by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels
Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?
Therefore 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. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
—Matthew 21:33-46 (NRSV)
We are talking about seeing and recognizing what is in front of us today. So, to kick things off I want to tell you a story about that. Who knows, the story I am about to tell you might even have happened, but I doubt it.
Back in the early days of the ordination process for women in the Episcopal Church there was a congregation that needed an additional priest. There were already two priests there, but the congregation had grown to the point it was too much for them, and they were getting on in years.
Well wouldn’t you know it, the bishop sent a newly ordained woman to interview. The two old priests were not happy campers, not at all. It was all they could do to be civil to their bishop when he gave them her name.
They thought they would make the interview impossible for her. They felt certain that when they got through, she would want nothing to do with their parish. They decided to take her fishing as part of the interview.
Well, she showed up for the interview right on time, and they announced they were all going fishing. She, being a good sport, said how much fun that was going to be. On the way to the lake they fired questions at her and she answered every one of them, but then they would pick her answers apart. They were really being picky. But she was a plucky gal and just kept being pleasant.
They got in the boat and got out on the lake and sure enough they had forgotten the bait. She promptly said she would go back and get it. The old priests knowingly smiled at each other.
Then she got out of the boat, walked across the top of the water, and disappeared on shore as she headed to the bait shop. One old priest turned to the other and said, “You might have known she wouldn’t know how to swim.”
Last week we talked about Jesus in the temple teaching and he was giving the people in authority a bit of a tough time. In fact, he was making them look pretty foolish in front of the crowd. He had ended with something to the effect that they had seen but still hadn’t believed. Just like the old priests in the boat, they had seen but still refused to believe.
In our gospel today we return to the temple and the same scene we were a part of last week. The crowd is looking on as Jesus continues to talk negatively about the authorities even though they are standing right there. He tells them and the crowd another parable, this one an allegory, easily understood by all. It must have been an incredible scene.
He likened a vineyard to the land of Israel and says that the landowner, God, has left the current group of folks in charge. When it came time to collect the fruit of the vineyard those in charge mistreated the slaves, who represent the prophets, even killing some of them. Finally, the landowner sent his son, a representation of Jesus, hoping the leaders would at least respect him and not harm him. But obviously they didn’t respect him and ended up doing him great harm. Jesus is predicting his own death at the hands of the leaders. They were refusing to recognize Jesus for who he was. The crowds believed what they saw and knew Jesus was special. The leaders refused to see, and continued to refuse to accept him.
For me the most important part of the gospel comes now. The kids in Sunday school will be wrestling with it. Jesus asks this question through his quotation of scripture. “Have you never read in the scriptures, `The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'?”
Those in charge have failed to see what was right in front of them. We can only surmise why. Perhaps they were protecting their own self-interest. Perhaps they felt complete within themselves and didn’t feel they were lacking anything in their lives. Perhaps their arrogance got in the way of their vision. Whatever it was they lacked the clear sightedness of the common person. Those that had experienced Jesus up close and personal had seen that he was more than just special. Many suspected that he was the messiah, the Christ. Some understood the metaphor of the cornerstone he had just quoted and it clicked for them.
You see the cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry building. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. It is the most important stone in the building and all other stones find their place in reference to this stone.
Jesus has just told everyone listening that he can be the cornerstone of their lives. As such he will bring sense to their lives. He will provide structure. Their lives will fall into place if he is in that position. His presence can inform everything else.
Now the great thing about the metaphor is this. It’s a metaphor. In real life you can only set the cornerstone once. In a metaphor it can be set any time and can be reset as many times as is needed. If Jesus is the cornerstone of one’s life that is great. If Jesus, at the moment, isn’t the cornerstone we can put him back in the place in which he belongs by removing whatever it is that we have put there and reinserting him in the place of honor.
For me and I imagine for you this is great news. We are not perfect. We often get our priorities confused. There are many ideas and things we come to believe that should be the cornerstone of our lives. It’s understandable as we spend our lives coping with the society in which we live. Some of the cornerstones suggested sound pretty good and are very convincing. But they mostly don’t work out in the long run. We find ourselves lost and lonely. When that happens it’s time to remember our cornerstone and put Jesus back where he belongs.
Finally, as we encounter this gospel it’s hard not to make a comment on 2020 as it relates to the message Jesus has sent our way. To say the least we live in trying and confusing times that just continue to get weirder. We can’t change that. What we can do is make sure our cornerstone for living is Jesus Christ. If he is the cornerstone of our life things will make more sense, we will make more coherent decisions, and we will have the confidence in the future that we need. So that’s our invitation today. Unlike those in power twenty centuries ago do we see Jesus Christ for who he is? Is he the cornerstone of our lives? If not is it time to remove whatever is there and put him back where he belongs?