Turf War With God

Daily Office Devotional, Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Wednesday in Holy Week

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

6He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” 7But those tenants said to one another, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” 8So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 957)

AM Psalm 55; PM Psalm 74

Lam. 2:1-9; 2 Cor. 1:23-2:11; Mark 12:1-11

David’s Reflections

Jesus’ parables reveal much about him as a person, about his awareness of his identity and mission.  It is not difficult in this story to hear in the storyteller the voice of the only son about to be thrown out of the vineyard of Israel by those who thought the vineyard was theirs. Jesus’ sense of identity penetrates the story he tells.

Interpreters are divided over how the details of this parable correspond to real life in Palestine in Jesus’ day.  Was the vineyard owner an absentee landowner, a non-Jewish outsider expropriating peasant farmland into a vineyard?  Or, was he a wealthy Jew who lived elsewhere and leased his new vineyard to the peasants his land acquisitions had displaced?

In either case, the peasant tenants were obligated to pay a lease of the

harvest yield each year.  (Samples of such contracts survive from antiquity.)  Their violent treatment of the owner’s agents and their killing of the son were intended to restore land ownership to themselves, from what we know of land laws in place.  As the tenants said, “The vineyard will be ours.”

The vineyard symbolizes Israel (The image in Isaiah 5 lies behind this parable, a passage about God’s planting of Israel as a vineyard).  Jesus had come in God’s name to call those who tended the vineyard to account for their stewardship.  They already had treated the prophets badly.  They also had rejected John the Baptist.  But, God, exhibiting a patience and restraint beyond any landowner, had persisted.  Now, they were confronted with Godself in the presence of Jesus and were plotting to kill him and throw him out of the vineyard.  (Note John 15 where Jesus employs the same image to talk about the new community formed by faith in him and 1 Corinthians 3 where Paul uses similar imagery for the church.)

Think of yourself as a planting of God.  Our life energy, the unfolding of the years of our lives, our family and friends, our innate talents, our ability to pursue a vocation and to acquire a dwelling, transportation, and possessions—all are a planting of God. Think of your faith community as a planting of God, a community brought into existence by God’s initiative and sustained by God’s gracious love.

The plot of our lives could be seen as a turf battle with and against the God who loves us, a learning to let go and to render to the one whose planting gives us life energy, time, innate abilities, vocation, possessions, and all our relationships as gifts through which God’s love and grace flow to us.  To what place in our lives has the vineyard heir come today, seeking our response?  What portion of our personal vineyard are we trying to wall off and protect? Could we extend that metaphor to our faith communities that, like the faith communities Jesus encountered, might be making their stand against the God who created them?

Jesus' telling of this story demonstrates his keen awareness of our struggle with the turf of our lives and the violent reactions we can have to his seeking presence.  He risks all to love us and to loosen our destructive grip on our self-directed lives.  No matter the strength, persistence, or ugliness of our previous turf wars, he visits the vineyard again today, and his visit can awaken a new and courageous letting go. Obviously, we require the aid of the one we have been pushing away, the one whose turf we have been trying to possess, the one we have repeatedly attempted to expel from the vineyard;

Collect for the Sunday of the Passion, Palm Sunday

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 219)

A Collect for Grace

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)

Disturb Us, Lord

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.  Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of the things we possess we have lost our thirst for the water of life.

Stir us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery, where in losing sight of land we shall find the stars.  We ask you to push back the horizons of our hope, and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope and love.  Amen.

(Attributed to Sir Frances Drake upon departing to sail to the New World, 1577.  Cited by The Right Rev. Clay Matthews, Clergy Retreat, Diocese of So. Virginia, 2004.)

A Prayer for Light

Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper light; and we implore you of your great mercy that, as you enfold us with the radiance of this light, so you would shine into our hearts the brightness of your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 110)

A Collect for Mission

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)

Daily Office Gospel, Mark 12:1-11

12:1Then he began to speak to them in parables. ‘A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 2When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” 7But those tenants said to one another, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” 8So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10Have you not read this scripture:

    “The stone that the builders rejected

    has become the cornerstone;

    11this was the Lord’s doing,

    and it is amazing in our eyes”?’

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer