March 15, 2020 - Jesus Gives Us Love to Share - Mark 12:1-17

Jesus Gives Us Love to Share

Mark 12:1-17

Lent 3 – March 15, 2020

“Parable of the Tenants”

Do you remember the old Seinfeld episode where Elaine goes to use the bathroom, and while she’s in there, she realizes – too late! – that there is no toilet paper in her stall? She asks the woman in the stall next to hers if she can have some of her toilet paper, but the other woman refuses. “I don’t have a square to spare!” she says, then finishes up and leaves the room, leaving Elaine stranded. (If not, click play below!)

I don’t remember much of the rest of the episode, but at the end of it, Elaine has identified her nemesis and hears her announce that she has to use the restroom, so Elaine races to beat her into the bathroom and takes all of the toilet paper out of one of the stalls and occupies the other one – and when the other woman asks her for some toilet paper, Elaine gleefully says, “No, I’m afraid I don’t have a square to spare!” and she races out of the bathroom, both arms full of toilet paper rolls, having enacted her revenge.

It's a funny scene on TV – but we’ve been seeing some similar behavior lately all around us, haven’t we? Knowing that we may well be socially distancing for quite a while, fearing that what is currently voluntary may become mandatory, people have raced to buy up toilet paper to have a fully stocked house. People who maybe didn’t need it grabbed up some extra – feeling, perhaps, that they just can’t spare a square – and leaving others who genuinely need such a basic necessity, maybe because they can’t afford to buy more than what they need at any given time, desperately looking for the one store that may have some in stock so they won’t run out.
The same has been true of hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes and who knows what else. I’ve been seeing stories all over social media from all over the country with picture after picture of empty shelves. (I will say that in my shopping runs, though I have seen empty shelves, I’ve mostly seen patient and pleasant people, not panicked and persnickety ones.)

We all just want to make sure that we have enough to cover our families’ needs in this unprecedented time when so much is uncertain. But our fear of not having enough is actually kind of causing the scenario where there isn’t enough to go around because people are not leaving enough for those who are unfortunate enough to come behind them.

I think there is some resonance with the reading from the gospel today. It’s not a 1:1 equivalent, of course. To set the scene, Jesus is talking to the chief priests, elders, and scribes, in the temple in Jerusalem. In the timeline of the Bible, this is Holy Week already. Jesus had entered triumphantly to cheers and shouts of “Hosanna!”; he’s turned over the money changers’ tables; he’s already gotten into it with the religious leaders over his authority. So now he tells them a parable about a vineyard and a vineyard owner. (You may remember a story that starts almost exactly the same way, from Isaiah 5, which we read in Advent). Only in this parable, the vineyard owner carefully plants the vineyard, and puts a fence around it, digs the pit for the wine press, and builds the watchtower – and then he leases it to tenants (kind of like an ancient form of sharecroppers) and goes away to another country.

At the harvest time, he sends his slaves to go and get his share of the produce – but the tenants refuse. Each slave that comes is mistreated: beaten, insulted, killed, until finally the landlord sends his beloved son, mistakenly thinking that they will treat him with respect and give him the father’s due. (I have issues with this parable, because the whole system seems unfair: pitting the tenants against the slaves while the landowner stays far away from the fray; but that’s probably a discussion to have at Bible study!)

At any rate, the tenants see the heir and see their chance! Perhaps they thought that the son was coming because the father had died and so was coming to collect his inheritance – and the rule of the land back then was if there was no heir, the people residing on the land would become the owners. (There’s no way to know for sure, but might explain their thinking.) So they seize the son, kill him, and throw him out of the vineyard!

And Jesus asks (and answers) – “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

Now, this story has been used down through the centuries by Christians to denigrate the Jewish people, basically interpreting it to mean that the ancient Jews had screwed up their opportunity as God’s chosen people and God had taken that special relationship and given it to the Christians. This is a dangerous mis-interpretation of what is going on here! The underlying point is more about the ways that God calls God’s people (Jewish or Christian) to live in relationship with God and each other – and how we all seem to mess that up. We don’t want to give to God what belongs to God; we want to hoard and hold on to the blessings we have received, and to heck with everyone else, forgetting that all we have comes from God in the first place and that we are called to be stewards and managers, not owners.

This is something we all fall prey to. Especially in times like these, when the world as we know it is swirling in chaos and there is no way to predict the future with certainty, we are inclined to hold tightly to what we have and grasp for even more and let everyone else fend for themselves. It’s survival instinct.

Yet, as people of faith, we know that we are called to more. We know that we are called to be different! We proclaim that God has sent God’s beloved son, Jesus, into the world to reveal the depth of God’s love for us – Love that is willing to die for us! It is a love that is stronger than fear, than chaos, even than death. It is love that rises from the empty tomb, love that gives us hope even in such anxious times as this.

It is this love that calls us together as God’s people – even while we are socially distancing from the world! We are united even in our absence from one another, knowing that God loves us and blesses us and calls us to be blessings to the world. Right now, that looks like keeping to ourselves physically in order to slow the spread and to care for the most vulnerable in our church and communities – but that doesn’t mean that we don’t reach out to one another (in the congregation and in other relationships and even with strangers) in other ways. As we go through these weeks ahead, we will need each other even more – please check in on your friends and neighbors and family members, especially those who are more vulnerable. If you have more than you need – please don’t hesitate to spare a square! ;) If you are healthy and younger and feel comfortable going out in the world – maybe see if your older neighbor needs some groceries when you go. If you are financially able to help those who are financially vulnerable (working in one of the many fields that is going to take a hit during this pandemic), find ways that you can give – directly or through reputable social and charitable agencies. If you have extra food, consider donating to the food pantries – because people will be in need!

When Jesus says, “Give to God the things that are God’s”, he’s not talking just about your church offering. He’s talking about our whole lives (We are made in the image of God, just as the denarius had the image of the emperor on it) lived in ways that honor God and love our neighbor. This is what people of faith can offer back to God in the days to come: our patience, our generosity, our very best selves given to each other to see us all through until we get to the other side of this.

We do this as people who remember how much we have already been given from the God who loves us and promises to be with us always. May we draw strength from this faith and from each other, and may share this love and hope with a world that is filled with anxiety and fear. Amen.