Sermon 8-15-2010
Isaiah 5:1-7 Luke 13:6-9
“Second Chance”
Haven’t we all experienced in one way or another, at sometime in our lives disappointed expectations. We could all write a list of our disappointments in life, at home, in our work and even church. We can each make a list of all the things we do right to get the right results and we can make a parallel list of all the things that have not gone so right for us even when we think we are following all the right steps to get there.
PRAYER
“Let us take a look at this love song, we can relate to it because “we have all had the experience of having done everything right, only to have our efforts have no return.” (Stacey Simpson Duke, Feasting on the Word, Year C, vol. 3, pg. 340)
The gardener has done everything right. The land was fertile; work was proper and thorough. The gardener did everything to protect this vineyard and help it grow, so that it would bear sweet grapes for the enjoyment and nourishment of many, but the vineyard yielded wild, bitter grapes with large seeds and very little fruit, as if the gardener had planted nothing at all. What he tasted was disappointment.
What more was there to do that I have not done? asked the gardener. The implication is clear - nothing more. The gardener did everything right but the vineyard failed. He started out singing a love song for the vineyard; now he sings a dirge for a disaster, and it ends on a note of finality: “What more was there to do? (we know) the answer: nothing!
The gardener asks another question: Why? ‘When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?’ v.4 Sooner or later, almost anyone facing disappointment comes to this question. In the text, as in life, there is no straight answer. Circumstances crush us, and we have no explanation. We ask why, and we look for good reasons; we find none. Likewise the gardener gets no answer to the question.
Having pled the case, the gardener makes his decision: he will do nothing more for this piece of land. He will abandon it, let it turn back into a wild field. This sounds right. This is what we counsel people in intractable situations to do: give up, let it go, move on. The gardener will do nothing more.
Now the gardener says one last thing. ‘I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.’ (v.6) With that, the identity of the gardener is revealed. Only God can withhold rain. This is not just any vineyard owner; this is the divine gardener. One revelation leads to another, and now the identity of the vineyard is revealed as well… God, the God of Israel and of the people of Judah… God expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!
What started as a song has turned into a parable; now the world of the parable breaks open with a crash. God’s people are the vineyard that has not produced, and God has given up.” (idem, pg. 342)
“Everything God did for that vineyard, every hole dug, every rock removed, every selection made, every planting done, every protection established, and every watchful expectation held – was love’s eager work.” (Paul Simpson Duke, idem, pg. 341)“The vineyard is to produce sweet fruit for the nourishment of the world. God nurture, protects, and tends, yet the world still goes hungry for the gift of God’s people were meant to bear… (are we reading and hearing that God may give up on his people?). Does God really give up? Is it possible to reach a point of no return? Are we already there as the human race? I believe the answer is, no, no and no. Do we not believe that God’s love endures forever?
When we turn away, and our love failed, does not God’s love remain? Isaiah’s words do not offer much hope… God according to him, will let us have what we want – self governance, and the inevitable destruction that results.” PP Destruction does come to Israel. Later in the book Isaiah… will sing another song, of a pleasant vineyard tended by God, blossoming and putting forth shoots until the whole world is filled with fruit… Judgment does come, and punishment; (in other words consequences, but) then there will be good news as well… If we can face our own devastation, and our own part in it, we might just be ready…” (ready to have a second chance). (Stacey Simpson Duke, idem, pg. 342)
What song is God writing about us, CSCC? What is Jesus saying about it?
Jesus gives us a parable, a parable of a fig tree.In the parable the owner of the vineyard was ready to give up on this fig tree that had not produced fruit in three years, but the keeper asked to give it one more chance, one more year, ‘until I dig around it and put manure on it… he said.’“It was not unusual to see fig-trees, thorn-trees and apple-trees in vineyards. The soil was so shallow and poor that trees were grown wherever there was soil to grow them; but the fig-tree had a more than average chance; and it had not proved worthy of it.
What is the parable teaching?
First, that uselessness invites disaster. The process of evolution in this world is to produce useful things, and that what is useful will go on from strength to strength, while what is useless will be eliminated. What are we useful for in the world?
Second, that nothing which only takes out can survive. The fig-tree was drawing strength and sustenance from the soil; and in return was producing nothing… What does this mean for us? That there are two kinds of people in this world – those who take out more than they put in, and those who put in more than they take out. Maybe we need to put into life at least as much as we take.
Third, the parable tells us of the gospel of the second chance. A fig-tree normally takes three years to reach maturity. If it is not fruiting by that time it is not likely to fruit at all. But this fig-tree was given another chance.
Is it always Jesus’ way to give people chance after chance.
But the parable also makes it quite clear that there is a final chance. If we refuse chance after chance, if God’s appeal and challenge come again and again in vain, the day finally comes, not when God has shut us out, or gives up on us, but when we have chosen to shut ourselves out.” (Barclay, Luke, pg. 174-176)
What is the text doing? The text is putting us to think ahead to consider as best we can, what if? Not that we need to be predictable of the negative, but to prepare ourselves for the unexpected. Sometimes I feel like we have been there and we now have moved from tasting the sour grapes to the opportunity that Jesus is offering to give ourselves a second chance. A chance to do it all over again differently, a chance to believe, to dream, to plan, to search, to find, to receive and to enjoy. In the midst of difficult times God never gives up!
…and God has not given up on us!
Let us work with God as we search together for a second chance, Amen!
BENEDICTION
The good news is that God still sings, plows, plants, guards,
and looks for good fruit. We have hope in God’s harvest,
in sweet justice, in festive righteousness, in the joy of been
cared by God’s hands. Let us receive Jesus’ second chance! Amen!
(Paul Simpson Duke, idem, pg.345)
Sermon 8-15-2010
Isaiah 5:1-7 Luke 13:6-9
“Second Chance”
Haven’t we all experienced in one way or another, at sometime in our lives disappointed expectations. We could all write a list of our disappointments in life, at home, in our work and even church. We can each make a list of all the things we do right to get the right results and we can make a parallel list of all the things that have not gone so right for us even when we think we are following all the right steps to get there.
PRAYER
“Let us take a look at this love song, we can relate to it because “we have all had the experience of having done everything right, only to have our efforts have no return.” (Stacey Simpson Duke, Feasting on the Word, Year C, vol. 3, pg. 340)
The gardener has done everything right. The land was fertile; work was proper and thorough. The gardener did everything to protect this vineyard and help it grow, so that it would bear sweet grapes for the enjoyment and nourishment of many, but the vineyard yielded wild, bitter grapes with large seeds and very little fruit, as if the gardener had planted nothing at all. What he tasted was disappointment.
What more was there to do that I have not done? asked the gardener. The implication is clear - nothing more. The gardener did everything right but the vineyard failed. He started out singing a love song for the vineyard; now he sings a dirge for a disaster, and it ends on a note of finality: “What more was there to do? (we know) the answer: nothing!
The gardener asks another question: Why? ‘When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?’ v.4 Sooner or later, almost anyone facing disappointment comes to this question. In the text, as in life, there is no straight answer. Circumstances crush us, and we have no explanation. We ask why, and we look for good reasons; we find none. Likewise the gardener gets no answer to the question.
Having pled the case, the gardener makes his decision: he will do nothing more for this piece of land. He will abandon it, let it turn back into a wild field. This sounds right. This is what we counsel people in intractable situations to do: give up, let it go, move on. The gardener will do nothing more.
Now the gardener says one last thing. ‘I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.’ (v.6) With that, the identity of the gardener is revealed. Only God can withhold rain. This is not just any vineyard owner; this is the divine gardener. One revelation leads to another, and now the identity of the vineyard is revealed as well… God, the God of Israel and of the people of Judah… God expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!
What started as a song has turned into a parable; now the world of the parable breaks open with a crash. God’s people are the vineyard that has not produced, and God has given up.” (idem, pg. 342)
“Everything God did for that vineyard, every hole dug, every rock removed, every selection made, every planting done, every protection established, and every watchful expectation held – was love’s eager work.” (Paul Simpson Duke, idem, pg. 341)“The vineyard is to produce sweet fruit for the nourishment of the world. God nurture, protects, and tends, yet the world still goes hungry for the gift of God’s people were meant to bear… (are we reading and hearing that God may give up on his people?). Does God really give up? Is it possible to reach a point of no return? Are we already there as the human race? I believe the answer is, no, no and no. Do we not believe that God’s love endures forever?
When we turn away, and our love failed, does not God’s love remain? Isaiah’s words do not offer much hope… God according to him, will let us have what we want – self governance, and the inevitable destruction that results.” PP Destruction does come to Israel. Later in the book Isaiah… will sing another song, of a pleasant vineyard tended by God, blossoming and putting forth shoots until the whole world is filled with fruit… Judgment does come, and punishment; (in other words consequences, but) then there will be good news as well… If we can face our own devastation, and our own part in it, we might just be ready…” (ready to have a second chance). (Stacey Simpson Duke, idem, pg. 342)
What song is God writing about us, CSCC? What is Jesus saying about it?
Jesus gives us a parable, a parable of a fig tree.In the parable the owner of the vineyard was ready to give up on this fig tree that had not produced fruit in three years, but the keeper asked to give it one more chance, one more year, ‘until I dig around it and put manure on it… he said.’“It was not unusual to see fig-trees, thorn-trees and apple-trees in vineyards. The soil was so shallow and poor that trees were grown wherever there was soil to grow them; but the fig-tree had a more than average chance; and it had not proved worthy of it.
What is the parable teaching?
First, that uselessness invites disaster. The process of evolution in this world is to produce useful things, and that what is useful will go on from strength to strength, while what is useless will be eliminated. What are we useful for in the world?
Second, that nothing which only takes out can survive. The fig-tree was drawing strength and sustenance from the soil; and in return was producing nothing… What does this mean for us? That there are two kinds of people in this world – those who take out more than they put in, and those who put in more than they take out. Maybe we need to put into life at least as much as we take.
Third, the parable tells us of the gospel of the second chance. A fig-tree normally takes three years to reach maturity. If it is not fruiting by that time it is not likely to fruit at all. But this fig-tree was given another chance.
Is it always Jesus’ way to give people chance after chance.
But the parable also makes it quite clear that there is a final chance. If we refuse chance after chance, if God’s appeal and challenge come again and again in vain, the day finally comes, not when God has shut us out, or gives up on us, but when we have chosen to shut ourselves out.” (Barclay, Luke, pg. 174-176)
What is the text doing? The text is putting us to think ahead to consider as best we can, what if? Not that we need to be predictable of the negative, but to prepare ourselves for the unexpected. Sometimes I feel like we have been there and we now have moved from tasting the sour grapes to the opportunity that Jesus is offering to give ourselves a second chance. A chance to do it all over again differently, a chance to believe, to dream, to plan, to search, to find, to receive and to enjoy. In the midst of difficult times God never gives up!
…and God has not given up on us!
Let us work with God as we search together for a second chance, Amen!
BENEDICTION
The good news is that God still sings, plows, plants, guards,
and looks for good fruit. We have hope in God’s harvest,
in sweet justice, in festive righteousness, in the joy of been
cared by God’s hands. Let us receive Jesus’ second chance! Amen!
(Paul Simpson Duke, idem, pg.345)
