Today is World Communion Sunday, and in a short while we will be joined together sharing in a service dedicated to commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples. This is the Sunday that has been set aside each year by most of the world’s active worshiping Christian communities to celebrate our unity. Though there are differences in each of our worshiping communities, yet we are still united in our dedication to following the teachings of Jesus. Each one of us is encouraged to freely engage in our thoughts and responses to the stories that have been passed down to us throughout the ages.
Our reading this morning from the Gospel of Matthew is known by many as the Parable of the vineyard. Jesus is continuing to engage both his followers and the chief priests and the Pharisees. Parts of this Parable are very easy to inteperate; the vineyard is either the Promised Land or the entire earth, the landowner is God, the slaves sent to collect the produce are the prophets, and the son is Jesus.
As to who are the tenants, that’s a different question. They can be seen as all of humanity, all of the Israelites, or maybe they are to be seen as the chief priests and the Pharisees.
However they are seen, Jesus is once again giving them a chance to see the reality of the consenquences for their actions in the past and the choices they have for their future. We are called upon by our Creator to remember that we do not own this world forever. Rather we are here but for a short time as the “care takers” of God’s creation.
How would we answer the question possed by Jesus? Would we be as blood thirsty and sanctamonious as the chief priests and elders? When we believe that someone has sinned, do we always demand that they be punished or do we really believe that forgiveness is possible for anyone? If we believe that we are worthy of compassion and forgiveness, than why would we not accept and believe that compassion and forgiveness is available to all?
And so we hear the words that Jesus spoke to those who would not allow forgiveness to be extened to others, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”[1]
In Paul’s letter to the faithful community in Philippi, we heard how much Paul desires to become like Jesus. But what does it mean when an individual says that they want to become like Jesus? This seemingly simplistic statement is in reallity an extremely complex one with an almost endless maze of possible courses of actions and desires.
Was it Paul’s true desire to be rejected by the religious authority to the point of being arrested, beaten, and crucified so that in three days he would also be resurrected? Or was Paul truly encouraging others to be more deeply embracing of the teachings of Jesus? Maybe Paul really desired to become an even more encouraging, loving, healing, embracing, and humble teacher. Or could it be that Paul’s true desire was to become a confrontational prophet, speaking out against those who claiming to be the true agents of God’s judgements? Is it also possible that Paul had a vision of some combination, of a few or many, of the other terms which could be used to discribe the life and the actions of Jesus?
I believe that Paul was a man gifted with a clear vision of the task of helping all of our brothers and sisters to return to the loving embrace of our Creator. We are called not to being set apart so that we may be considered special, rather we are called to action. We are called to help bring our brothers and sisters back into the loving embrace of the family of God. It is never the desire of a truly loving family to create or enforce isolation. Rather a loving family truly wants to remain fully connected to each other and richly healthy.
Jesus came to remind us of the truth, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that eveyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”[2] 
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