Young Man: “Are you a preacher?”
A few minutes later the young man approaches me again…Me: “Yes, I’m the Priest from the Greek Orthodox Church on Cashua.”
Young Man: “Where?”
Me: “You know….the Church across from CreekRats.” His friend new exactly where that was…
Young Man: “I don’t know where that is.”
Me: “Where do you go to Church on Sundays?”
Young Man: “###Church.”
Me: “Where is that?”
Young Man: “I don’t know. On Palmetto I think.”
Me: “But you go right? So do you know where it is?”
Young Man: “I don’t know where it is. I don’t drive.”
Me: “Oh, as long as you go.”
Young Man: “So what is the Greek Orthodox Church?”Me: “The original Church. You know…before Baptists and Protestants. The first Church that the Apostles started.”
Young Man: “What’s the difference.” This is a question I always get more often than who am I.
Me: “Well, in a nutshell….” And I spent about two minutes explaining that all the other Churches are in some way changes to the original but that the Greek Orthodox Church hadn’t changed ever.
Young Man: “I’ll have to stop by some time.”
Me: “Please do. You are welcome to come anytime.” And we parted ways but not before saying a polite goodbye.
I have conversations like this almost every day but what made this one stick out was that I was working on today’s sermon. That’s when it occurred to me that this morning’s Gospel is actually the answer I should have given the young man.
Our Lord begins, “There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.” (Matthew 21.33) This in essence is the answer to this young man’s question. The Orthodox Church is the vineyard planted by God and we have been given the Church, as a gift, until He returns.
This gift we call the Church has a very long and grand history. The Church was established by God in the Garden of Eden when He created humanity. When He originally created humanity, it was His desire for us to live in total communion with Him but we fell short. Almost immediately, humanity fell to temptation in the Garden and the rest of history is the story of God’s rescue mission to restore us to our original glory: to live in communion with God.
And I bet you thought the Church was started only 2000 years ago by the Apostles. I even used those same words with the young man I was speaking with the other day. But in fact, the Church was started by God in the Garden long before Peter and Andrew the rest of the Apostles met Jesus Christ. That’s what makes this morning’s Gospel so amazing. Just listen to this…
“Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.” (Matthew 21.34-36) These servants were the Holy Prophets and Righteous of the Old Testament. Despite every effort they were unable to rescue the fruit from the vineyard. The fruit is us, humanity – men and women, which God has been trying to save ever since the devil tricked us in the Garden of Eden.
The Lord continues with the parable: “Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.” (Matthew 21.37) And we all know what they did to His Son! And STILL God didn’t give up trying to save us. “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their season.” (Matthew 21.41)
That’s where we come in! Ever since God started the Church as His mission to save humanity from death, He has never given up nor forgotten us. Even after they killed His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, God never stopped trying to save us from death. We, Orthodox Christians, have been given the vineyard to care for until His returns. What an awesome gift! We have inherited something priceless from the Jews, the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God has been described in many ways by Christ: A field of seeds; a mustard seed; leaven; hidden treasure, a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, a fishing net, a king who wants to settle accounts, a landowner who went to hire laborers for his field, a king who arranged for the marriage of his son, a man traveling in a far country. (Matthew 13.24-52, 18.23, 20.1, 22.2, 25.14) Do you see what a great inheritance we have? The Church is the Kingdom of God in all these ways and we have been given the gift of taking care of it until He returns and finally we are saved from death.
If the Church is the vineyard, then WE are the fruit and just like any other vine we have to be watered and nurtured so we can produce good sweet fruit. Jesus says to the Jews, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it.” (Matthew 21.43) Just think of what this gift really means.
Throughout human history, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3.23) And still God never stopped, He never gave up, He never let our sins get the best of us. He continued, and still continues to today and will continue until He returns, with His mission to rescue us from death. Saint Paul really set the record straight when he said, “God has passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3.25-26)
Faith is the only thing God asks from us. Not “do-nothing” faith but active faith. All the images Jesus gives for the Kingdom of God are active images: a working king, fishing net, a traveling man. None of these images suggests that our faith is lazy. We are a vineyard and if we are going to bear fruit for God we have to work! But at what?
We must cultivate our fruit – the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5.22) If we are going to bear fruit for God we must cultivate these traits in our lives and we only have until God returns to produce fruit!
Don’t be afraid my dear brothers and sisters. We human beings have been making mistakes for thousands of years and we will continue to make mistakes. I know I have made more than my share of mistakes. But God is good and He will never give up on us.
So the next time someone asks you what the Orthodox Church is remember…we are God’s vineyard – the Kingdom of God, and we have been given this great inheritance…are we lucky or what?
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