We're still celebrating the birth of the Theotokos,
the mother of our Lord and our Savior, so let
us continue to be enthusiastic about that and
what that means. We have the feast day on Thursday.
We've heard a number of parables and gospel accounts
recently. which speak of the reception or lack
of reception of people to the Lord's message.
Of course, you know about the rich young man
he turned away. You know about the unmerciful
debtor who was forgiven yet couldn't forgive.
And today, we have this incredible parable. It's
a difficult story. It's not a warm, religious
message. It's rather harsh. But it's mixed with,
on this day, the gospel from John, which you
see at football stadiums, right? Now football
season started, so we read that verse. That must
be the connection. No, God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son. You see that
in the end zone at all these football games on
television. When you combine this together, then
this is a message with some hope for us. It's
not all bad news. But the church does want to
warn us. It wants to give us, this is what happens.
This is what you might expect. On Palm Sunday,
after being lauded as the Messiah, of course,
the people were looking for a military leader.
a political leader, a leader with worldly power.
As Jesus came into Jerusalem, see the fresco
up there, he is praised with shouts of Hosanna,
and blessed is he that comes in the name of the
Lord. And then he spoke that parable which you
just heard. A householder planted a vineyard.
And he sent in servants to care for it. I'm not
going to review the whole thing. But this story,
which is time for self -examination for us, is
a prophecy by Jesus of what had happened in the
Old Testament. Do I need to review that? The
prophets being killed? You know, the master sends
in... Servants to collect. He wants what he has
planted. He wants the fruit of that vineyard.
And the servants are killed. It's a prophecy
of what would happen in the next few days. That
is the crucifixion and death and resurrection
of our Savior. The master of the vineyard says,
I'll send my son. He has full authority. They
will respect him. St. John says about that. And
what's the response of the people taking care
of the vineyard? Oh, he's the heir. We'll kill
him. There's nobody left. It's all for us. Let's
kill him and seize his inheritance. St. John
says about that that God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. You're going to hear those words at the
anaphora in the liturgy when we're doing the
canon preparing for the consecration. For God
did not send his son into the world to condemn
the world, but that the world through him. might
be saved. Here is the coming of the Son of God,
which this parable foretells, his rejection and
his crucifixion. All this Jesus is speaking on
just a few days before his arrest. It's a story
of the rejection of the Son of God by the people
that God himself had constituted and brought
together and made a people. Not the nation, the
political nation of Israel, but the religious
people. Now this is a preparation that we hear
this parable today. It's a preparation for us
for the upcoming feast of the cross. And I look
at this incredible back wall. The whole story
of the gospel. The whole sorrow of the cross.
Christ praying in the garden. Apostles sleeping.
Christ being arrested. Christ being beaten. The
trial, the denial of St. Peter. Again, a rejection
of Christ because he was ashamed of the gospel
message. And then before Pilate, behold the man
and the crowds chanting, let him be crucified.
Let me just add here in a parenthesis. We are
the wild branch. The wild branch that is grafted
on to the tree of faith. The faith of Abraham.
The Jewish faith. They had the Old Testament
teachings. They had the law of Moses. They had
the revelation on Mount Sinai. They had the sacrifices.
Despite their lack of receiving their own Messiah,
which this parable is so clear about, Jesus of
Nazareth, God still has plans for them. They
are his beloved. It does us no good to think
that this parable is about the bad Jews then,
and the bad Pharisees, and all the people that
turn away from Jesus Christ. This gospel is speaking
to you and me. What's the point of reading it
if we don't take it personally? This is for us.
But remember, St. Paul is very specific in his
epistle to the Romans. He says, has God cast
away his people? Certainly not. For I am also
an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe
of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people
whom he foreknew. He has plans for them. It would
seem that thinking about our own response, my
own sorrowful sins before God, my lack of any
spiritual fruit, it would seem that what we have
experienced in the church life, God's love, the
Holy Spirit, the visit of just recently of that
precious Mers streaming icon, should prompt us
to feats of love, feats of love of God and our
neighbor. We see the cross, and there is the
example of sacrificial love and his love pouring
out to us so we can be like him, to be in communion
with him, to be his light. Let's remind ourselves,
brothers and sisters, as the liturgy does at
the Anaphora, about all that we have from God,
all that he's given us. Take yourself back to
Pascha, to the night and morning of Christ's
resurrection, to what was said in all of the
weeks following Pascha, the saints, all saints,
the Feast of Pentecost, all saints of America,
the visitation of the precious icon two weeks
ago, all the accounts of God's love and his healing
and trust in us. What is our spiritual maturity?
Why do we keep turning away from the Lord? Do
we have misplaced expectations of God, disappointments,
being mad at God, upset at God because he owes
us something? Do we have shame? So we can't move
forward. Like those Galatians that St. Paul says,
foolish Galatians, who has taught you another
gospel so soon? I'm amazed. He's telling them,
You can't be ashamed of the cross of Christ and
his message. This is the life and salvation for
the world. Is it because of some besetting sin
that we bear no spiritual fruit? Our passions
keeping us away? Is it avoidance of confession
and the grace and the forgiveness we will receive
from Christ? The actualization of the love of
God on the cross. is what we receive in confession.
This is an amazing mystery of the church. Do
we justify our sin before God? Are we ignorant
of all that God has done because we don't read
the scriptures, because we don't listen to the
gospel when it's read, or the epistles, and if
we don't understand what we hear in church, we
don't take the initiative to look into it for
that week. Remember, yes, the gospel stories
these last few weeks are speaking about a terrible
rejection of Christ. But never forget the parables
of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost
son. We call that the prodigal son. All of this
can be healed. Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, the
late and great Metropolitan of London. said this
in a sermon. Consider all this that I've just
said and ask yourself, am I not a worker in the
vineyard? And am I not one of those who pushes
Christ away from every time he enters my life?
Do I not say, get off my path, get out of my
life. I want to be the God, the master. I want
to manage everything. Thus speaks each one of
us, not so rudely, not so blasphemously, but
in actions and in rotten words. We must come
to our senses. I have said many times, says the
Metropolitan, that we are saved because God loves
us. Yet not by the love of God only, but by our
response to this love. If our wish is merely
to reap the fruits of the cross, of the crucifixion,
of the passion, and return nothing to God, and
give nothing to our neighbor for whom God has
died, except a momentary thought, we are alien
to everything that God has accomplished for us.
This isn't a sermon today to make us feel good.
I'm looking at myself first. When I speak like
this, and I figure I'm probably not the only
one. I do hear confessions frequently. We all
need to remember that the Lord expects an account.
Now, this is not something we can put off until
we think he's going to come again, whenever that's
going to be, or we die. He expects an account
of the fruit from what he has given us. So let
us joyfully, consistently, knowledgeably serve
him and we will bear that fruit of the grace
of the gift of the Holy Spirit and receive that
peace of heart which no one can take away from
us. And we're being built up now. We're being
built up as stones in this great edifice of God's
life. Amen.