"Rebuild My Church"
Matthew 21:33–46
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. 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. Then 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 its fruits. 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.
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I've been thinking a lot recently about the story of a young man named Francesco Bernadone, who dreamed of becoming a knight but became a prisoner of war. Francesco's father wanted him to join the family business, yet that didn't appeal to Francesco, who envisioned his life going in a different direction.
Francesco would walk around his hometown of Assisi, not noticing the beauty revealed at every turn. That would be true until he one day made it to San Damiano, entered a little church needing repair, and knelt in front of the wooden crucifix at the front of the sanctuary.
Looking up, he asks God, "Lord, what do you want me to do? Show me what you want me to do with my life." And the Lord answered, "Francis, go and rebuild my church, which, as you see, is falling down." That is all Francesco needed to hear, so he departed and began rebuilding the church and several others that were falling apart.
Francesco didn't realize (until later) that God was asking him to rebuild the Church, the human body, and the human institution, which was close to the brink of failing. As I read this passage, the story resonated with me because we find ourselves wrestling with a similar struggle. We want to rebuild the church, to build something better and more robust, but what does that look like, and are we even building the right thing? Or are we perhaps moving in the opposite direction of kin-dom building?
Jesus has this particular habit of nudging people, or should I say poking people, in a way that raises their self-awareness. What I mean by that is Jesus is telling a story to the folks gathered around him. Jesus doesn't mention anyone by name, yet by the end, the ones who took offense saw themselves as characters in the parable of Jesus. They thought they were on the moral and spiritual high ground, yet something in them must have pricked their conscience as the crowd discerned that they were not the "hero" of the story.
The last time I was here, I talked about how people found God in other places like social media. As we look at today's passage, it raises additional questions of "Why" and "How" and they begin formulating in our minds. If we recall the story of Francesco and the parable of the wicked tenants, there is a non-zero chance we've been trying to repair the "church," but the wrong part of the "church." Yes, buildings need tending, budgets need to be drafted, and committees need members, but what if, what if, we have our priorities misaligned.
Like in many of Jesus' teachings in the Gospel of Matthew, there is an emphasis on producing "good fruit." The religious folks around him thought that they were producing good fruit. They thought they were bearing good spiritual fruit and felt they had a lock on how it was done. Anyone who deviated from the prescribed method or was on the outside could not possibly offer something pleasing to God.
That's not the case, and Jesus, through the parable of the wicked tenants, reminds the religious leaders of his time and us that the wideness of God's mercy and message of divine love cannot be contained by one set of instructions or one method of practicing faith. And how could the love of God be constricted by such means? The reality is on more days than we would like to admit, the church as we know it has fallen on the wrong side of Jesus' parable. The good news is that the parable doesn't end with condemnation but a pathway to renewal if we are willing to stretch our spiritual muscles.
I think there are three key things to focus on from this passage:
Relationships: In a time when connections between people are often viewed as goods we can trade to move in the world, the Church can foster meaningful and authentic relationships. It's not about having all the answers or doing things exactly the right way (for no one is perfect) but entering a process together to cultivate and harvest the fruit of our spirits where we live shared lives, learn from each other, and pray together.
Prayer: On the subject of prayer, we all could learn to pray a little (if not a lot) more. One of the greatest surprises I've had in ministry is how often people hesitate to pray, and the Lord knows the number of winced looks I've seen when someone is called on to pray. There is no prescribed way to pray. There is no right way to pray. And how can we claim to bear good fruit if we are so hesitant to pray and converse with the one who created us? And how can our faith shine outward if we act as if prayer is an isolated practice?
Authenticity: Finally, I think there is a call for a renewal of authenticity in our care for the vineyard God entrusted us. And what do I mean by that? I mean that we, as people of faith, we the Church, are not perfect people (I'm very aware of my numerous flaws, for example), but we act like we still own a moral high plane that casts judgments without acknowledging our faults. Living as authentic people of God means that we are not afraid of having hard conversations about ourselves, the world, and the ways in which we continue to grow.
In closing, my friends, let us take these lessons to heart from the parable of the wicked tenants and the life of Francesco Bernadone. Just as Francesco found his purpose in rebuilding the church, we are called to rebuild not just the physical structure but the very essence of what it means to be the Church. Let us remember that our human constructs cannot confine the wideness of God's mercy, and our relationships, prayer, and authenticity should instead be the measure of the fruit we bear.
As we journey forward, let us be open to God's guidance, willing to stretch our spiritual muscles, and eager to cultivate a community where meaningful connections are fostered, where prayer is a conversation with the Divine, and where authenticity reigns supreme. In doing so, we can be the living stones, the vibrant vineyard, and the faithful stewards that God has called us to be, bearing fruits of love, grace, and transformation for the world.