A
sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 28 September 2014 by Dr. Hope S. Antone. The scripture readings
that day were Exodus
17:1-7; Matthew 21:23-32 and Philippians 2:1-13.
When I
read the Lectionary readings for today’s sermon, I felt that the key words that
stand out in all of them are ‘promise’ and ‘obedience’. Hence, it is the title of this sermon. However, the difference is that in Exodus
17:1-7, it is God who makes a promise and is faithful in following it through
even to a disobedient people. Having
decided to focus on the parable for this sermon, I pondered for a moment and
several sayings flashed in my mind:
·
“Promises
are made to be broken.”
·
“Actions
speak louder than words.”
·
“Thoughts
do more. Words do much. Actions do much more.”
·
“You
are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
·
“You
can talk the talk; can you walk the talk?”
Jesus told
parables as a method of teaching.
Parables are simple, ordinary stories from common life experiences, but
which carry deep moral or spiritual lessons.
Hence, we need to read the text (or the selected passage) in view of the
larger context (the wider background).
If we look at chapters 21-24 of the Gospel according to Matthew, we can
tell how Jesus criticized the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders. This parable is part of that critical
discourse.
At the
outset, the parable looks very straightforward and I am sure we all can relate
to it – either as parents or as children.
I am sure that at one time or another, each of us has been a maker or
receiver of a promise. At one time or
another, each of us has also been a keeper or a breaker of a promise. We do not need to point fingers at
advertisers who promise to make us fairer, slimmer, healthier or happier with
their products. Or at politicians who
promise to address the problems of society if we only elect them.
Try doing
a quick flashback: Did we not promise to do a chore or to be home early to
help, but got distracted by something more fun to do outside, when we were
younger? Did we not tell someone, “I’ll
call you back”, “We’ll get together soon”, or “I’ll take care of it” but could
not follow through? Sometimes we make
promises just to get a person off our back – but we really want to say “No, I
don’t want to.”
This
parable is so straightforward that we can easily tell who the characters
represent and what the obvious answer is to Jesus’ question, “Which of the two
did the will of his father?”
Unfortunately,
by seeing these two sons being compared or contrasted, we often end up thinking
there are indeed two kinds of people in the vineyard, in God’s world. One kind is represented by the first son who
at first said ‘No’, but ended up doing the work. The other kind is represented by the second
son who said ‘Yes”, but ended up not doing the work. And when we apply it to our own lives, we
would immediately hope that we are among the first kind of people, the first
son, whose actions speak louder than words.
We have to
be careful about judging, labeling or categorizing people as one kind or the
other. In fact, in our real lives, we
know that there are many kinds of people in the vineyard, in God’s world. There are those who are the cause of the mess
in the world. There are those who
benefit from the mess and would oppose any movement for change. There are those who do not care and would not
take part in anything. There are also
those who would just wait for whatever happens.
And there are those who would swing from one side to another, depending
on what would benefit them.
This story
might appear to present a simple choice between action and words; that results
or actions are more important than promises or words. We may think that the first/older son is the
better one who was honest with his NO, then relented and obeyed his father;
whereas the younger/second son lied with his YES to save face, but followed his
own agenda and disobeyed his father.
There is
an interesting point, however. In the
culture of Jesus’ time, more importance was given to reputation and social
standing – i.e. the honor or reputation of the father was very important. In the context of a small Jewish community,
where everyone knew what was happening, the choices/responses of the two sons
to their father’s request would have easily spread like gossip. In such a context, the honest refusal/denial
of the older son’s NO would have been seen by the public as embarrassing to the
father; while the lie of the younger son’s YES would have been seen as at least
showing respect to the father. So by
popular understanding, the older son dishonored his father's standing in the
community while the younger son honored his father's reputation. Thus, in the mind of the audience in Jesus'
time, the younger son was the better one.
But Jesus
posed his question not to focus on the reputation of the father or the moral
conduct of the sons, but on the issue of obedience to the will of the Father. Jesus did not ask who the better son was, or
how the father was honored or not.
Rather, Jesus asked, “Who obeyed the will of the father?” And obedience means doing the work in the
Father’s vineyard, in God’s world.
If we were
to re-tell this story today, with this background in mind, it might be
something like this: A man had two
sons. He told one son who was well
respected by the people because of his education, training, and profession:
“Please go and work in the vineyard today.
It is such a mess and there is so much work to be done.” The son said, “Of course, Father, you can
count on me as always.” He did go to the
vineyard – where he conducted worship and scripture study, made sure that
people strictly followed the religious rules of rituals and purity. But the vineyard was still a mess; there was
much work to be done.
So the
father approached the other son – who was a friend of and spent much time with
the despised in society, e.g. the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the lepers:
“Please go and work in the vineyard today.
It is such a mess and there is so much work to be done.” At first, this son said, “Of course not,
Father. How do you expect me to clear
all that mess?” He started to walk away,
but then decided to take a second look, had a change of heart, and did the work
that needed to be done.
What this
re-telling tries to show is that God calls all God’s children – no matter who
they are or what their positions in society may be. God calls all of them to do the needed work
in the vineyard, in God’s messed up world.
Those who were expected to do the work may end up not doing the work;
while those who were not expected to do the work may end up doing it. There may be those who think they are doing
the work – just like the son who conducted worship and scripture study and
followed the rules of ritual and purity.
As Jesus says in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord,
Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of
my Father in heaven.” So there can be
surprises as to who are truly obedient and who will then enter the kingdom of
heaven.
So what is
the true obedience that pleases God?
More than making promises to God, which may look good, the true
obedience that pleases God is the doing of God’s will in the vineyard, in God’s
world. We church-going people tend to
make all kinds of promises to God, e.g. to grow as faithful disciples, to
follow the commandments, to carry out the mission of the church, to continue
Christ’s work in the world, etc. But
obedience can be better seen and felt through works that are life-giving,
life-enhancing, and life-transforming.
In John 14:12 (my favorite verse), Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you,
the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and in fact will do
greater works than these because I am going to the Father.”
The
vineyard is a symbol for the world that awaits the work of God’s children in
obedience to God’s will. God’s will is
life in its fullness for all, not only for a few but for all. The world, God’s vineyard, is quite messy to
this today. There are many disasters like earthquakes, floods, volcanic
eruptions, wars, acts of terrorism, emergence of diseases, violations of human
rights, broken and abused relationships, and so on. Here in Hong Kong, we have an ongoing
struggle for democracy – in which many critical thinking students have actively
joined – despite risks to their studies, their future, and even their lives. I do not know what form of faith or
spirituality is behind their acts of resistance. But I believe that what they are doing is a
form of engagement for genuine transformation in this part of the world. Watching the news last night and how these
students were harshly handled despite their being peaceful and non-violent, I
was again reminded of how costly is the journey to genuine transformation in
this messed up world. Those of us who
profess to be disciples or students of Christ Jesus know that the cost/price of
obedience can even be the cross! The letter
to the Philippians (2:1-13) reminds us of this so powerfully – to have an
attitude that is the same as that of Christ Jesus: taking the nature of a
servant, humble and obedient to death, even death on the cross. While there will always be some people who
say that transformation cannot be done, they should not interrupt or oppose
those who are doing it. We have to look
at the democratic movement that is going on in this spirit.
And so the
parable of the two sons is not just about these two boys or two young men and
how they fared as sons of their Father.
It is really about you and me and our place in God’s world. That we are among the many children of the
one God, no matter what religion or faith we may follow or profess. We are all called to do our part of the work
in this messed up vineyard, which is God’s world, and entrusted to us to be our
home. Rather than making promises, which
are easily made and also easily forgotten or broken, we are called to do the
work in obedience to God’s will of abundant life, life in fullness for all, in
whatever capacity we can do. We can do
this by having the same attitude and the same mind as that of Christ Jesus.
Last
Sunday, during our 90th anniversary service, Pastor Phyllis Wong
mentioned in her sermon how difficult it is for us to have the same mind. And because we are so diverse and think
differently we have agreed to disagree peacefully. But today’s text is calling us to strive to
grow into having the same mind, the same love, being one in spirit and purpose
as that of Christ Jesus. We can do this
by striving to think about the interests of the other rather than our own
selfish interests. We are happy that our
church continues to sponsor events that promote the welfare of many people who
are discriminated against in society.
Some of us may not agree with all that our Pastors are trying to do to
support these activities. But these are
all part of our striving to grow into the same mind and attitude as Christ
Jesus. This is our task as we continue
to live out the mission of Kowloon Union Church.
Let us
pray:
Gracious
God, may we open our lives to your leading – that we may grow into being of the
“same mind, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose,” being
humble and obedient to your will as we do our share of the work in your
vineyard, your world which you entrusted to us as our home. Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, September 28, 2014
