Proper 26 | Ordinary Time 31, Cycle A

Sunday between October 30 and November 5 inclusive

The principal theme in most of the texts selected for our use this week is that the leaders among the People of God should be humble, diligent servants of God. Those leaders who are not humble, diligent servants of God are soundly condemned in these texts. These texts are, therefore, almost entirely parenetic, concerned about lifestyle. The proclamation that is present in most of these texts is proclamation of condemnation.

Joshua 3:7-17
This miracle story about how, as commanded by the Lord, Joshua directed the priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant to step into the waters of the Jordan River, and the Lord held back the waters of the river until all of the people of the nation had passed over the river on dry land is said in Joshua 3:7 to be an affirmation of Joshua by the Lord. Within this series of texts, therefore, Joshua 3:7-17 provides a counterbalance to the texts designated for this week in which religious leaders are condemned.

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37
In these portions of this psalm of thanksgiving, the Lord is praised for redeeming and bringing back to Jerusalem the people of Israel who had been scattered into many faraway lands. The Lord is said to make desolate regions fruitful for those who are faithful and righteous and to turn productive areas into salty desert for those who are wicked. The power of the Lord over nature depicted here has some similarity to the acclamation of the power of the Lord in holding back the waters of the Jordan River in the Joshua 3:7-17 miracle story.

Micah 3:5-12
False prophets, priests, and seers who accept money from wealthy people after proclaiming what the powerful people want to hear are soundly condemned here and blamed for the destruction of Jerusalem and of its Temple. Unlike the false prophets, Micah is portrayed as filled with the Spirit of the Lord and, although the people do not want to hear it, condemning the people for their sins.

Psalm 43
In this third segment of a single psalm that is numbered Psalms 42 and 43, the psalmist cries out to God, asking diligently for recovery from a disabling illness and affliction that is preventing the desired pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. The plight of the psalmist is made more severe by the actions of unjust and deceitful men who have been oppressing the psalmist.

Matthew 23:1-12
Among the most significant aspects of the prophetic function is the condemnation of one’s own religious leaders who show outward signs of great piety but ignore or take financial advantage of the poor and oppressed in their society and religious community. It is likely that John the Baptist, Jesus, and many other Jews during the first century openly expressed this kind of criticism and condemnation of some persons within their own religious leadership, especially of Caiaphas and others within the Temple hierarchy. There are many instances within the Jewish Rabbinic Literature of negative criticism and condemnation of such religious leaders. Research and publications by prominent Jewish biblical scholars during the past eighty years indicate that most of the Pharisees of the first century condemned any religious leaders in their own and other Jewish groups who tried to exalt themselves. Throughout the centuries the Jewish tradition has been noteworthy for its relentless internal criticism. It is likely that some portions of what we have in Matthew 23:1-12 may have been based on reminiscences by followers of Jesus of what he said in condemnation of religious leaders among his own fellow Jews, especially of Caiaphas and other Temple priests.

Internal religious criticism, however, becomes external religious criticism when a group separates itself from its parent religious community and continues to criticize and condemn the parent religious community’s leaders. This is particularly inappropriate when criticism and condemnation of specific offenders becomes general criticism and condemnation of entire groups of people. The problems are greatly compounded and severe injustice emerges when the criticism and condemnation are incorporated into what becomes the sacred Scriptures of the new community of faith and the new community of faith is accepted by totalitarian governments using their power to try to pressure members of the older religious community who are relatively few in number and are powerless to accept the new religion that has become the civil religion of the state. All of these circumstances occurred as Christianity developed as a hybrid religion with a Jewish “mother” and a Greek “father” and after a few centuries of persecution became basically the civil religion of the Roman Empire and of its successors. Texts such as Matthew 23, therefore, should be subjected to conscientious criticism by sensitive and responsible Christians today, especially by those who use texts such as Matthew 23 in their Christian proclamation and parenesis.

The polemic against the Pharisees becomes much more vicious in the verses following Matthew 23:1-12, but the problems begin with verses 1-12. The Matthean redaction of Mark 12:37b-40 resulted in this more extensive composition in Matthew 23:1-12 that became the base for the series of vicious “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” condemnations in Matthew 23:13, 15-36. For our own integrity as Christian leaders today, we have the responsibility to redirect what in these texts became external criticism back into internal criticism. This should have been done during the canonization of the Newer Testament process. It would have been far better had it been done at that time, but since it was not done then it belatedly should be done now.

The least that we should do with Matthew 23:1-12 is translate “the scribes and the Pharisees” of Matthew 23:2 as “our religious leaders,” and “the synagogues” of Matthew 23:6 as “our religious gatherings.” In 23:5, “their phylacteries” and “their tassels” should be written as “their devotional aids” and as “their religious garments,” and “rabbi” in 23:7-8 should be translated as “my lord” or as “my teacher” in order that we may again use these verses properly for internal self-criticism. If even subconsciously these texts are used today in defamation of Jews, it would be better not to have used them at all.

The proper use of Matthew 23:1-12 will focus on verses 11-12, which record a reminiscence of what the Jesus of history probably said publicly many times. This portion expresses the unifying theme we can see in some of the other texts that have been selected for our use this week.

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
The beautiful analogy that Paul used in 2:7-8, that he, Silvanus, and Timothy were “tender” in their care of the followers of Jesus in Thessalonica, like a mother nursing her child at her breast, ties this text into the unifying theme of humble, diligent servants of God. In verse 9, Paul wrote about the diligence that he, Silvanus, and Timothy had showed while they were serving in Thessalonica. This analogy and model is equally appropriate for us in our time and place.

Sunday between October 23 and October 29 inclusive

We see in these texts that we are directed to love God unconditionally, “with our entire heart, with our entire psyche, and with our entire mind.” As we grow in experiences and maturity, we realize that only God is capable of receiving our unconditional love, only God is worthy of it, and only God can handle it. We are to love God in a way that is different from the way in which we love all people and from the way that we love ourselves. We are to give ourselves totally to God, just as the Matthew 22:15-22 text we used this past week puts it with its “But you belong to God.”

We cannot and should not, therefore, give ourselves totally to any other human being, simply because we, and that person as well, already belong to God, to whom we have a prior commitment. Also, unconditional love for another human being would be idolatrous. It would make that person “God” for us, just as unconditional love of one’s self would make one’s self “God” for us. Only God is capable of being God. Only God is worthy of eliciting from us our unconditional love.

Nevertheless, we can and should give ourselves as fully as possible in love to other people, as the Jesus of history did, with the same kind of love that we have for ourselves, as the texts selected for this week indicate. Such giving in love, unconditionally to God and to other people as we love ourselves, will make us excellent people, assets for any community, excellent neighbors for those who live near us, excellent husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and employees. Such giving in love will also prepare us in a beautifully active way for the Day of the Lord. With this in mind, let us look briefly at each of these texts.

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
This story about the death and burial of Moses is a tribute to Moses. In it, Moses is acclaimed as unique in Israel, a person who loved and trusted in God unconditionally and who gave himself as fully as possible in love for other people. Although the tradition existed that Moses could have replaced Abraham as the father of the chosen people of God, Moses is depicted as having had such love for even the most recalcitrant children of Abraham, of whom he was one, that he rejected that honor.

Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
A superscription that is placed with this psalm is that it is “A prayer of Moses, the man of God.” Perhaps the reason for this and for the association of this psalm with the story about the death of Moses given in Deuteronomy 34 is that the psalmist looks back as an old person over life and over the transience of all life other than the life of God. This psalmist suggests we are wise to love only God unconditionally, since only God is immortal, because when we love God unconditionally we are linked to God who is immortal.

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
Within the Leviticus 19 “Holiness Code” we see an impressive collection of materials, some of which were further condensed into the Ten Commandments. While it is not appropriate for Jews today or Christians today to live their lives in every respect in accordance with some of the commands within this Holiness Code, this chapter of Leviticus provides much information about cultic practices and ethical obligations of the ancient Israelites at an important stage of their development. The chapter is pertinent to the distinction between God, who is totally holy and to be perceived as totally holy, and people, who become holy only because of their association with the Lord God and their obedience to the Lord God. Because the Lord God is totally just and righteous, people are to be just and righteous in their relationships with each other. They are to love each other as they love themselves, and they are to fear and love God unconditionally. They are to be totally subject to the Lord God. They are not to judge the Lord God, but they are to accept the Lord God as their judge.

Psalm 1
The type of person who is said in this psalm to be blessed is the person whose “delight is in the Torah of the Lord,” who “meditates on the Torah day and night.” Such a person will surely love the Lord unconditionally and will love one’s neighbors as that person loves that person’s self. It is significant that such insight, derived by inspiration from Israelite experiences and incorporated into this prominent wisdom psalm, was placed at the beginning of Israel’s canonical hymnbook.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
For the Apostle Paul and the other prominent leaders among the early followers of Jesus to declare their unconditional love for God and along with this to proclaim Jesus as the Christ raised from the dead as their Lord and Savior was to put themselves into a position in which they were subject to persecution, seizure, torture, and death at the hands of zealous advocates of Roman Civil Religion who acclaimed their unconditional love and devotion to the Roman State and to Caesar, their “Lord and Savior.” These advocates of Roman Civil Religion were in powerful positions in the Roman State, and there was no protection against them for Paul and others like Paul. Paul could not write openly about these conditions, for to do so would further jeopardize Paul’s life and the lives of those to whom Paul was writing. Therefore, Paul could only allude to these matters by using hidden transcripts, as he did here in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8.

The relationships that Paul had with the people to whom Paul was writing in this text were, in Paul’s own words, relationships in which Paul was “tender” to them, having the kind of love a nursing mother has for her child at her breast. This was indeed an unselfish kind of love, a self-giving love, a caring love, the best kind of love that one human being can have for another.

Matthew 22:34-46
Study of this text within the context of its Synoptic parallels indicates rather clearly the progressive development of the account. There is every reason to think that the heart of this text (Matthew 22:37-39) was expressed by the Jesus of history on various occasions during conversations with other interested and intelligent fellow Jews who explored with Jesus the most important elements within the Torah, as an analysis of the parallel text in Mark 12:28-34a shows.

It would be preferable to limit this pericope to Matthew 22:34-40. To add verses 41-46 to the parallel text in Mark 12:28-34a distracts us from the central theme of the texts selected for this week. The proud portrayal of Jesus in Matthew 22:41-46 as the clever hero of his followers who outwitted the Pharisees is almost certainly a product of the later Jesus tradition. The quotation of Psalm 110:1 in it shows no regard for the meaning of the text in its Psalm 110 setting. Although Matthew 22:41-46 does reveal much information about followers of Jesus during the latter decades of the first century, the message we proclaim should be based as much as possible on the insights and proclamation of the Jesus of history, particularly in instances in which the proclamation added by followers of Jesus (Matthew 22:41-46) is heavily laden with negative anti-Jewish polemic.

Sunday between October 16 and October 22 inclusive

We are guided in these texts to perceive God in universal terms as having total power over everything. The world powers in any period, whether they are Cyrus, leader of the Medes and Persians whose armies were conquering nation after nation in their path (Isaiah 45:1-5), or a Caesar who ruled over the vast stretches of the Roman Empire (Matthew 22:17-21), are by comparison to God no more than God’s appointees. These rulers are successful only because of what God is doing in their behalf. God does things at times even though the rulers do not themselves know the Lord (Isaiah 45:1-7) or the Father of Jesus (Matthew 22:15-21) as God. God is in control of everything. The rulers of even the most powerful empires, by contrast, can control only limited aspects of our lives. Therefore, to Caesar, who makes heavy demands on us, we are to give the little tokens, the little coins stamped with the likeness of Caesar’s face. To God, however, we are to give everything, our entire lives.

The texts selected for this week, therefore, are stewardship texts in the deepest sense of the word, highly appropriate for us as we move during the late fall season into stewardship and thanksgiving emphases. In these texts we see stewardship is not something that we have to do. Instead, stewardship is something we do because we want to do it. This type of stewardship, this total giving of one’s self to God, is the primary unifying factor in these texts.

Exodus 33:12-23
The Lord God of Israel is depicted in this text as revealing God’s goodness and glory with total power to be gracious to those on whom God chooses to be gracious and to show mercy for those to whom God wishes to show mercy. Moses wants to have assurance of this power, and God provides this assurance.

Psalm 99
The Lord reigns over all the earth, over all of the people of the world. The Lord is holy and just, forgiving the people, but abolishing the evil they do. Therefore, we are called to worship the Lord and to want to do so.

Isaiah 45:1-7
This text is one of many expressions of the transition necessary in the thinking of the Israelites after they had lost their nation and with it the means by which they had practiced their religion as a “civil religion.” Within their civil religion, they had perceived the Lord as “the God of the nation Israel.” Beyond the geographical boundaries of Israel there were other people in other nations who had their own perceptions of deity described by other names in other languages. In Israel, however, only the Lord God of Israel was to be recognized and worshiped.

After 586 BCE, however, the religious situation of the Israelites was vastly altered, along with their political situation. Their leaders, most of whom had been taken by force to Babylon, were under heavy pressure to break their relationship with the Lord God of Israel entirely, since there was no longer a nation Israel within which the Lord God of Israel could be worshiped. In this new political situation, they were urged to worship Marduk, the God of the Babylonians, and to become Babylonians. It is likely that the majority of the Israelites who had been taken to Babylon did accept Marduk as their lord and became assimilated into Babylonian culture and religion. Nevertheless, a few, a remnant of a remnant, as they called themselves, took the other option that they perceived to be open to them. They perceived the Lord of the nation Israel was actually the Lord of all creation, the Lord of all, the one who had chosen and appointed Cyrus to be a conqueror of nations, to open the gates of walled cities so that Cyrus could subdue his enemies easily, leveled mountains and hills for the convenience of the armies of Cyrus, gave to Cyrus treasures from secret places, appointed Cyrus to help the Lord’s servant Israel, and gave to Cyrus great honor even though Cyrus did not yet recognize that the Lord who had formerly been the Lord of the nation and people of Israel was now actually the Lord God of the entire cosmos. These politically weak and conquered people claimed that the Lord God they worshiped had created light as well as darkness (Isaiah 45:7), and they developed and refined the creation liturgy and confession of faith we have in Genesis 1:1–2:4a. They expanded their perceptions of the Lord God because they wanted to do this not because they had to do so.

Psalm 96:1-9 (10-13)
This psalm also marks the transition from a national concept to a universal concept of the Lord. The Lord is proclaimed in this psalm to be the judge of all people; not merely of the Israelites. The Lord is said to provide marvelous works among all people and to reign among all nations. Therefore, the praises and glory of the Lord shall be acclaimed among all nations, wherever the people of the Lord are scattered.

We also, as we grow in faith and in experience, are encouraged as we read and study this psalm to expand our own perceptions of God as no longer merely the God of our nation but the God of all nations. We are encouraged to make this transition even though our nation continues to exist.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
In this text, Paul gives thanks to God that the Thessalonians have turned away from idols in order to worship and serve God, the one living and true God. Paul perceives God as Father of all and acclaims Jesus as the Christ raised from the dead, our Lord. For Paul, God as Father is to be thanked constantly and our hope for the present and for the future is to be in Jesus Christ as Lord and not in Caesar. Jesus Christ as Lord delivers us from the wrath to come when in Jesus Christ our Lord good will confront evil and prevail over it.

Matthew 22:15-22
Within the context of these texts selected for this week, our emphasis in this Matthew 22:15-22 text will be on the wisdom logion of Jesus in 22:21 that can be paraphrased as “Give back, therefore, to Caesar, the coin that has a likeness to Caesar’s face on it, and give up to God everything that belongs to God, that is, your selves, the coins, and even Caesar himself. All belong to God, whether everyone realizes this or not.” All of this is implied in this logion.

The literary setting for this tremendous logion of Jesus detracts from the logion much of its impact in all three Synoptic Gospel texts. The literary setting causes the hearer to think, “Look how clever our champion is! See how evil are the Pharisees!” The literary setting of this pericope and of those that follow it in a series of controversy dialogues in Matthew 22:15-46 and parallels detract from the message of the Jesus logion because of the anti-Jewish polemic that was so important to many of the followers of Jesus during the time when the Synoptic Gospels were put into written form. Within the twenty-first century, we should not emphasize the identity of people who were in competition with the followers of Jesus late in the first century, especially in view of the horrible treatment of Jews in “Christian” lands during the nineteen centuries since the Gospel According to Matthew was written. Instead, we should emphasize the great stewardship message of the Jesus logion in this text, a message applicable then, now, and always, “The coin belongs to Caesar, but we belong to God!”

Sunday between October 9 and October 15 inclusive

The message conveyed in the Matthew 22:1-14 parable is that “When God invites, if you are wise you will put on the appropriate garment and come!” All of the other texts selected for use on this occasion can be related to Matthew 22:1-14 through that theme statement. The theme statement provides ample resources for the proclamation of the good news and of judgment and for parenesis (how we should live).

Matthew 22:1-14
As a result of our critical study of the Four Gospel traditions, we have every reason to think that the Jesus of history used every opportunity he had to talk with his fellow oppressed Jews in Galilee and Judea about God and about how important it was to let God rather than Caesar rule their lives. The evidence seems conclusive that Jesus used parables and specifically parables about God and God’s “kingdom” in which God and God’s kingdom were sharply contrasted with Caesar’s rule and Caesar’s kingdom. The success of Caesar and of Caesar’s kingdom was obvious. Caesar ruled over most of the inhabited world known to the people in that kingdom at that time. If a Jew in Galilee or Judea wanted to be prosperous and successful in matters such as purchasing a field, oxen to plow larger fields, or marrying a wife and expecting to be able to provide for a family, such a person would be “wise” to cooperate with the Romans who occupied the land and to support them openly. Jews who responded in that way to the political situation of the time and place were given a favored status by the tax collectors and were the only Jews in that setting who had any possibility of becoming even moderately wealthy. Some of them probably thought they would be able to honor Caesar in the necessary ways and still be able to honor the Lord God of Israel. The parable of Jesus that lies behind Matthew 22:1-14 was probably directed at such Jews.

The Jesus of history urged his fellow oppressed Jews to believe that soon the Lord God of Israel would intervene in some way to end the power of the rulers of this “evil age.” When the Lord would call to invite the oppressed Jews of Galilee and Judea to the great banquet in which they would celebrate their freedom from Roman oppression, those who were wise would put on the appropriate garment of faithfulness to the Lord and come promptly to the banquet. Jesus felt called by the Lord God to give hope to his fellow oppressed Jews and to help them be ready for this great banquet. This Jesus did with great zeal and enthusiasm. He did this so successfully that the Roman oppressors and the few among Jesus’ own people who cooperated with the Romans became worried that their political position would be in jeopardy. When he had the opportunity at the conclusion of a Passover festival in Jerusalem to act against Jesus, under orders from the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas sent some of his bodyguards to seize Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and to deliver Jesus into the hands of Pilate’s crucifixion squad, who tortured Jesus privately during the night in the Roman citadel and then crucified him publicly the next morning.

In this oppressive political situation the Jesus of history developed and used, often in cryptic forms with partially hidden messages, many parables about the Kingdom of God that was soon to come. He did this in order to give hope to his fellow Jews that soon the Romans would no longer occupy their land. Later in the first century, followers of Jesus repeated some of these parables, and as they repeated them modified them to some extent to make them applicable to their changing situations. The Matthew 22:1-14 account that was eventually canonized and transmitted to us contains evidence of some of these changes. Many of these changes involved further allegorizations of the parable and the insertion into the parable of anti-Jewish polemic. Matthew 22:7 is the most striking example of this in Matthew 22:1-14. Ironically, the giver of the great banquet (the Lord God in Jesus’ original parable) became in the allegorization of Matthew 22:7 Titus, who was the Roman military commander-in-chief in the campaign to suppress the Jewish revolt of 66 CE and the general who in 79 CE became the Roman “king” (Caesar). The story parable, as “Word of God,” was shaped and fashioned to conform more closely to later events. We do some of this also today in many of our best sermons and homilies.

The harsh treatment of the man who had no wedding garment (Matthew 22:11-14) may also be an embellishment of Jesus’ parable as it was used in the Matthean church. It may be evidence of the measures taken within the Matthean church to ensure the purity and religious orthodoxy of that community of faith. More importantly, it may have been included by either Jesus or by the leaders in the Matthean church to place emphasis on the requirement that every guest at the banquet be appropriately attired with faithfulness to the Lord.

Isaiah 25:1-9
When a prominent person invites you to a great banquet, a feast such as you have never had, an opportunity you probably will never have again, and the prominent person who has invited you is a good, compassionate person, is it not likely that you will go to the feast? In this Isaiah 25 text, there is no suggestion that anyone would even consider not attending the banquet, especially when participation involves the end of death and the beginning of a condition in which there are no more tears nor reproach. This account in Isaiah 25 is different in very important ways from the parable of Jesus included in Matthew 22. The accounts are similar, however, that in both instances if you are wise you will put on the appropriate garment and come to the feast.

Psalm 23
When the Lord, the Good Shepherd, invites the sheep and offers them everything they need (green pastures, still waters, and protection from all harm and danger), would they not be foolish if they were not to come to follow the Lord? Most sheep under those circumstances will stay with the shepherd and with the other sheep in the flock, enjoying the security the shepherd and the flock provide. If sheep will do this, should not people be at least as wise as sheep?

Exodus 32:1-14
This story about the people so easily persuading Aaron to mold for them a golden figure of an animal and then celebrating in a feast of dedication of it as a new cultic object is a major example of what not to do. Their actions were totally unwise, a complete reversal of an act of faithfulness to the Lord. In the story, had not Moses argued convincingly to the Lord to spare them, they would have been consumed by the righteous wrath of God and a new start would have been made with descendants of Moses.

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
The Lord is to be praised greatly for the steadfast love of the Lord was greater than the wrath of the Lord when the pre-Israelites made and worshiped the golden image of an animal while Moses was on the mountain for forty days with the Lord. Not only had the people not worn the appropriate garment; they had been naked in their sin.

Philippians 4:1-9
Paul writes joyously about his love for the followers of Jesus in Philippi who share with him in a grave threat to their lives. Paul has been taken into custody by zealous advocates of Roman Civil Religion and is awaiting trial on charges that he is proclaiming Jesus Christ raised from the dead rather than Caesar as “Lord and Savior,” which is, of course, what Paul has been doing. The zealous advocates of the Imperial Cult are deciding whether detention of Paul for an extended period of time will be sufficient to silence Paul, or whether they should silence him permanently. Paul knows that the followers of Jesus in Philippi are under this same threat or at least the most prominent among them are. In this situation, Paul urges Euodia and Syntyche, two women who are widely respected leaders in the community of faith, to resolve whatever issues have been dividing them. Paul encourages the members of the community to rejoice in the Lord at all times in confident trust in the parousia of the Lord Jesus the Christ. Paul gently urges them to be honorable, even to the point of death by martyrdom, if necessary. He writes that the Lord invites them to remain faithful. They will be wise when they come in faithful response to the invitation from the Lord. Then, whatever may happen, they will be at peace with God.

Sunday between October 2 and October 8 inclusive

“God Will Prevail!” is the basic message of the parable about the renters in the vineyard of Matthew 21:33-43 and in one way or another it can be seen to be the basic message of each of the other texts selected for this week as well. Therefore, we can build an excellent worship service around this theme. That “God Will Prevail!” is good news for those who are poor and oppressed, for those who are ill or worried. It is bad news for those who are wicked, who are oppressors of the poor, who think that their own evil will can prevail. We are called through the Word of God in these texts to proclaim this week that God will prevail, a message of judgment and a message of hope.

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
The proclamation, “I am the Lord your God…” followed by the strong parenesis, “You shall have no…” in the form of the basic Ten Commandments are certainly emphatic statements that “God Will Prevail!” The concluding comments in 20:18-20 are even more emphatic. The people are said to have been afraid and trembling when they heard the voice of God accompanied by the thunderings and the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. In this dramatic scene there is no doubt that God will prevail.

Psalm 19
Poetically the sun and the expanse of the skies during the day and during the night are said to proclaim the glory of God. More specifically, the Torah God has given and the precious commandments God provides are most excellent testimonies that God will prevail.

Matthew 21:33-46
We have the parable about the greedy renters in the vineyard here and in three other documents. It is in an earlier form in Mark 12:1-12, in a similar form in Luke 20:9-19, and it is in the gnostic Gospel of Thomas 65, published in The Nag Hammadi Library (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1977), pp. 125-126, and elsewhere. The form of the parable in the Gospel of Thomas is of particular interest because in the Gospel of Thomas, unlike the forms of the parable in the Synoptic Gospels, the parable is not fashioned into a controversy story directed against Jews and is not allegorized in order to make its details conform to what was known about the crucifixion of Jesus. This segment of the Gospel of Thomas, therefore, is one of the most valuable and helpful portions of that document because it may give us access to the parable that is closer to the way in which the Jesus of history used it than we have in Mark, Matthew, and Luke. It is likely that when Jesus developed and used this parable it was an incisive call to repentance. Those who first heard the parable from Jesus were to be drawn into the story. They were to be led to realize that “We are the renters! The vineyard belongs to God! Regardless of what we do, God will prevail!”

For us also, the parable should be told in a way that it will evoke self-examination leading to immediate repentance and a positive response to God. We should focus our attention, therefore, on the climax of the Matthew 21:33-46 account, the point in the parable in verses 40-41 proclaiming what the owner of the vineyard will do. We are renters in the vineyard, not owners of it. The vineyard belongs to God! “God will prevail!”

Isaiah 5:1-7
In this “love song” of the Isaiah tradition, as in the parable about the greedy renters in the Synoptic Gospels, the physical setting is a vineyard and the basic message is that God will prevail. There are significant differences, however, as well. In the Isaiah account the vineyard is a collective symbol for Israel. It includes no judgment of individuals. In the parable in the Synoptic Gospels and Gospel of Thomas accounts the renters are individuals, and they are condemned as individuals. In the parable the vineyard is productive. In the Isaiah account the vineyard does not produce good grapes. It produces only wild, foul-smelling grapes! In the Isaiah account the vineyard is abandoned. It becomes a wasteland. In the parable the vineyard is productive and is given as a productive vineyard into the care of other renters. The Isaiah account is clearly intended to cause Israel as a whole to understand why the land that had been beautiful has become a wasteland. The Isaiah account is presented as a harsh, realistic self-criticism of the nation and people collectively.

The parable of Jesus was most likely originally intended by Jesus to cause individual Jews to be self-critical of their own actions and attitudes. Within the early developing Church, however, the parable of Jesus was allegorized far beyond Jesus’ own analogies of the owner of the vineyard (God) and the renters (the individual Jews around Jesus who heard his parable). Also, the parable of Jesus came to be used already in Mark and even more in Matthew and in Luke as a controversy dialogue account used by followers of Jesus against another religious community, the Jewish people collectively.

As the parable of Jesus was further allegorized and transformed by followers of Jesus into a controversy dialogue within a series of conflict stories, details from the Isaiah 5:1-7 song were brought into the parable. If we wish to get back as much as possible to the parable as used by the Jesus of history, we should separate the parable from the Isaiah account and see the parable as significant and applicable to each of us. We should not use the parable as an allegory and conflict story in condemnation of Israel, but as a parable of Jesus intended to lead each of us to repentance, gratitude to God, and to a closer relationship to God in Christ. If we use the parable as evidence of God’s rejection of Israel and of God’s covenant with Israel, we must realize if God has rejected Israel, God might some day also reject the Church.

Psalm 80:7-15
This interesting psalm is a poetic rendition of ways in which the Israelites saw the hand of God in the “rise and fall” of their nation. Israel is depicted as a small vine the Lord brought out of Egypt and planted in a place the Lord had chosen. Under the watchful eye of the Lord it spread to the Great Sea and to the River. Then, however, the Lord broke down its walls. Strangers now pluck its fruit. They have burned the vine with fire and have cut it down.

Prayers and pleas are offered to God. Promises are made. Nevertheless, the people realize that in comparison to God they are powerless. God will prevail!

Philippians 3:4b-14
Although the Apostle Paul apparently during his earlier life had thought he himself was living rightfully and was walking in the path leading him to God, he had learned that by opposing the followers of Jesus he was traveling on a path that was for him a “dead end.” He had come to realize whatever righteousness he had was entirely a gift from God that had come to Paul through the faith of Jesus in God and of some of the followers of Jesus in Jesus as the Son of God. For Paul, not he himself but God in Christ had prevailed.