“A Beloved Vineyard”
“A Beloved Vineyard”
Year C Tenth Sunday after Pentecost August 14, 2022
Isaiah 5:1-7 Luke 12:49-56
Pastor Andy Kennaly, First Presbyterian Church, Sandpoint, Idaho
Throughout the Gospels Jesus makes a call that upsets the status quo. Indeed, the larger biblical message is often about reversals. Themes like the proud getting humbled, and the powerful unseated in favor of the lowly. Today we see the same upsetting as the intensity of Jesus’ invitation gets personal to the point of family. “The inauguration of the kingdom overturns everything else.” (Suzanne Guthrie, http://edgeofenclosure.org/proper15c.html).
One of the most popular Christian figures throughout history that lived through this type of turmoil was St. Francis of Assisi. His father owned a fabric and garment company. Francis had taken fabric from his father and sold it to give away the money. Francis saw the power of money and how destructive and seductive possessions could be. His father, Peter Bernardone, charged Francis with theft, brought a legal suit, and had the bishop hold court against his son.
Donald Spoto tells us in his book called, Reluctant Saint, that “With remarkable composure, Francis rose from his place and approached the bishop. ‘My lord,’ he said, raising his voice, ‘I will gladly give back to my father not only the money acquired from his things, but even all my clothes.’ With that, Francis slipped through a side door of the cathedral, only to appear moments later stark naked, standing before the bishop and holding out all his clothes, with a cash purse placed on top of them. The astonished bishop took the garments and the money, handing them over to the acolyte. Francis now turned to the crowd and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Until now, I have called Peter Bernardone my father. But because I have proposed to serve God, I return to him the money on account of which he was so upset, and also all the clothing which is his, and I want only to say from now on, ‘Our Father, Who art in heaven,’ and not, “My father, Peter Bernardone.” (Bernard-o-nay)
In detaching from his parents, Francis also left the affluent side of society. He chose poverty to be free from money’s ability to destroy people through delusions. He saw materialism as a divider because with money comes possession, and with things, people become defensive and violent and perpetuate divisions like borders and property, and treating other people and the Earth as objects to be used in order to make money. By leaving his family Francis chose a greater unity, one that cannot be contained by smaller categories of human design.
Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” and he goes on with his family descriptions and observations of the weather to illustrate what he shares about the present time and the peoples’ lack of discernment.
The love song in Isaiah is very similar as God creates through goodness and connection with intent and purpose, only to have that get spurned and degraded by lessor practices which bring horrific results. Though the vineyard grew on a very fertile hill, cultivated with love and care, it yielded only grapes gone wild.
These passages may sound obscure, even apocalyptic like it’s the end of the world as things are destroyed. But they are pointers of growth and development. They are commentaries on religion and politics, stories of soul language, indicators of transformation in depth of heart and renewing of mind. In Luke, the older generation is against the younger, and vice-versa. In Isaiah, God’s people have gone astray.
The fact that Jesus has come to bring division is encouraging as a sign of development in terms of consciousness. Like Spiral Dynamics and other models point to as archaic structures mutate to tribal thinking, then traditional societies form, and as these progress through modern and post-modern sensibilities, equality and justice develop. But for order to come, disorder takes place.
As created beings, people are connected to the Earth and yet with each added dimension a sense of separation comes. The process of forming an ego, an identity, with perspective and a reference point in relation to all other things has so much potential, yet can easily go haywire, like that vineyard gone wild. A healthy, translucent ego that maintains connection and finds freedom from perspectives is able to integrate all the other structures. This is nothing less than the evolution of humanity as a new species develops through adaptation, collaboration, and community.
Jesus must have felt this tension, the desire of love’s unfolding and blessing met with the frustration of worn-out paradigms as the blind lead the blind. Perhaps Isaiah did as well as the story of the vineyard shows.
Father Thomas Keating talks about this in ways that help us as a church and as individuals who also deal with complexity of culture, fragmentation of society, and the struggles of evolution of consciousness when many people in positions of power seem to drag us back into earlier stages and use authority of current structures to do this. We also see people leaving churches yet they seem very loving, socially responsible, and yet somehow church doesn’t work anymore for their lives, church in traditional forms.
Using that theme of wine, Keating says, “New wine is a marvelous image of the Holy Spirit. As we move to the intuitive level of consciousness through contemplative prayer, the energy of the Spirit cannot be contained in old structures. They are not flexible enough. They may have to be left aside or adapted. The new wine as a symbol of the Spirit has a tendency to stir people up; for that reason, the fathers of the church called it 'sober intoxication.' Although its exuberance is subdued, it breaks out of categories and cannot be contained in neat boxes.” (Contemplative Outreach August e-bulletin, https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?u=c244820d9d91f926201abfe4e&id=3308f0afcb).
“The energy of Spirit cannot be contained in old structures.” The contemplative mind learns the art of letting go to help us stay grounded in Divine Center. Suffering is part of this transition, not an end point. The world’s struggles can be a sign of spiritual growth.
As we continue to offer our hearts to God, may we be open to the unfolding of Divine Love as life is transformed. As Jesus brings fire to fulfil Baptism’s call, may we be able to find balance among opposites and live in the light of Love’s creativity. Thanks be to God for contemplation and other non-verbal ways of knowing as we are invited to trust inner experience and the Perennial Wisdom of God’s Spirit revealed through soul work, even when this is difficult and upsetting. May God help us become integrated human beings and teach us to live in new ways as we give thanks to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now, and forever. Amen.