Year C Holy Week WED 2022 Valuing All

 Holy Week WEDNESDAY, 13 April 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Valuing All”

Collect: Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

2 Corinthians 1:23-2:11

But I call on God as witness against me: it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth. I do not mean to imply that we lord it over your faith; rather, we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in the faith. So I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I wrote as I did, so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice; for I am confident about all of you, that my joy would be the joy of all of you. For I wrote you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

But if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but to some extent—not to exaggerate it—to all of you. This punishment by the majority is enough for such a person; so now instead you should forgive and console him, so that he may not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. I wrote for this reason: to test you and to know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ. And we do this so that we may not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Mark 12:1-11

Then he began to speak to them in parables. ‘A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watch-tower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But those tenants said to one another, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture: 

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;* 

this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?”

We are living in strange times these days. I was speaking with another minister the other day, and as we were talking what came through in the conversation was the idea of “acceptable losses.” I was uncomfortable in the conversation, but could not put my finger on it while we were speaking. The approach being taken was one of focusing on some at the detriment of others, in other words that we can afford to lose some folks. Now, to be fair, this person’s background was in the military, where the idea of acceptable losses is S.O.P., Standard Operating Procedure. We NEVER have that luxury in the Church. We seek and save all. We leave the 99 to save the 1. Not, losing 1 is fine all things considered. As I said, that is a luxury we just do not have.

This seems easier when it comes to folks that are “notorious sinners” as the prayer book calls some. But when it gets really hard is when we have to deal with the person who claims Christ, believes they are following Christ, but sows division and dissent amongst the flock.

St. Paul wrestled with that. And he gave clear instructions to the church in Corinth about working with the one sowing division. It is early these Wednesday mornings, so you may not have paid attention to the details. 

Paul is writing to the church because someone has come in and said something about Paul, undermining his work. Division rose up. Do we trust Paul, or this other one? Paul said he wrote, tears flowing, not to make more trouble, but to call people back to love. And then he went further. Love this other person, love them all the more. If you forgive them, I forgive them, too! His aim is Joy, not division. His means is love, and calls the church to call the one spreading dissent back to love. St. Paul knew that in the body of Christ, we need all the body parts. He wrote this metaphor about the Body of Christ in his other letter to them, so it is appropriate to apply it here. Paul valued even those who badmouthed him, and sought a way to keep them in the fold.

Jesus tells a story of value. Our actions tell the truth about us. Tenants held a vineyard, and owed rent. Messengers were sent again and again, calling them to do what is right. But here, even here, we see that the tenants value the stuff more than their doing what is right, what they had agreed to do. And finally, in desperation and hoping to make the greatest impact, the owner sent his son. “They will respect my son,” the owner said. But again, the owner valued the autonomy of the tenants, giving them yet another opportunity to do the right thing. But alas, their values did not align with the owner’s values and they killed the messenger and heir, showing their true colors.

We never have the luxury to write anybody off. Grace leaves a door open. When we get slapped, we turn the other cheek. When forced to walk a mile, we walk a second. Friends, no one ever said that taking up our cross and following in the way of Jesus would be easy. Far from it. But what Jesus did say was that it was the way of Life.

We value every soul entrusted to our care. And who are those souls? Everyone you meet. We value every opportunity to love and share love. We value forgiveness and redemption, which means we must forsake pettiness, resentment, or holding a grudge. Who do you need to forgive? Who do you need to invite back into the fold? God help us as we follow Jesus, especially in this. If we do, maybe we can understand better when Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Amen.