27 OTA.11; Isa 5:1-7; Phil 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43, Unrequited Love
Have you ever been left out of a game when you were in school?
Have you ever loved & been rejected?
Have you ever felt taken advantage of?
Hear a song of unrequited love, “Let me sing of my beloved, my beloved’s song concerning his vineyard …he did everything for the vineyard, then he looked for grapes but what it yielded was wild grapes…What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done?”
Originally, God is the Beloved singing of an unrequited love – Israel is the vineyard where selfishness & injustice are commonplace. God is hurt!
There is a fable about the Angel Gabriel who has just come from surveying the earth and its inhabitants when he reports to God. "Lord, it's my duty to inform you that you're the possessor of a choice piece of real estate known as planet earth. But the tenants you've leased it out to - are destroying it. In another few years, it won't be fit to live in. They have polluted your rivers. The air is fouled with the stench of their over-consumerism. They frequently kill one another, and all the prophets you've sent to them calling for an accounting … have met with violence. By any rule of sound management, Lord, you've got but one option." Then raising his trumpet to his lips, Gabriel asked, "Shall I sound the eviction notice now, sir?"
And Jesus said, "No, Gabriel! No, not just yet. I know you are right, but I keep thinking if I just give them a little more time they'll quit acting like they own the place!" (Source: esermons.com/Crotts / Murphy, Sermons for Sundays)
Someone once asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment. Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Everything depends on these two. Then …
Judas sold Jesus out.
Peter denied him three times and Jesus heard this.
The disciples deserted him….
There is a legend about a simple man who was lifted from the gutter and magically granted three wishes. First he wished for material goods and forthwith became very rich. Then he wished for understanding and soon
2 became very wise. At last he used his third wish to express his desire to become as God, and immediately he found himself back in the gutter.
So it was with the wicked tenants. Dissatisfied with their role as stewards and not owners, they eventually lost the very vineyard which supported them. The tenants of the vineyard are most to be pitied. We can only hope and pray for the innocents … who always suffer in their selfishness. (Source: esermons.com/Burkette, Life in Heaven's Kingdom)
Paul’s charge to the Philippians is that they live what they have learned and accepted. Living the word, more than only the study of it, yields
The saying “The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone” is still about Jesus. We are the builders now. We are to prepare the world with the Holy Spirit working through us to receive the Reign of God. The parable is sobering & poses questions for us today.
Who are the prophets among us?
What are they saying?
Are we listening to them or ignoring them, even abusing & murdering them?
What “fruit” have we produced in our lives to show God that we have heard his commands & followed Jesus?
Jesus will warn us that he is to be found not in shrines, but waiting to be served among the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger and the outcast. Where have we found Jesus and served his needs?
God builds us up, protects us, prunes our vines to increase our yield, a harvest of sweet wine. If we have instead only sour grapes to show for our lives, what happened to us? Whatever our failures, God sends his beloved son to claim our hearts. The story need not have a tragic end. But can still yield the joy of conversion. (Some thoughts from, Celebration, 09/11)
At this Liturgy, let us accept the gift of life by giving life.
Let us embrace the rejected cornerstone, the Beloved… by embracing each other & our world…Jesus already has.
Will you join him?
Have you ever been left out of a game when you were in school?
Have you ever loved & been rejected?
Have you ever felt taken advantage of?
Hear a song of unrequited love, “Let me sing of my beloved, my beloved’s song concerning his vineyard …he did everything for the vineyard, then he looked for grapes but what it yielded was wild grapes…What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done?”
Originally, God is the Beloved singing of an unrequited love – Israel is the vineyard where selfishness & injustice are commonplace. God is hurt!
Jesus retells this parable for his time … and ours!
There is a fable about the Angel Gabriel who has just come from surveying the earth and its inhabitants when he reports to God. "Lord, it's my duty to inform you that you're the possessor of a choice piece of real estate known as planet earth. But the tenants you've leased it out to - are destroying it. In another few years, it won't be fit to live in. They have polluted your rivers. The air is fouled with the stench of their over-consumerism. They frequently kill one another, and all the prophets you've sent to them calling for an accounting … have met with violence. By any rule of sound management, Lord, you've got but one option." Then raising his trumpet to his lips, Gabriel asked, "Shall I sound the eviction notice now, sir?"
And Jesus said, "No, Gabriel! No, not just yet. I know you are right, but I keep thinking if I just give them a little more time they'll quit acting like they own the place!" (Source: esermons.com/Crotts / Murphy, Sermons for Sundays)
Someone once asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment. Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Everything depends on these two. Then …
Judas sold Jesus out.
Peter denied him three times and Jesus heard this.
The disciples deserted him….
There is a legend about a simple man who was lifted from the gutter and magically granted three wishes. First he wished for material goods and forthwith became very rich. Then he wished for understanding and soon
2 became very wise. At last he used his third wish to express his desire to become as God, and immediately he found himself back in the gutter.
So it was with the wicked tenants. Dissatisfied with their role as stewards and not owners, they eventually lost the very vineyard which supported them. The tenants of the vineyard are most to be pitied. We can only hope and pray for the innocents … who always suffer in their selfishness. (Source: esermons.com/Burkette, Life in Heaven's Kingdom)
Paul’s charge to the Philippians is that they live what they have learned and accepted. Living the word, more than only the study of it, yields
“God’s own peace beyond all understanding.”
The saying “The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone” is still about Jesus. We are the builders now. We are to prepare the world with the Holy Spirit working through us to receive the Reign of God. The parable is sobering & poses questions for us today.
Who are the prophets among us?
What are they saying?
Are we listening to them or ignoring them, even abusing & murdering them?
What “fruit” have we produced in our lives to show God that we have heard his commands & followed Jesus?
Jesus will warn us that he is to be found not in shrines, but waiting to be served among the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger and the outcast. Where have we found Jesus and served his needs?
Actions speak louder than words.
The story of the vineyard from Isaiah is a love song: “I will sing for my beloved, my love-song about his vineyard.” In Matthew, Jesus describes God’s investment in us as a love song, God providing everything we need to live gracious and productive lives.God builds us up, protects us, prunes our vines to increase our yield, a harvest of sweet wine. If we have instead only sour grapes to show for our lives, what happened to us? Whatever our failures, God sends his beloved son to claim our hearts. The story need not have a tragic end. But can still yield the joy of conversion. (Some thoughts from, Celebration, 09/11)
At this Liturgy, let us accept the gift of life by giving life.
Let us embrace the rejected cornerstone, the Beloved… by embracing each other & our world…Jesus already has.
Will you join him?