Sermon for Palm Sunday – evening
Sunday 9th April 2017
Isa. 5. 1-7
Matt. 21. 33-46
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
Are you by nature a nomad? Or a settler?
I am put in mind of the musical Oklahoma! And the song,” O the farmer and the cowman should be friends”…. The Archaeologists tell us that human beings began as hunter gatherers, following the herds of wild animals around on their annual migrations. But at some point in pre-history, people began to settle in one place and begin cultivating the wild grasses to produce something like wheat and other arable crops. Which enabled a culture to develop, leading eventually to cities, and so called civilisation etc.
All the evidence suggests that Israel itself was first made up of migrant tribes of pastoralists – think of Moses leading the children of Israel around the wilderness for forty years – they must have had herds of sheep and goats to sustain themselves with – as well of course as manna and quails! Owning land did not begin to be a thing until after they had crossed the Jordan (finally) and begun settling in the promised land.
(which incidentally tells us that the version of the 10 Commandments we have inherited was written – or at least amended – after this time…. You cannot covet your neighbour’s house or his field unless some degree of land ownership is implied.)
But to begin with they were mainly shepherds, leading their flocks from one pasture to another. In these circumstances they would have been very aware of their total dependence on God. Psalm 23 – the Lord’s my shepherd – has its origins in just this sort of economy.
But later they settled down as agriculturalists, becoming permanent occupiers of particular fields on which they grew wheat, and – especially in that sunny climate, grapevines, and of course olive groves too. But one of the temptations when you settle down is to become much more concerned with money and trade and to risk becoming greedy, thinking that you own the land. And forgetting that both the land and those who farm it belong entirely to God, and depend on him.
I have always been struck that the farmers I have come to know over the years – here and elsewhere – have always said at some point “Of course, we don’t really own the land… we are merely stewards of it, and we hope to leave it in better heart, better condition, than we found it!” Today’s farmers are now all about caring for the soil – with minimum tilling to achieve their crops. Right?
But back to our biblical narrative.
The OT tells us that God sent many prophets, to call the children of Israel back to their original priorities; to stop oppressing those who worked for them, and adopt a more generous, sharing attitude to their possessions. The book of Amos is all about this for example, he rebukes his fellow countrymen for adopting corrupt city ways, instead of the mutual dependence of the desert.
Amos, and others, represented wilderness religion protesting against what happened to morality in vineyard religion. The religion of the wandering tribes was not without its faults, but it was the lesser of two evils. Yet the tension between the wilderness and vineyard religions could also be creative, teaching the people a new understanding of their duty to God and to neighbour.
In tonight’s reading, the prophet Isaiah appears at first to rejoice in the love of the owner for his vineyard. But the vineyard was a disappointment – instead of luscious sweet grapes, it only produces sour, wild grapes. The inference is that God – the owner of the vineyard – is bitterly disappointed in how his investment in the Israelites is turning out. They have forgotten to yield to him sweet worship, and instead are leaving a sour taste of corruption and lack of hospitality behind.
Jesus was echoing Isaiah’s sentiments when he told the people of Jerusalem the parable of the wicked tenants. Speaking of the tenants being willing to kill the son of the vineyard’s owner, challenged them to look at what they were planning to do to Jesus in Holy Week.
And are we Christians, the latest tenants to occupy the vineyard, are we any better? Do we perhaps think complacently that God has taken away the promises he first made to the Jews and transferred them to us? We dare not adopt the city’s selfish ways of materialism, corruption and dishonesty. That is – at heart – much of what the ABC was getting at in the Lent book some of us have been studying through Lent – Dethroning Mammon.
What we have – and we have such a lot when you come to consider it – has been lent to us by God. (just like the farmers with their fields). And God expects us to use it generously to help the poor, and build up the kingdom of God, in gratitude for God’s generosity to us.
So as we enter into Holy Week – thinking of all God does for us in the person of Jesus but also in his generosity towards us in our daily lives, may we be brought to a true and deep realisation of God’s sacrifice and love poured out for our sake.
Amen.