Sermons & Meditations

Isaiah 42:10-16; Matthew 22:1-14
Presented October 9, 2011, by Joel Kline
The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

You and I live in a time when increasing numbers of people in our society and world dismiss the church as irrelevant. Some find themselves drawn to the life and example of Jesus, but sadly perceive the church to have precious little to do with the way of life Jesus came living and proclaiming—a way of living characterized by self-giving love and servanthood, compassion and mercy, justice and peace, forgiveness and grace beyond measure. You may remember hearing that Mahatma Gandhi, that great leader of a nonviolent movement in India, once remarked that Christians seem to be the only people who fail to recognize just how deeply was Jesus committed to the ways of nonviolence and peacemaking.

Sad—isn’t it?—that many who claim to follow Jesus little emulate his thirst for justice, peace, compassion, and right living. Rather than prodding one another to consider whether they are willing to follow Jesus, all too many Christian traditions place focus instead upon right belief, urging their members to question, What do I believe about Jesus? In his book The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus Peter Gomes asserts, “It is easier to talk about Jesus than it is to talk about what Jesus talked about!” It is easier to focus on doctrinal issues than on Christian discipleship, but in the process the content of Jesus’ message is all too frequently ignored, if not fully lost.

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Isaiah 5:1-7; Matthew 21:33-46
Presented October 2, 2011, by Joel Kline
The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

In Hebrew literature the image of a vineyard is frequently used to speak of Israel, the community of God’s people. In this morning’s lesson from Isaiah, chapter 5, for example, a love song is being sung to the vineyard, a love song underscoring how deeply the landowner, God, cares for and has tended the land, digging and clearing the area of stones, planting choice vines in the soil. But the tenor quickly shifts from love song to lament, as the poet notes that the land, intended to yield lush grapes, instead yields only wild grapes. Concludes the prophet, “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are God’s pleasant planting; [yet] God expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry” (5:7).

These are powerful words reminding us that faith and transformation go hand in hand. The ancient Israelites lost sight of this fundamental truth, in the process allowing violence and bloodshed to replace justice; instead of living rightly and compassionately, instead of embracing their partnership with God, the people turned a deaf ear to the cries of the poor and the oppressed in their midst. The vineyard’s vision had become blurred; no longer did the people take hold of their high calling, to be the light of the world and to give witness to a new reality, life in God’s realm. The people ignore what Isaiah, later in his writings, affirms as Israel’s call, “to blossom and put forth shoots, and fill the whole world with fruits” of justice, compassion, peace, and right living (see Isaiah 27:6).

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