All or Nothing – Really?
First Congregational Church – Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
21st Sunday after Pentecost – World Communion Sunday
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.
[Texts: Philippians 3:4b-14/Matthew 21:33-46]

The last weeks and months have left us as witnesses to something not seen since the 1930s and before that, the 19th century – a financial panic. The specter of a “great depression” loomed over us. Lawmakers, elected officials, financial regulators and many other folks worked feverishly to stave off, or at least mitigate, this crisis. It appears, at least for the moment and at a huge cost, to be on its way to a resolution. So, what do we have now? Is it all or nothing – really?

What caused all of this? I am sure that economists and others will argue for years, but the buzz on the street and in the election year debates, for once, is accurate in the core assessment. What caused this situation, at root, was greed. The desire to have it all became the overwhelming motive for many folks. For some reason financial folk and ordinary folk alike had allowed themselves to forget the principle of the greater or the common good and worked to get it all. It was a perfect illustration of what happens when the moral compass is turned off (and stowed for many) in a free market economy. If our system is to work, there must be a collective conscience, and understanding of the common good and a commitment to follow it and live by it. The media has shown us what happens when we ignore the common good and collective conscience or when it fails.

Matthew’s Gospel points us to that same reality in the story of the vineyard owner and tenants. Jesus is really allegorizing the history of Israel – and for that matter human history – as he lays out the relationship between the owner (God) and the tenants (Israel/humanity). God wants the tenants to do well and to make – and enjoy – the wine of life by living appropriately. Instead they (we) get the idea that a different contract is in force and that there is no obligation to heed or to honor the owner. (There is a film I’m not going to go see by a certain so-called comedian who has decided to take his anti-faith screed to the big screen. Nevertheless, that such a film was even made and believers reduced to the level of bigots and loons says more about his position then it does of us. I won’t condemn him, just pray for him, because he must be a miserable individual.) Servants (prophets) come and are met with rejection and even death. The owner finally sends his son and the greed is such that they’re not content with being tenants, wanting it all, they kill the son. Now they can have the inheritance – tenant has become owner. No so, because they’re thrown out and miss the ultimate reward.

When Jesus quotes Scripture to his hearers, he uses their own faith as evidence against them. It’s no different today. We are still the tenants and God is the owner. What we have is merely temporary and, as the old saying goes, you can’t take it with you. I remember an incident my dad once told me. He was an optician and a rather well off gentleman came in and bought the cheapest pair of glasses he could get. My father made a comment about being concerned for one’s eyes and being willing to do what it took to preserve them. The man said that he’d rather save his money and my dad dropped the comment about not taking it with you. The man looked at my dad and said, straight-faced, “Traveler’s Cheques.” As he turned away, dad said quietly, “I didn’t know they came in asbestos.”

The point becomes, how do we then live? God – the vineyard owner – has shown us by generosity toward us. God has given us the gift of creation and the gift of life itself. We, in turn, are called to be equally generous in our response to God, to the work of Christ’s Church and to seeing to both the common good and the needs of others.

Paul told the Philippian Church that he had come to regard all things as loss because it was more important to know Christ. He is right. You can have every material good and yet be agonizing in hear and mind. The peace Christ gives, the wonder of relationship and new life he offers to us is beyond value. Like Paul and many others, we should press on toward the goal “for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

So many folks fall into the trap of all or nothing. The way Jesus offers us is to understand when we give it all that we get it all. To live life in unselfish love, with an eye to others, caring for others really gives us all. When we understand that, really, we have nothing, that everything is a gift and live in response to that gift – well, we have it all.

Each time we come to the Lord’s Table we have a graphic reminder of the life of One who poured himself out so that we may have it all. So, today I invite you to come to this table and receive what you are, renew the relationship which leads to life, to peace, to having it all – really. Then, go forth from this place to live what you have received, to share it, to renew and transform the world around you by having it all as though you have nothing at all.