Father Gary’s Sermon

Inspired from Luke 20:9-19

Proclaimed on March 28, 2004

A few years ago, one of America’s largest department stores tried marketing a doll in the form of the baby Jesus. The advertisements described it as being “washable, cuddly, and unbreakable,” and it was neatly packaged in straw, satin, and plastic. To complete the package the manufacturer added biblical texts that were appropriate to the baby Jesus. To department store executives, it looked like a surefire winner--a real moneymaker. They were wrong; it didn’t sell. In a last-ditch effort to get rid of the dolls, one of the store managers placed a huge sign in a prominent display window. It read: Jesus Christ--Marked down 50%. Get him while you can.

This event confirms one truth: Jesus is a hard sale, even at 50% off. Part of the reason may be that while he is viewed as one to meet our every need, such as being “washable, cuddly, and unbreakable,” he is also a man very committed to a very serious mission--the mission of bringing in the Kingdom of God.

This is certainly evident as he made his way to Jerusalem one last time in our Gospel reading today. While on this trip he continuously confronted the Jewish religious authorities, boldly challenging their leadership. These Jewish leaders did not take too kindly to his words and stories and they followed him to Jerusalem to defeat him. So earnest were they in their attacks in Jerusalem that Jesus spent very little time mingling with the people. Outside of citing the hot debates with these religious leaders, there are only four healings recorded, and even these made the authorities angrier.

They were not the only ones who were angry. The words of Jesus also reflect a great deal of anger. To one group he says, “You hypocrites!” to another he says, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity!” In today’s reading he claims, “Whoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken, but whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind them to powder!” These are not the words of a “washable, cuddly, and unbreakable” Baby Jesus doll, but more like those of a fighting GI Joe. What we have here is a very disappointed and furious Jesus, a Jesus who understood the Kingdom of God very differently from the Priests, Scribes, and Pharisees.

In his final story to these religious authorities Jesus compares them to tenants who are working for an absentee landlord and who are withholding the profits from the owner. This was an analogy that was very clear to the religious authorities, for this situation was quite common. During this time Gentile overlords who would lease their land to the Jews, while they lived elsewhere owned much of Israel. For the use of this land the Jews would pay an agreed upon fee to their landlords each year. These landlords would annually send servants to collect these fees. Sometimes the Hebrew tenants would rebel. After all, they thought, “Was this land not rightly theirs?!” At such a time the landlord would have the Roman troops sent to remove the tenants, as well as to get what he had coming. But Jesus added one little unexpected twist. The landlord in his story would send his only heir to collect the annual fees before sending in the troops. This was foolish for according to the law of the land, those occupying it could claim any land left without an inheritor. What would keep them from killing the son?

It was clear to the Priests, Scribes, and Pharisees that they were the tenants in the story, and that God was the landlord. According to Jesus, their task was to render unto God that which belonged to God, which in this case was “forgiveness” and “acceptance.” But the religious authorities could not accept this. They could not accept that Jesus was the Father’s Son nor that God would remove their authority. At that point it was clearly evident that Jesus could not sell himself, even at 50% off. Indeed, the religious authorities were now out to get Jesus. While they could not grab him immediately, but like the only son of the landlord, within a week Jesus would be dead!

What was God’s answer to them? Was it to come and destroy them? No, not at all! The Father first vindicated the Son by raising him from the dead. Therefore, the kingdom was still his to give as an inheritance. As such, God did not have to retaliate, but God could still “forgive” and “redeem!” Only a Christ as tough as a GI Joe doll when standing up against false religion, can be “washable, cuddly, and unbreakable” when dealing with those who confess and repent. It is this very tough Christ, who in the end wins through “forgiveness,” “acceptance,” and “love!”

Today, we in the Church claim to be God’s current “tenants” or religious authorities. Personally, I am not comfortable with this position of honor for it also a dangerous one with great responsibility. For instance, are we replacing the Priests, Scribes, and the Pharisees? Or, are we standing in for Christ? Either way it is like the story told of a certain man who awakened Abraham Lincoln in the middle of the night. He informed the President that one of his appointees to a high government post had died just hours before. Then he asked the President, “Can I take his place?” To which Lincoln responded, “If it is all right with the undertaker, it is all right with me.”

If we are replacing the Priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, than how are we doing? Are we rendering to God what belongs to God? Or are we standing in for Jesus whose eventual death reveals that grace is not cheap. Either way, both can be costly. We have to face the undertaker for permission to take their place. Therefore, today is not a day for discounts on Jesus, but rather a day to consider his full price, even if no one is willing to make the purchase! It means that while grace for us is free, and always has been, caring for the Kingdom of God isn’t. We have to learn when to be as tough as a GI Joe when facing real sin, heresy, and corruption, while being “washable, cuddly, and unbreakable” and offering God’s forgiveness, acceptance, and love at the same time.