Killing the Messenger

Harry T. Cook

10/05/08

Matthew 21: 33-43

The text at hand is Matthew’s thinly-veiled parable of the vineyard coup d’etat wherein the owner’s emissaries are beaten, stoned and killed by his tenants and, in the end, even the owner’s son who had come to collect the vineyard crop is likewise killed. This is Matthew clearly advocating the Jesus movement over the continuing Judaism of rabbi and synagogue. The parable is almost an allegory with the figure of Jesus being represented by the owner’s murdered son. Both the emissaries and the son were envisioned as messengers bearing an unmistakable message, and it is spelled out in Matthew’s midrash on his own parable: Therefore I tell you, the domain of peace and justice will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of that domain. [I have substituted the word domain for “kingdom” and the words peace and justice for “God,” because that’s essentially what the point is.]

I say that because of the great deal Matthew makes of the ethical wisdom of Jesus, which Matthew cataloged in his own methodical way out of the oral tradition which came to him in the latter decade or two of the first century C.E. You can see the result of Matthew’s editorial work in the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of the gospel named for him – a section known as “The Sermon on the Mount.” Much of that wisdom bears upon the mandates for irenic relationships between and among people and the justice necessary for the maintenance of such relationships as each person’s dignity is respected. That constitutes the fruits Matthew mentions in his midrash – the visible, measurable results of a people’s intention. We are thus to infer that our latter-day church is to be in the same business, that we are workers in a vineyard that really doesn’t belong to us, a project in which we are stewards. That’s the message honest preachers, priests and ministers bring to their congregations. Often enough, the messenger is essentially killed for his or her trouble – actually seldom killed (if you set aside the stories of John the Baptist, Joan of Arc, Thomas a’Becket, Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.) but certainly fired, marginalized or ignored. What would it mean to have the kingdom of God, this domain of peace and justice, taken away, as Matthew indicates is the fate of a people who ignore the message and do away with the messenger?

The success stories in American Christianity today are truly amazing. Look at Joel and Victoria Osteen. When they are not allegedly assaulting flight attendants, they are presiding over a church with an average Sunday attendance of 40,000. Does that mean that the kingdom of God is resident in that huge Texas congregation and absent from our own? Is it numbers that tell the story? Or is it something else? Members of my own Clawson, Michigan, congregation will this week be helping operate a shelter for the homeless even as they begin to set plans for their mammoth Advent Giving Tree project to bring Christmas to those who otherwise wouldn’t know it as we do. Our Ministry Committee is constantly making sure that the groceries that come in our door in the hands of loving, caring people get to our soup kitchen in the central city of Detroit. I know further that members of that committee already have their eyes focused on April 5 some seven months hence when once again it will be our turn to run that soup kitchen. Others of us will from time to time take to the streets in protest of unjust and immoral wars. Yet others will respond to the mandate for peace and justice in other ways.

So I don’t think numbers tell the story. The actions of however many or few tell the story. If Matthew’s imagined Owner of this vineyard were to send emissaries or even a son or daughter to check up on us, I feel fairly certain that my congregation would pass the test. For one thing, they haven’t yet killed Harry Cook, despite enduring nearly 21 years of his incessant preaching of the peace-and-justice message.

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READERS WRITE:

Forrest Swall of Lawrence, Kansas: I loved the rant by your reader who is hoping (praying?) for your defrocking. At least he is reading and responding. Your sermons and essay continue to provide a challenge.

Patricia Tompkins: Please keep on saying what you say in spite of those who can’t bear disagreement without calling you a heretic . . . if I ever do return to Christianity, it’ll be because of you and (Bishop) Spong. Both of you respect my intelligence and my gender. Royale Hull of Sudbury, Ontario: Your emphasis on action over talking is too selective. You’ve got to profess belief something before you can act on it. What do you believe, if, as you have written (and I suppose spoken) previously, you don’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus? St. Paul was right: “If Christ be not raised, our faith is in vain and we are still in our sins.” I will continue talking by reciting the Creed every Sunday. You should, too, unless you want to wallow in your sin while you’re doing all that action. Editor’s Note: See The Epistle of James 2:17

© Copyright 2008, Harry T. Cook. All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced without proper credit.