3.18.07 Who Can You Trust

 
WESTMINSTER PULPIT
 
    The Rev. Dr. David Thompson
 
 
March 18, 2007                                              “Who Can You Trust?”                             Parable of the Tenants
                                                                                                                                                                                 
Text: It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone.
 
In the parable of the tenants, why is there an absentee landlord? Why is he not on the job supervising and demanding accountability? What does this parable have to do with Christ’s determination to die in Jerusalem? What does it say to us in our personal lives? What is the relationship between power, control and trust?
 
We are in the season of Lent. Next Sunday will be the former Passion Sunday known as Black Sunday in Germany. Why? Because the church remembered that on this day Christ set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem. Palm Sunday follows with his triumphal entry into that old walled city. He enters to the excited cries of children and an appreciative crowd. Jesus had no need to go to Jerusalem and put himself in danger. In Galilee, he was safe under the protection of Herod Antipas. However, he deliberately chooses to go into danger at Jerusalem. Why?
 
The parable of the tenants in the vineyard reveals why. In the Matthew version there seems to be little doubt that the son in this parable is a reference to Jesus. It is one of the parables of conflict that the historical Jesus uses as a missile directed at the leadership of Israel, and the establishment of the day knew that. Scripture says: “But for the fear of the people, the scribes and the chief priests would have liked to lay their hands on him at that very moment, because they realized that this parable was aimed at them.”
 
In the Matthew version the owner of the vineyard is God, the tenants are the leaders of Israel, the son Jesus. What is the parable critical of? It is a parable about the misuse of power and control. The tenants are behaving like owners and are abusing power and trust placed in them. There is no respect for the real owner or his representatives, not even the owner’s son.
 
Christ uses this parable as he begins to step out of obscurity onto the world stage and into the center of human history. Up to this point, there has been little confrontation with power and authority. Now comes the historical dimension, the great themes of his teaching that are to catapult him from being considered as just another Rabbi to the one who has answers to the world’s major problems. Why is Christ crucified? Because he tackled the abuse of power and control, Roman political power and priestly power in Israel, a deadly mix that inevitably leads to his death.
 
Let us think about any dispute we can imagine.   It has something to do with power and control. Why do some folk divorce? Why are some of us alienated from our families? What are the wars in the world about if they are not over power and control of land, or oil, or people or property? If we are honest, we will soon realize that power and control are very important to us. That is what our laws and legal systems are about. In our personal lives deep down in our psyches we do not like to be controlled by others, we don’t appreciate being dominated, put down, enslaved or disenfranchised.
 
This is a fascinating parable! It has some very interesting dynamics. The owner is away. We do not know whether the tenants originally did well and were trustworthy. However, after a while when the owner did not return, at what point did they decide that he was not coming back? What were the checks and balances to the tenant’s power? Their doesn’t seem to be any does there. They are not afraid of the owner. They believe that they can get away with an abuse of power. When the son and heir comes they believe that the owner must be dead. Therefore, there will be no accountability. Thus if they kill the son and heir, the property will become ownerless property. As the resident tenants, they will have the first claim. So, the motivation becomes clear. They can move legally from being tenants to being owners. Therefore, they will be beyond criticism. The vineyard will “rightfully” be theirs. Therefore, we have here some very interesting themes:
Does this sound familiar in our world today? You bet it does!
 
Why does Jesus tell us this parable? Is it just a diagnosis of the human condition or is it more? We need to note that Jesus tells us this parable before he enacts the son role in the parable of his life. He tells it before the tenants crucify him. It is also very interesting that Christ knows ahead of time what will happen to him, yet nevertheless, goes forward with the role of son. Why?
 
Why is the landlord absent, particularly if the landlord is meant to be God? Why send representatives and finally his son, rather than coming himself? This parable raises some profound questions. They are questions about God in this world. It is surely obvious that God is not available for us to visit in Washington, or the Vatican or in Mecca, or in Jerusalem (despite claims to the contrary!) The absentee landlord is a rather accurate picture of God, isn’t it? I have not noticed God interviewed on CNN or the BBC or Al Jezeera lately. Why not?
 
However, if God were so readily available, how would the tenants behave? Would not there be an immediate difference in how we conceive of power, and wouldn’t there be a lot less abuse of power? Wouldn’t we need a lot less control? If God were president of the world, would we need a White House, a U.N., or a Vatican? Would the power dynamics of our business boardrooms be the same if God were around? What differences would it make in our families, our relationships and our churches?
 
I believe that this parable makes one thing abundantly clear if the owner was around to supervise; the tenants would be into stewardship rather than ownership power and control models. And isn’t that what is wrong with most of the world, that we are into power grabs and exploitation rather than stewardship?  “When the cat’s away the mice will play,” we say. So why is the Big Cat away?
 
However, the parable does not stop there. It goes on. The vineyard owner does act and the tenants are removed. The jig is finally up! Accountability at last!! Then amazingly the landlord does it all over again and new tenants are set up! We can presume that once again the landlord becomes absent. Why does he do this? What if the reason why the landlord is away is to give the tenants a full taste of responsibility? What if it is so that the tenants can learn trust by becoming trustworthy?
 
Jesus came to teach us how to become trustworthy; that the greatest force in the entire world was love. That love was greater than power or control. Human beings could become friends, caring for each other. When wrong was done, instead of resorting to law, Jesus counseled to settle before going to law. He taught that forgiveness was the route to healing not resentment. Instead of trying to control outcome Jesus taught us to live by faith. He taught us that life was a gift, not a right. He counseled us against retributive justice, such as “an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth” and told us instead to love our enemies, to do good to those who have hurt us. He told us that gentle people would inherit the earth. He said that people who hungered and thirsted to see right prevail, rather than be involved in power games would be satisfied. He told us that the merciful would have mercy shown to them, that the pure in heart would see God. Those who made peace would be called the sons and daughters of God. That if we were persecuted for the cause of right, ours would be the Kingdom of Heaven.
 
(These values were the keystone values of trustworthiness that the builders of Christ’s day rejected in their construction of the human project. However, on Easter Day, the landlord returned in Power and reaffirmed these Keystone values by resurrecting the man who taught them. Then he returned to being an absentee Landlord once again. Why was this?)
 
Tom Peters tells the story of Preston Trucking. He says that Preston Trucking was like all the other trucking companies: management knew all the answers, no matter that a manager had seven years experience and the driver 20. In 1978, Will Potter arrived as CEO of Preston and announced that management was the problem! Paul Sims believed him and stuck around to try this new approach. It was an approach of trust. Sims began to post revenues and load averages and called the drivers in. he would show them their productivity for the day. After awhile the drivers got enthusiastic, but Sims ended up totally involved from 4: 30 am until 6 pm daily. He was killing himself at this frantic pace and he knew it. So he had three keys made and when the morning shift checked in he put the three sets of keys down on the table. The morning shift asked; “What are the keys for?” “So you can unlock the door,” said Sims. “What, are you not going to be here?” they asked. Sims said: “No, I can’t handle 4:30 to 6. It’s killing me.” They asked: “What if we have a problem?” “ Solve it.” said Sims. “What if we can’t?” “Here is my number at home. Call me.” “YOU TRUST US?” “I would not have made these keys if I did not,” Sims replied. These truckers could not believe it and Preston Trucking prospered.
 
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “Trust men and they will be true to you. Treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.” I wonder if this is not why God is an absentee landlord? I wonder if this is not why Christ gave us the keys to the Kingdom?
 
Isn’t it God’s greatest hope that if God trusts us we will be true to God? That if we are treated greatly that we will show ourselves great? That if we implement the keystone values of trust, love, mercy and forgiveness in our marriages, grace in our relationships, in our place of work that we will transform the world?
 
Isn’t that why Christ died? Because knowing the worst about us, he preferred to trust us rather than give up on us. It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the Keystone. Keystone values will transform us from tenants to stewards. It is wonderful that the keys are in our hands because God chooses to trust us. A God of Love would not have it any other way! Whom can we trust? God.
 
 

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