Sometimes listening to Jesus’ parables can make us very uncomfortable. The parables can have an uncompromising directness about them and their message can seem severe. Today we encounter just such a parable. In its historical context this story is an attempt by Jesus to be direct with the very people who have come to hear him speak. The harshness of his words can startle us. Jesus says to them “I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.” How must these words have sounded to people who took totally for granted their special relationship to God and who think of themselves as the people of God.
To understand this parable in the context of our own time it would be more helpful to look at it from a theological rather than a historical point of view. This allows us to see the parable as telling us much about God and the meaning of God’s work in Jesus. If we look at the allegorical quality of the parable we will see that these elements are not merely about first century people of Jerusalem but also about God and Christ. So let me retell the story.
The first point is that God carefully prepares a lovely setting and then entrusts it to human beings. In turn, God maintains relations with people, though they consistently refuse God’s instructions and even reject God’s claims with violence. And yet, in spite of this, God does not give up. He continues to send representatives despite the opposition and hostility of the people. Finally, God sends his son with the expectation that humankind will recognize his rightful authority in the presence and person of God’s son. But the result of this is that people act most disrespectfully toward God by rejecting and killing the son. From a human point of view we can expect God to respond in kind: that is, to kill rebellious humanity and make a new start. However, at this point in the story we hear some startling words from Jesus: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.” God’s ways are indeed not our ways. Human beings may reject God’s son, even killing him, but God is not bound by human actions. Indeed, God takes the very one rejected by humankind and exalts him in a most amazing way.
Seen this way the parable is rather different. Even in the face of humanity’s outrageous behaviour, God reaches out in love. He understands our weakness and frailty.
There is a story about a man named Cohen who, new in town, went to the synagogue. Everyone greets him like a long lost friend. The service is delightful. The cantor sings in tune. There is an air of warmth and welcome. Then they reach the reading of the Torah.
All of a sudden, pandemonium breaks out. Half the congregation stand. Half sit. The half who stand start shouting at the others, “Ignoramuses! Don’t you know that when the Torah is being read you have to stand?”
The other half shout back, “Heretics! Did no one ever teach you that when the Torah is being read you have to sit?” Eventually the noise subsides and the service ends in peace.
The same thing happens the next week, and the next, until Cohen can stand it no longer. The synagogue does not have a rabbi, so he travels to the nearest town that does and is ushered into his study. The rabbi, aged, bearded, surrounded by learned tomes, asks Cohen what he can do for him. Cohen says, “Rabbi, I need guidance on a matter of Jewish law. Tell me, when it comes to the reading of the Torah, do we have to stand?”
The rabbi thinks, strokes his beard, shakes his head and says, “No, that is not the tradition.” “In that case, during the reading of the Torah, do we have to sit?” “No,” says the rabbi, “that is not the tradition.”
“Rabbi,” says Cohen, ” you have to help me here. In my synagogue, half the congregation stand, half sit, and they start shouting at one another.”
The rabbi smiles, nods and says, “Yes! That is the tradition.”
Today’s gospel comes in a larger section in which there is controversy between Jesus and the chief priests and elders of the people concerning Jesus’ authority and credentials. But he turns things around and says that the real issue is about God and his people. I suppose in that sense the issue is a universal one. We are always wondering about our relationship to God and God to us. Lots of holy and pious homilies are preached in other churches admonishing people for being lax, lazy, unconcerned for God or his people. We get constantly harangued by those who have a, how shall I put it?, more black and white view of the faith and of God about how horrible we all are and not even worthy to be called worms and so on. I guess what I’m getting at is this: Yes, it is a good thing for us to be aware of our relationship to God and to nurture this. But how does making people feel like scum encourage a healthy appraisal of our lives as Christians? If we think of ourselves as so much rubbish then why should God bother with us? I cannot believe that God wants a relationship with his people that is unhealthy or dysfunctional. Where does it say that “God’s will for his people is health and salvation?” Yes, God’s will is salvation but it is also health.
The healthy relationship between God and the people of God comes in our not taking life for granted. The Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, writes eloquently about this. He says: “Faith is not a complex set of theological propositions. It is simpler and deeper than that. It is about not taking things for granted. It is a sustained discipline of meditation on the miracle of being. ‘Not how the world is, but that it is, is the mystical,” says Wittgenstein. Not how we are, but that we are, is cause for wonder, and faith is the symphony on that theme.”
Terrance Bell