베델 크리스천교회 10월 4일 (성령강림 후 제18주) 예배 영상, Sermon Summary (English)

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10월 4일 주일예배 영상입니다.

메시지: 우리는 모두 동료입니다 We work as partners (마태복음 21장 33-46절) – 김백희 목사

이곳에 오신 모든 분들을 환영합니다. 샬롬.

 

 

Bethel Christian Church – Sunday Sermon (October 4, 2020) 

We work as partners. (Matthew 21:33-46) by Baek Hee Kim

 

  • Wineries in Napa Valley, California
    • I’ve lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, which has so many fascinating places to visit. One of my favorites is Napa, California. Napa or so-called Napa Valley, has hundreds of wineries. The wineries have good landscapes, and the vineyard is so beautiful. Some wineries made me feel like I am in the garden of heaven.
    • In the Bible, the vineyard usually symbolizes heaven, God’s kingdom, or the land/people of Israel. God planted it and cared about it so well with the expectation of good fruits. So, when I read today’s scripture, I just thought of the wineries in Napa Valley. In today’s text, the vineyard in today’s text is supposed to be a peaceful and harmonious place with good products.
  • Song of the bloody land
    • However, today’s story does not end happily. The landowner, a wealthy farmer, planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits.
    • The farmhands grabbed the servants beat them up and killed some of them. They did the same when the absentee landowner sent other servants one more time. Finally, the owner sent his son, he thought, “They will respect my son.” But the tenant farmers killed him.
    • A Korean New Testament scholar Dr. Tae Cho wrote an article about today’s scripture. The title of the article is “Song of the Bloody Land.” The vineyard should be a peaceful, harmonious, and beautiful place, but it eventually became a bloody land.
  • Break up a partnership and Violence
    • Managing a vineyard presupposes partnerships between the owner and the farmers (although there is a hierarchical relationship b/w the landowner and the farmers). Partners know their roles, are faithful to their roles, and work together toward a shared purpose. But the tenant farmers broke up the partnership with their greed. The greed to have everything without paying the owner’s portion. The greed to exclude the owner and to think they were the owners of the vineyard.
    • In many places, the Bible calls Israel as the covenantal partner with God. And Desmond Tutu, Archibishop of the Episcopal Church of RSA, says that God does not work without us, and we cannot work without God. We are invited as partners to foster God’s kingdom in harmony, beauty, and peace. The behavior of the landowner, who had been extremely patient, was ultimately the act of trying to maintain a partnership. But the answer from the farmers was violence and greater violence.
    • What kind of violence have we experienced? What kind of violence did we use? And what is the violence which destroys partnership between God and us, or among us?
  • The cross of reconciliation and the cross of many faces
    • In my ordination service, I received two gifts: one is the cross of reconciliation, and the other is the cross of many faces. These two crosses symbolize the core messages of Jesus’ ministry, such as peace, reconciliation, unity, inclusiveness, harmony, and working together.
    • God called and gathered us, who have different faces, together to form a beautiful vineyard. Are we disciples who are good partners to make beautiful and healthy vineyard? Or are we the ones who make the bloody land? I pray that each of us will be the one who makes this land heavenly through cooperation, reconciliation, and harmony, not violence. Sometimes, we are weak and evil, but I believe that God will give us the strength to do our roles well.