Get the Picture?

Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, Virginia
Proper 22, Year A
October 4, 2020
 
When we moved into our house a little over a year ago, our master bath came equipped with one of those special kind of mirrors that pulls out from the wall and gives you a really magnified view of your face.  I have never been one to stare at myself in the mirror.  I give it glance as I brush my teeth and hair, but that is about it.  But this special mirror captured me - and scared me a little.  It is like being at the fun house at a carnival.  While the image is not distorted, it is so magnified beyond what I can see in a regular mirror. Wrinkles are like canyons. Pores are look like moon craters.  Eyebrows look like strands of pasta.  I prefer to see myself at a safe distance, so I do not use that mirror on my side of the vanity.
 
Even so, the close-up mirror has proven useful.  Looking at a spot on my nose, I decided it needed to be seen by someone who knows about skin, and sure enough it was cancerous and had to be removed.  Now, I can find my little scar in that close-up mirror, and admire the handiwork of a skilled surgeon.  It is a visible receipt of good health insurance.   
 
Perhaps you can see where this is going.  Pun intended.  The whole progression of today’s lessons is meant to give us a clear look at ourselves in relationship with God.  The ten commandments, as presented give us law to follow: a clue of basic behavior standards from being in community with God and one another.  If you have seen the movie, you may remember Charlton Heston as Moses, and coming down from Sinai with a super red face, and wigged out hair as representation of him having seen God.
 
St. Paul’s letter to the faithful in Philippi reminds them of the law but tells them that knowing and following Jesus is deeper and more life giving than external actions.  It is not about having the right pedigree, the right denominational affiliation, or the right political affiliation.  Instead of establishing credentials, he encourages them, and us, to go deeper, to make a leap of faith that moves us from intellectual or practical assent, to full fledged lose-yourself-in-it relationship with God in the person and work of Jesus.
 
Finally, Jesus tells a parable.  The story is like a complete review of the history of people in relationship to God.  The landowner plants a vineyard.  He knows what he is doing.  He fences it in, sets it up to make wine, and builds a little look-out tower so folks could see the whole thing in all its glory.  This is creation: the earth and all that is in it.  And it is a marvelous, nourishing, and sustaining creation.
 
Then the landowner (God) leaves it in the hands of tenants to care for it and help it thrive and produce good stuff.  When the time comes for the landowner to enjoy the benefits of his good design and fruitful harvest, he sends his people to collect the bounty.  Much to his chagrin, the tenants beat up one guy, kill the next guy, and stone the last guy.  Seeing their disrespect for what they have been given and their refusal to honor the one that gave them the place to tend in the first place, he sends his own son to straighten them out.  But the tenants still refuse to do the right thing.  The throw the son out of creation and kill him.
 
Remember that Jesus is in the Temple and he is speaking to the Pharisees.  Pharisees are the religious leaders, scholars, and uptight score keepers.  Jesus asks them what that landowner should do, and their response is sharp and direct.  An eye for an eye.  The landowner should kill them and get some honest folks to do his work.
 
Then comes the twist.  Jesus points them past their notion some sort of redemptive violence.  Instead of all that, he holds up the mirror, tells them that they are the wicked tenants.  He tells them that the Kingdom of God will be given to folks who embrace the one they reject – Him.  Instead of giving them what they deserve, he tells them that what is deeper than all of their laws and competitive piety is a loving and fruitful relationship with God.
 
Naturally, they are upset.  Jesus challenges their self-styled superiority, opening the door for them folks to drop their preconceived notions, break up their exclusive club, and get right with the generous and loving One who includes, accepts, and welcomes all comers. Rotten Pharisees, boy, does Jesus expose them for who they are.
 
Not so fast.  A parable is a picture.  Like any picture we are given, we must look for where we are in the scene.  How do we look?  Are we busted for assuming that we have everything right?  Are we busted for thinking of creation as something we possess?  Are we really going to labor under the assumption that we have what we have because we earned it?  Creation is given.  Whatever we make of it, we make out of what we have been given.  Even the scientific record affirms that out of nothing, everything came into being.  It is the Creator’s gift.  We are all tenants.  What will we do with what we are given? 
 
Today, whether we like it or not, Jesus holds up the magnifying mirror.  And if we look carefully, honestly, and faithfully, there are plenty of blots and blemishes.  God knows that about us.  It is good for us to see that as clearly as possible.  What Jesus shows us is that God doesn’t throw us out because we flop and fail.  Instead, God takes the broken pieces that we are, and builds something new and beautiful.  Creation is not finished.
 
Here is the challenge.  It is so easy for us to look past the magnifying mirror of ourselves and find what is wrong about others.  There is no shortage of opinion, vitriol, violence, and corruption in the bigger and wider pictures we see, share, and create.  And we are almost hard wired to fight back when challenged or threatened. 
 
Here is the opportunity.  If we listen deeply to Jesus parable, and gaze at the picture he develops, we see how to breaking the cycle of reactive destruction.  Ideas, positions and policies can be discussed and evaluated with respect and, even, disagreement.  The worth and value of each and person is not up for discussion.  The worth and value of each and every person is a given.  When we start there, we live the Way of Love.
 
Look in the mirror.  See that even up close, we are wonderfully made.  All that is in us is a miraculous blend of systems and senses.  Creation is amazing and it keeps happening.  Skin has a remarkable way of telling a story.  See the lines, folds, scars, and spots as well-earned experience.  Look in the mirror and see the person God loves and cherishes.  Looking in the mirror we see the only person we can change.   Get the picture?  Amen.