envy, ruins our joy.The parable of the workers in the vineyard exposes the inequality and lack of justice in our present world system where there has never been equal pay for an equal day’s work.Some of the workers in God’s vineyard such as home carers, mums, volunteers in charity shops and food banks, toddler groups, youth groups, etc, either get paid nothing at all or get paid very littleOthers, including CEOs of big companies, banks, you tubers and footballers are paid more than most of us could imagineThere are no lazy idlers in this story. The landowner, (the rich guy) gets up very early in the morning and goes out to hire labourers. He agrees with the workers the usual daily wage. He is not undercutting anyone. He pays the going rate. Local farmers, despite COVID 19, have still hired workers from Eastern Europe because there were insufficient British people prepared to live on site and earn low wages. I find this sad. It reminds us that the poor across the world have to survive on much less than the poorest here.The landowner went out again at 9.00 am to the marketplace to negotiate more workers. Because these workers weren’t hired early on, they know they have little hope of being hired that day.There was no social security system to keep them fed. The landowner didn’t offer them the daily rate. He just said, “I will pay you whatever is right.”Most employers try to get away with paying as little as possible. Without a contract or proper agreement, these workers could have little expectation of a fair reward. The landowner went out again at noon, at three o’clock and five to hire more workers.At five pm when most of the working day was gone, he asked those waiting in the marketplace why they had been standing idle all day. The answer was obvious. No one had hired them.There are many in this position today, desperate for work. On the news this week, there were five hundred people who applied for a part time cleaning job.These were well qualified people who had been in decent jobs in the past. They had families to feed and mortgages to pay. They didn’t want to sit idly at home on benefit.The landowner had compassion on the unemployed and sent them into his vineyard.When evening came the landowner called his manager and told him to pay his workers the daily wage whatever time they started work. Instead of looking at how much profit he could make, he looked at the needs of his workers.Maybe he called in the workers who had started last first so they wouldn’t be sneered at or looked down upon by those who had worked all day. When those who had worked since early morning received their pay, they grumbled self righteously that those who had only worked for an hour received the same pays as them when they had slogged through the heat of the day.Despite the grumbling, the landowner called the disgruntled spokesperson, friend. He had done him no wrong because he had paid the daily rate agreed upon. The landowner had chosen to be generous with what he had.The tenth commandment is “You shall not covet.” It is easy to covet what other people have, particularly if we have worked hard and don’t feel we have been rewarded sufficiently. Like the older son in the parable of the two sons we can feel bitter about our lot and not recognise how privileged we areIf, like those who had worked all day we have a working contract, we are particularly blessed.Commentators are far too quick to spiritualise this parable and say it is about our envy for those we consider less deserving who receive God’s gift of life and spiritual gifts late.Whilst it can and should be applied to jealousies within the pecking orders of our churches, I believe it was designed to speak about wealth and economic privilege. Wealthy recipients of God’s material gifts have a responsibility to be like the landowner, value the poor and the unemployed and raise their self esteem.We are too quick to place ourselves in the world’s pecking order, instead of seeing ourselves as God sees us.The landowner overturned expectations as Jesus does by saying, “The first will be last and the last first.” Our spiritual, mental and material gifts come from God. Whilst we are all equally loved by him, we are not equally gifted or able. Those judged to be the least in our worldly system may be judged great in the Kingdom of God where our pretentions count for nothing. God wants to see all of us living fruitful lives, working in his vineyard.Jonah hated the Assyrians. They were his nation’s violent, cruel, powerful enemies. He ran away to sunny Spain to avoid delivering the message of judgement that God sent him to proclaim. We Who When we look at the desperation of Syrian refugees, devastation in Yemen and the predicament of modern day Nineveh in Northern Iraq which suffered much at the hands of Islamic State in the last ten years, we can understand why Jonah didn’t go.Jonah had earlier declared that "deliverance belongs to the Lord,", a deliverance he experienced when the fish spewed him onto dry land, yet he God’s generosity towards Nineveh.Eventually obedient, the residents of Nineveh, repented and God turned from his anger against them. Jonah was so angry he behaved like a spoilt child wanting God to take his life.Jonah complains " I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing," Surely there cannot be salvation for the residents of Nineveh?Jonah learnt that God’s generosity and forgiveness extends even to evil non Jewish regimes.God calls us all into his vineyard to be co-workers with him.In our daily lives at work and at home, we are called to reflect Kingdom values of extraordinary generosity and love, proclaiming Jesus to those we look down upon and or see as our enemies.Jesus showed this amazing generosity by loving his enemies and dying for us on the cross. Let’s be thankful for God’s generous gifts today, treat everyone we meet the same way, as equal to us, and be happy when we see others blessed. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, may God help us to be generous towards them in our thoughts, words and deeds.
Forgiving those who have hurt us is as vitally important for each of us as it is for the person who is forgivenIf we are unforgiving and hold grudges we will damage our health, physically, mentally and spiritually.Anger and hate directed towards those who have hurt us won’t change them. They may not even be aware of our negative feelings. Lack of forgiveness will poison us.Jesus, in the Lord’s Prayer asks us to pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” We forgive because we want to be forgivenWhat is forgiveness and why is it so important? Does it mean letting people off when they have committed atrocious crimes?Letting people carry on sinning is not the loving thing to do. We need to keep people safe and protect them from evil. We are accountable to God, to each other and to our community for the things we do wrong. It is right that perpetrator’s of evil undergo the just sanctions of our legal system. Jesus makes this absolutely clear in this passage when the unforgiving slave is thrown into torment.When Peter asked how many times he should forgive someone from church who had sinned against him and suggested seven times, he thought he was being generous. The Rabbis limited it to three times.Forgiveness is tough. When we are hurt repeatedly, we want those who have let us down to know how it feels. We are often filled with negativity, anger, hate and shame. Our hearts cry out for justice. Those abused or bullied within a church service which is supposed to keep them safe and cover them with love feel particularly let down.Their faith in God as well as their faith in humanity is challenged.Jesus, however doesn’t agree with Peter and the Jewish Rabbis that there is a limit to forgiveness. He tells Peter we must forgive seventy times seven times.Sometimes, particular hurts and sins keep flashing back into our consciousness, warping the way we see the world and causing us to feel the hurt all over again.If we have suffered major physical, sexual or emotional abuse, or have been betrayed through divorce or by workmates, the changes in our circumstances can last a lifetime.We have to find a way of living with the injustice. We may need to keep forgiving the same sin time and time again throughout our lives. Forgiveness is intentional. When we are consumed by hate and anger, we need to remind ourselves that God loves both us and the offender, let go of what is hurting us and hold onto his love. We need to redirect our thinking and look forward in hope and trust. We voluntarily, with God’s help change our feelings and attitude towards the offender. Sometimes it is in the best interests of both the offender and victim to never see each other again. Whether reconciliation is possible or not, forgiveness implies replacing the negative emotions with positive attitudes and an increased ability to wish the offender well. Forgiveness is different from condoning excusing, forgetting, pardoning and restoration of a relationship. As human beings we are more than the sins we commit and our lives should not be determined by the offences committed against us. They are only part of our stories. This is revealed in the story of Joseph. Jealous of their brother for being their father’s favourite, Josephs’ brothers plotted to kill him. They threw him down a well and when slave traders passed by sold him. They deceived their father, telling him Joseph had been killed by wild animals and kept the guilty secret for years until hunger forced them to go to Egypt for food.They deserved to be put on trial and condemned. Joseph suffered much but had risen up the ranks of slaves until he was second only to the Pharaoh himself. He had shown himself to be truthful, conscientious and faithful to the God of Israel. When his brothers came to Egypt for food he recognised them. Instead of punishing them, he fed them.Fearing that once their father had died, Joseph might take his revenge, they approached him and told him that before he died his father had asked them to ask him for forgiveness. They named what they did as a crime. They had wronged Joseph.Joseph forgave them from his heart. He wept and his brothers also wept. They had lost so much through what had happened.Josephs’ brothers knelt before him ready to be slaves but Joseph raised them up. He recognised that he was in the place of God, being what God wanted him to be, ready to do what God wanted him to do. “Though you intended to harm me” he said, “God intended it for good.”God’s grace and forgiveness is dependent upon us having soft, forgiving hearts. Jesus says we must forgive from our hearts.Forgiving is the godly thing to do. We are called to be tender hearted and kind because God in Christ forgave us. Jesus was even able to have empathy for those who had crucified him. “Forgive them, he said, for they do not know what they are doing.”Many are unaware of the consequences of offences they commit. When Jesus was saying we must forgive seventy times seven times, he was saying forgiveness is the perfect, complete thing to do in the light of eternity because the number seven signified perfection, completeness and rest.Jesus was also reversing the vengeance, hate and corruption that has taken place throughout history since Cain murdered his brother. God pronounced seven fold vengeance on whoever killed Cain, mercifully preserving his life despite what he had done. Lamech pronounced vengeance and hate seventy-seven-fold for anyone who might kill Lamech. Only God’s forgiveness can save humankind. The only way people are going to see God’s love is through us.In certain contexts, forgiveness is a legal term for absolving or giving up all claims on account of debt, loan, obligation, or other claims.Much harm is done through structural and institutional oppression.Many countries and individuals are in debt as a result.In the story of the King who forgives, Jesus speaks into our need to have compassion on those who cannot pay. The slave brought to the King owed ten thousand talents equivalent to zillions in today’s money. However patient the King was, the slave would never be able to pay it off. It was the equivalent of a working man’s wage for two hundred thousand years.The King doesn’t give the slave a little more time as he asks. He forgives him. “The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion released him, and forgave him the debt” How free he must have felt.Sadly, the forgiven slave went out and grabbed by the throat, someone who owed him the equivalent of a hundred working days and demanded payment. With patience, the person could pay. The forgiven slave was not willing to wait and had him cast into prison. The friends of the imprisoned servant were sorrowful and told the King who had the forgiven slave imprisoned until he could repay.Since that was never going to happen, he would be tortured for the rest of his life.The slave chose to live by the worldly values of exploitation and domination even though he had been shown mercy.We are called to live by the loving, forgiving values of God’s Kingdom. Most of those countries and individuals in debt will never be able to repay what they owe.Poverty stricken countries which have had their debts cancelled are still trapped in an unfair economic system which means they will continue to get into further debt.We need to live differently. Living by kingdom values of forgiveness, compassion, mercy and justice we bring life and peace to others and to ourselves. Those who fail to forgive are tormented.We all owe a debt we cannot pay. Jesus paid in full on the cross when he forgave us our sins and set us free. He calls us now freely forgive and set others free.
