Harvest - being faithful.

Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-20       Matthew 21: 33-46

Here we go again – harvest. We’re singing (or mumbling behind our masks) ‘Come ye thankful people, come’ with its line about ‘all is safely gathered in e’er the winter storms begin’ with one eye on the window thinking ‘the winter storms are here already’. And if the actual weather wasn’t bad enough, we are in the middle of the metaphorical storm of the coronavirus pandemic. The temptation might be to change our focus to the warm hues of autumnal fruit and flowers, and allow ourselves to revel a little in the cozy, traditional, apple-scented memories of harvest-home.

But I think God’s word wants to say more to us than that.

 

We heard the story from Exodus chapter 20 where the Lord ‘who brought you up out of Egypt’ gives the people of God the ten commandments. There are of course commandments dealing with worship of God and God alone, about keeping the Sabbath and honouring our parents, and a list of the things which the people of God must not do.

 

But the most fascinating word, which only appears in some translations – is THEN.

Then God spoke all of these words.

 

The giving of the ten commandments does not just happen out of nowhere – it is part of a very much longer story, which the previous 19 chapters of the book of Exodus have been telling. 

We’ve had the birth and rescue of Moses, his encounter with the living God in the burning bush, the whole long struggle to get Pharaoh to set God’s people free from Egypt, and the dramatic escape across the Red Sea. 

Saved from the Egyptian army, the people have been in the desert and in the third month they arrive at Mount Sinai. Moses goes up the mountain and God talks to him, he comes back down and reports to the people. On his second journey up the mountain, God gives him these commandments and we have heard Moses report the commandments to the people when he comes back down a second time. 

Moses will go up Mount Sinai a third time and get a far more detailed set of commandments – which stretch for the next eleven chapters of Exodus. The people will become so impatient waiting for Moses that they will pressurise Aaron into setting up the golden calf for them to worship – and we are unlikely to have forgotten that in anger Moses will smash the tablets of stone on which the commandments are written. God will give the commandments again… and the people will be wandering in the desert for 40 years.

 

This is just part of a very long story, filled with grumbling and mistakes and desperation and forgetting that God is leading his people from slavery to the promised land.

 

But in all that long, long story, with all its twists and turns, there is one character who never forgets, never swerves from the purpose of care and love, never gives up. 

And of course that is God.

 

The worship of God, the holding of harvest services, the offering of first-fruits or of given a tenth of all we have… these things are all ways of reminding us of the steadfast faithfulness of God. 

 

As Philip Yancey says in his book “what’s so amazing abut grace?” – 

“grace means there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and nothing I can do to make God love me less. It means that I, even I who deserve the opposite, am invited to take my place at the table in God’s family.”

 

Harvest, and especially harvest at this time of restriction and pandemic, is a good time to remind ourselves of the limitless love and grace of God – which runs right through the book of Exodus and way, way beyond.

 

When I first looked at this week’s reading from Exodus I found myself wondering ‘what does it mean to be the faithful people of God?’ – 

but as I thought about the whole story of God’s people in the Wilderness I found myself instead giving thanks for the God who is faithful even when we falter and fail, or are floundering and frail. Harvest isn’t about our faithful celebrations – it’s about our celebration of a faithful God.

 

And this perhaps familiar but somewhat puzzling parable of the tenants in the vineyard – what are we to make of that? What is Jesus trying to help us to learn as we encounter this story?

 

I think that in every parable Jesus wants us to bring our own experience to an understanding of what’s so amazing in the story. 

I’ve never owned a vineyard – but as part of my role as Synod moderator for the URC I sometimes have to deal with decisions about properties that we let out to tenants. Sometimes we have a tenant who might not be paying the rent that due. We’re a church, so we try to be understanding. 

Sometimes a tenant explains they are out of work, or have been ill, or something has happened that makes them fall behind in their rent. We try to be compassionate and merciful and a good witness of what good people do. We listen to the story, we give people time, we reschedule payments. There have even been cases where things have dragged on rather, for months, as we’ve tried to resolve the issues – but good landlord though the South Western Synod is, we would never behave like the owner of this vineyard.

 

When the time for the payment of rent comes, there’s no indication that the tenants can’t pay – they refuse.

More than that – they abuse, beat and even kill the rent-collectors.

The owner tries again – with more people sent to collect the rent. The same thing happens again.

The owner tries again – for a third time – this time sending his son. Still they refuse to pay.

Then and only then will the owner give up on those tenants – and get other tenants.

 

Jesus wants us to marvel at the patience and forbearance of the owner – who goes way beyond the actions of even the most understanding landlord. And Jesus concludes “this is the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful in our eyes”.

There it is again – a light shone on the faithfulness of God.

 

This harvest, we are called to celebrate once again God’s faithful and enduring love. Through the seasons, through the years, through our intransigence, through illness and weakness -  the love of God endures, continues to reach out, is endless and limitless, and all we need.

 

May we celebrate, despite all that is going on around us, with gratitude and praise.

Thanks be to God, Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

Amen.