Sunday 5 October 2008

God the Vinedresser

Interactive Talk at Cheddington 5 October 2008

What is your image of God?

Old man with white flowing beard – as a choirboy that was what I saw on big stained glass window

Stern judge – correcting wrong – frightening figure – Last Judgement

Loving Father – forgiving, nurturing, caring

Someone a bit like your father – or mother?

We all have images of God determined largely by what was our picture of God when we were young – hard to shake off even after a lifetime of study and prayer

God the Vinedresser

Image of vineyard stands for Israel, or Kingdom of Heaven, or whole universe

Matthew 21:33 – Parable of Tenants. God is landowner who creates vineyard. Plants it. Puts wall round it to protect it. Digs a winepress to make it productive. Build a watch tower to look after it and keep out evildoers who might harm it. Does everything a good landlord should do.

God goes away on a journey – how often does it seem as though God is absent from his world? – rents the vineyard to tenants chosen with care

Sends his servants to collect fruit – tenants treat them badly

Finally God sends his Son – tenants see opportunity to take over the vineyard and kill the owner’s son to gain the inheritance

Characters in the drama

Pretty clear who is who – Vineyard is the World created lovingly by God, protected, fruitful

Tenants are us who are put in Vineyard to care for it

Servants are the Prophets – speak to us with the words of God – warnings of our disobedience and its consequences – warnings today of the way we have abused our trust in how we have treated God’s creation

The Son of the owner is Jesus – sent to collect fruit from the vineyard – abused, his words ignored, and eventually killed

Elders of the Jews and Pharisees

Jesus ends the story with a question – presumably addressed to those who were listening – and they included Pharisees and other leaders of the Jews

What will the owner of the vineyard do to the disobedient and wretched tenants? The people (presumably not including the Pharisees) reply that the owner will kill them and rent the vineyard to new tenants.

The Pharisees have heard all the parables and recognise they are the bad tenants – until now they have been enquiring but from this point on they seek to arrest Jesus and put him on trial. The only thing stopping them is fear of how the crowds will react. The people believe Jesus is a prophet and even perhaps Messiah after the Triumphal Entry.

Complacency

Our reaction might be smugness and complacency – after all are we not the new tenants hired to replace the elect of the Hebrew Scriptures? Maybe – but the way we have since treated the vineyard gives us no reason for comfort – and would we ourselves not have stood by and watched as Jesus was arrested, put on trial and executed in the most barbarous manner possible – short of burning maybe, which we as Christians have inflicted on our own prophets for centuries

So no room for comfort – we must work harder at being vinedressers in God’s domain whilst we still have the chance

God’s tender loving care

Perhaps we should concentrate more on the picture this parable shows us of God. The parable in Matthew is about the tenancy of the vineyard, but in John 15 we get a similar picture of God the vinedresser but this time Jesus as the true vine. Let’s concentrate on the picture of God, which is the same in both passages – the Vinedresser.

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

The picture is that of the gentle and yet exacting man whose years of work with the vine and branches have proved productive.

A vinedresser, or husbandman, is more than a mere farmer. Grapes are more than an annual crop. The vinedresser's vines remain with him for decades. He comes to know each one in a personal way, much like a shepherd with his sheep. He knows how the vine is faring from year to year and which ones are more productive or vigorous than others. He knows what they respond to and what special care certain one's need.

The vinedresser cares for each vine and nurtures it, pruning it the appropriate amount at the appropriate times, fertilizing it, lifting its branches from the ground and propping them or tying them to the wires, and taking measures to protect them from insects and disease.

Cruel to be kind

Contrasting with this imagery of God as nurturing and protective is the way vines are cut back. Growing grapes is not like planting a row of potatoes. You don’t just plant them, do a bit of hoeing, and dig up your crop at the end of the season then throw away the plants.

2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

The process of vinedressing Jesus speaks of may well be painful for the branch.  However everything the Vinedresser does to the branches is for the purpose of producing fruit. It is the fruit of the believer’s life that glorifies the Vinedresser.

The aim is not to make us feel comfortable, or nurtured, or valued. No, the aim is the glory of God.

5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

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