Twenty seventh Sunday of the Year: Giving God his Due (Matthew 21:33-43)

Two brothers went treat-or-tricking and collected some eggs. The elder said to his younger brother, "I will give you one dollar if you let me break three eggs on your head." The little boy knew it was going to be a painful experience, but because he needed the dollar he agreed. The bigger boy then went on to break an egg on his brother's head. His brother took it with an "Ouch!" Then he broke the second egg on his little brother's head. This time it really hurt and his little brother cried out in pain. But the young lad was determined to get his dollar. So he braced himself for the third and last egg, but his senior brother walked away laughing. "Come on, bring on the third egg," said the little boy. "Nope!" said the bigger brother, "I don't wanna lose my dollar."

One could dismiss the story as kids playing pranks, but there is something more serious going on here. It is called breach of contract. We are talking about the sense of responsibility, the recognition that every privilege we enjoy comes with a price tag. Like the big brother in our story, some people go about trying to take advantage of others, of the society, and even of God. We see that in the parable of the rebellious farm managers in today's gospel, who enjoy the benefits that accrue to them as managers but withhold the benefits that should go to the landowner. Think of the story that was in the media some time back about some Nigerian women who seized the facilities of an oil drilling company complaining that these companies enrich themselves from their land without giving back anything to the owners of the land. Today's gospel calls for responsibility and accountability in our dealings with God, which include our dealings with our fellow human beings.

Jesus directed the parable at the Jewish leadership of his day. The parable has a lot to teach us about stewardship. As such it has very important lessons for church leaders in particular but also for all of God's people in general. We all have at least received life from God. Life is given to us in trust. We are expected to cultivate and manage this life in such a way that it bears good fruit - fruit that we can present to God the owner of our lives on the day of reckoning.

The parable teaches us a lot about God and how God relates to us. First we see the PROVIDENCE of God. "There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower"(Matthew 21:33a). Before God entrusts a responsibility to you, He makes provision for all that you will need in carrying out the responsibility.

"Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country" (verse 33b). This shows God's TRUST in us. God does not stand looking over our shoulders, policing us to make sure we do the right thing. God leaves the job to us and goes on vacation to a far country, so to say. God trusts that we will do the right thing. Unfortunately many of us don't. The story also highlights God's PATIENCE with us. God sends messenger after messenger to the rebellious managers who would not render to God what is His due. With each messenger, God provides another chance for us to put an end to rebellion and do the right thing. Finally there comes a last chance. God plays His last card and sends His only son. If we miss this last chance, then we've missed it. In the end we see God's JUDGMENT in which rebellious humanity lose their very lives, and their privileges are transferred to others who are more promising. The picture is that of a provident, trusting, patient, but also just God.

From this we can learn a lot about ourselves and how we stand in relation to God. First we see human PRIVILEGE. Like the managers of the vineyard, everything we have is a privilege and not a merit. This is what we mean when we say that everything is God's grace. Grace is unmerited favour. Another word for this is privilege. Life itself is a privilege which can be taken away from any of us at any moment. Privilege comes, however, with RESPONSIBILITY. We are ultimately responsible and accountable to God for the way we use or abuse our God-given privileges. God has given us all that we need to make a judicious use of all our privileges, yet we retain the ability to abuse them. This is called FREEDOM. The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, as it is called, is a parable on the misuse of human freedom. Let us today pray for the wisdom and the courage never to abuse our privileges but rather to make a judicious use of all the privileges and opportunities that God gives us.

Twenty Seventh Sunday of the Year: Why Worry When You can Pray? (Philippians 4:6-9)

The story is told of one of Napoleon's generals, Massena who, with his army of 18,000 soldiers besieged an Austrian town that had no defences whatsoever. The town council met to discuss how to surrender. Just then an elderly man, the dean of the town church, reminded the council that it was Easter and suggested that they hold the usual Easter services and put the problem in God's hands. The council took his advice, went to the church and rang the church bell to assemble the townsfolk for worship. Napoleon's forces heard the joyful ringing of the bells and concluded that the Austrian forces had arrived to rescue the town. Immediately, they broke camp and beat a retreat, and the town was saved.

This story illustrates what Paul is saying in today's second reading from the Letter to the Philippians. Faith in Christ affects how we face the problems of life. Whereas people who have no faith usually respond to life's problems with worry, people of faith respond to life's problems with prayer. As we can see in the story of the Austrian town, worry only makes us surrender in weakness to the challenges facing us. In prayer, on the other hand, we raise our hands to our all-loving and all-powerful Father, who is able to draw us out of the pit into which we have sunk, even if it should take a miracle to do so.

And so Paul enjoins us: "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."(Philippians 4:6). First Paul reminds us that prayer is not simply reading a shopping list of our needs before God. It also includes thanking God for the blessing of life and faith that we enjoy already ("thanksgiving") and lifting up before God all other people and their needs ("supplication"). Much of what passes for Christian prayer is too self-centred. But Christian prayer should be God-centred, just as Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's prayer. From that prayer we learn the fours components or ACTS of Christian prayer. Christian prayers is made up of A-C-T-S. "A" is for Adoration, in which we praise God for His goodness. "C" is for Contrition, in which we ask forgiveness for our failures. "T" is for Thanksgiving, in which we thank God for blessings received. And "S" is for Supplication, in which we ask God for our needs and the needs of all of God's people.

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (verse 7).This is what happens when we learn to take all our problems to the Lord in prayer. We trade our stress and worry for peace of mind. It was George Mueller who said that, "The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety."

"Beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (verse 8). The second thing Paul teaches us in this passage is that prayer is more than just praying. Prayer is not just what we do on our knees. It also includes what we think about all day long. Prayer includes what Norman Vincent Peale calls "positive thinking." A person of prayer is a person who thinks always of what is true, honourable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Paul does not ask us to spend our days thinking about our needs, our failures or what is wrong with the world, as some of us tend to do.

"Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you" (verse 9). Finally, prayer involves action. A person of prayer should be a person of action. The formula, as the saints tell us, is to pray fervently as if everything depends on God, and then to act decisively as if everything depends on us. The key to finding peace in a world of stress and distress is not worry but prayer, thinking positively, and doing what is right We start here now in church with prayer, we leave church and continue with positive thoughts, and we follow it up with doing the right thing. That way, the peace of God will be with us.