Speaker 1: Welcome to Hill Country Homilies, weekly homilies from Holy Annunciation
Speaker 1: Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Annunciation is an
Speaker 1: old calendar Orthodox Church, sharing the faith of the apostles
Speaker 1: and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth.
Speaker 1: Now let's listen to this week's homily.
Speaker 2: In the name of the Father, and the Son, and
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit, glory to Jesus Christ. Have a seat
Speaker 2: if you wish. Now, some of you are old enough
Speaker 2: to remember when Europe was both literally and symbolically divided
Speaker 2: by a massive concrete barrier called the Berlin Wall. Others
Speaker 2: may know of it only from history. It was built
Speaker 2: in 1961 by the communist government of East Germany. And
Speaker 2: the wall stretched throughout the city of Berlin and became
Speaker 2: the most visible symbol of a world divided between liberty
Speaker 2: and totalitarianism. Families were separated, freedom of movement was restricted,
Speaker 2: armed guards stood watch to prevent people from crossing from
Speaker 2: the Soviet East to the Allied West, and many died
Speaker 2: trying to escape from one side to the other. In 1987,
Speaker 2: President Ronald Reagan stood before that wall and famously challenged
Speaker 2: the Soviet leader, demanding, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.
Speaker 2: And two years later, the wall was gone. And that
Speaker 2: which had been separated began to join together in a
Speaker 2: new era of freedom. Now, you may be wondering why
Speaker 2: I begin a homily with a story about the Cold
Speaker 2: War and the fall of communism. But the story really
Speaker 2: isn't about the fall of communism. It's about that wall
Speaker 2: and everything that it stood for. And today's gospel, likewise,
Speaker 2: begins with its own account of a wall. We all
Speaker 2: know the parable of the wicked vine dresser that was
Speaker 2: read today. A landowner plants a vineyard, entrusts it to tenants,
Speaker 2: and departs into a far country. And when the season arrives,
Speaker 2: he sends servants to collect that which is rightfully his.
Speaker 2: But his servants are beaten, they're rejected, and they're killed.
Speaker 2: More servants are sent and they suffer the same fate.
Speaker 2: And finally, the owner sends his beloved son, believing that
Speaker 2: they will respect him. For the tenants not only cast
Speaker 2: him out, they murder him as well, believing that they
Speaker 2: can then lay claim to his inheritance. And we understand
Speaker 2: clearly what the Lord is describing. The servants are the
Speaker 2: prophets whom God sent time and again to Israel, but
Speaker 2: they were rejected. And the son, of course, is Christ
Speaker 2: himself rejected again. and crucified by those who should have
Speaker 2: received him. And we also know the outcome. The unfaithful
Speaker 2: tenants are judged and the vineyard is entrusted to others
Speaker 2: who will render its fruits in due season. A prophetic
Speaker 2: image of the judgment that would befall unbelieving Israel and
Speaker 2: the calling of the Gentiles into the kingdom. Yet because
Speaker 2: these themes are so familiar to us, we often hurry
Speaker 2: straight to the crime and the punishment. But before we
Speaker 2: do so today, it's worth pausing at the beginning of
Speaker 2: the parable and asking a different question. What had the
Speaker 2: owner done for the vineyard before any of this tragedy unfolded?
Speaker 2: The gospel reading begins, there was a certain householder who
Speaker 2: planted a vineyard and hedged it round about and digged
Speaker 2: a wine press in it and built a tower and
Speaker 2: let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country.
Speaker 2: So right off, we can see that the householder who
Speaker 2: represents the father didn't just plop tenants into the middle
Speaker 2: of bare land. Instead, he carefully prepared everything that they
Speaker 2: would need to bring forth the good fruit. He planted
Speaker 2: the vineyard before the tenants were even there. He placed
Speaker 2: a hedge around it and made both a wine press
Speaker 2: and a tower. In other words, he let out his
Speaker 2: vineyard to the tenants he chose with all that they
Speaker 2: needed to flourish. The fathers of the church tell us
Speaker 2: that each of these items symbolize God's provision for the Jews.
Speaker 2: The winepress represented the altar upon which they would offer
Speaker 2: their sacrifice to Him. The tower represented the temple from
Speaker 2: which the worship of God would be given. And before
Speaker 2: any of that, we are told that He hedged it
Speaker 2: round about. That is, this entire vineyard was enclosed by
Speaker 2: the sort of thick, tall hedges that you might see
Speaker 2: in photos of royal gardens or arboretums. the entire vineyard
Speaker 2: was protected by this hedge wall. When the fathers speak
Speaker 2: of this hedge, they characterize it differently in what precise
Speaker 2: representation is intended. But to a one, they represent it
Speaker 2: in a similar manner. Blessed Theophilact, whose commentary is said
Speaker 2: to be the best mirror of the mind of the
Speaker 2: church in matters of scriptural interpretation, says that the hedge
Speaker 2: represents the law which prevented them from mixing with the Gentiles.
Speaker 2: This encompasses a literal prohibition on mixing, for instance, the
Speaker 2: bar under the Mosaic Law on intermarriage between Jews and Gentiles.
Speaker 2: But since it's evident... that the Jews and the Gentiles
Speaker 2: were in commerce regularly, the hedge is interpreted to mean
Speaker 2: not just the law of Moses, but all laws that
Speaker 2: were intended to represent and to preserve the chosen nation
Speaker 2: of God from pagan influence. So the hedge is intended
Speaker 2: to represent a protection for the tenants, for Israel. But
Speaker 2: this is the thing about walls. They can both protect
Speaker 2: and imprison. And if all things were prepared for the
Speaker 2: husband to bring forth fruit for the householder, then the
Speaker 2: fact that they slew the servants and the son tells
Speaker 2: us that something went horribly, horribly wrong. And what went
Speaker 2: wrong was the law itself, or rather its misuse. We
Speaker 2: all know that the law was given to Israel after
Speaker 2: the fall, but why was it given? The law was
Speaker 2: never to be an end to itself. It was never
Speaker 2: a path to salvation. Rather, the law was given to
Speaker 2: preserve Israel, to restrain sin and to prepare mankind for
Speaker 2: Christ and to protect the true worship of God until
Speaker 2: the coming of the Messiah. As St. Irenaeus pointed out,
Speaker 2: the purpose of the law was to prepare them for
Speaker 2: the coming of Christ. Yet the Jews remained unwilling to
Speaker 2: be subject to it. All this law erected for their protection,
Speaker 2: not from outside enemies, but from their own hard-heartedness. all
Speaker 2: this law became the seed of their destruction. Irenaeus reminds
Speaker 2: us that not only by actual transgression did they set
Speaker 2: the law of God at naught, but they also set
Speaker 2: up their own law in opposition to it, which is
Speaker 2: termed even to the present day pharisaical. And so this
Speaker 2: law that was intended for their protection, for their education,
Speaker 2: remember Paul calls the law a tutor, to bring us
Speaker 2: to Christ, and ultimately their reunion with God turned instead
Speaker 2: to a prison which separated them from their Lord, and
Speaker 2: which caused them to slay the prophets that were sent
Speaker 2: for their edification, and finally even the Son who was
Speaker 2: sent for their salvation. Walls often seem to offer protection
Speaker 2: and safety when we walk in fear of the world
Speaker 2: around us. But as Christians, we're not to fear the
Speaker 2: material world which God has made for us. We are
Speaker 2: to fear God, before whom even the angels fall down
Speaker 2: and cover their faces. And so having betrayed the very
Speaker 2: Lord who planted them in this vineyard, the tenants find
Speaker 2: themselves punished and cast out. And the vineyard is then
Speaker 2: open to new tenants who will render to the Lord
Speaker 2: the fruits that he is due. Archbishop Averke warns us
Speaker 2: not to understand this parable as being about the second
Speaker 2: coming of Christ. Rather, he speaks of it as to
Speaker 2: the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the end of
Speaker 2: the Old Testament priesthood. and the fall of the Sanhedrin
Speaker 2: scribes and the Pharisees. The new vine dressers are the
Speaker 2: apostles and their successors who become the pastors of the church.
Speaker 2: And of course, one of the first things the apostles
Speaker 2: had to deal with was the question of the law.
Speaker 2: And what was meant for those outside of Jerusalem now
Speaker 2: to be joined to Christ in his body, which is
Speaker 2: the church. Because the first Christians were Jews. They worshipped
Speaker 2: in the temple. They kept the feast. They'd been raised
Speaker 2: under the law of Moses. But as the gospel spread
Speaker 2: among the Gentiles, a great controversy emerged. Must these converts
Speaker 2: also be circumcised and keep the whole Mosaic law in
Speaker 2: order to be saved? The apostles gathered in Jerusalem, it's
Speaker 2: in Acts 15, to decide the matter. And after hearing
Speaker 2: from Peter and Paul, Barnabas and James, they concluded under
Speaker 2: the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also in Scripture, that
Speaker 2: the Gentiles were not to be placed under the yoke
Speaker 2: of the Mosaic law. Instead, they imposed only a few
Speaker 2: necessary restrictions for the sake of holiness and peace within
Speaker 2: the church. In other words, the apostles quickly recognized that
Speaker 2: the law had served a divine purpose in preparing for Christ,
Speaker 2: but that with the coming of Christ, a new stage
Speaker 2: in God's plan had become. The church was not abandoning
Speaker 2: the law as though it had been evil. Rather, she
Speaker 2: had understood that its purpose had been fulfilled in the
Speaker 2: Messiah to whom it had always pointed. And for those
Speaker 2: who protest, let us remember what St. John Chrysostom says,
Speaker 2: recollecting Paul's epistle to the Galatians, he writes of the
Speaker 2: time before Christ, the law, then it was our tutor,
Speaker 2: and we were kept shut up under it. not as
Speaker 2: an adversary, but as a fellow worker of grace. However,
Speaker 2: after the coming of Christ, continued subjugation to the law
Speaker 2: may hinder those who, like the Gentiles, seek after Christ.
Speaker 2: So Christus continues, but if when grace has come... It
Speaker 2: continues to hold us down. It becomes an adversary. For
Speaker 2: if it confines those who ought to go forward to grace,
Speaker 2: then it is the destruction of our salvation. The law,
Speaker 2: despite its intended function, in spite of its laudable intentions,
Speaker 2: became a prison for the Jews. Applied outwardly, it became
Speaker 2: a stumbling block for the Gentiles. And since no man
Speaker 2: was ever saved under the law, what place could it
Speaker 2: even have when Christ has conquered death and made for
Speaker 2: us a path to the resurrection? The apostles lay upon
Speaker 2: the faithful a few simple requirements to keep peace in
Speaker 2: the church. Christ calls us to live out two great commandments,
Speaker 2: to love God and to love our neighbor. When we
Speaker 2: put on Christ, we need to be neither imprisoned nor
Speaker 2: stumbling blocks to our brothers. We do not need a
Speaker 2: tutor when we have beheld the teacher face to face.
Speaker 2: And having said that, let us be clear in our
Speaker 2: understanding of those traditions that the church has bequeathed to us,
Speaker 2: because perhaps the greatest mistake we can make is to
Speaker 2: think that orthodox praxis is some sort of a new law,
Speaker 2: replacing the old one, just another list of rules with
Speaker 2: different content, because it's not. We fast, we pray, we
Speaker 2: keep the feasts, we make prostrations, we confess our sins,
Speaker 2: not because God needs these things, not because we can
Speaker 2: earn salvation through them, but because these are the actions
Speaker 2: of those who love God. A husband doesn't remain faithful
Speaker 2: to his wife because a law book commands it. He
Speaker 2: does so because he loves her. A child who loves
Speaker 2: his father does not ask, what is the minimum required
Speaker 2: of me, but delights in all ways to please him.
Speaker 2: In the same way, the practices of the church are
Speaker 2: not chains placed upon us, but the language of love.
Speaker 2: They are age-old examples by which love for God is learned, expressed,
Speaker 2: and deepened. If we keep them merely as legal obligations,
Speaker 2: we begin to build our own prison. We begin to
Speaker 2: plant a new hedge. But if we keep them out
Speaker 2: of our love for Christ, then they cease to be
Speaker 2: burdens and become a joy. For the Christian life is
Speaker 2: not about conformity to a code, but communion with a person.
Speaker 2: The law could command obedience, but only Christ can teach
Speaker 2: us to love. So brothers and sisters, as we depart today,
Speaker 2: let us tear down that wall of legalism that tangles
Speaker 2: so many in today's world. Let us focus ourselves on
Speaker 2: the two great commandments of love, love of God and
Speaker 2: love of neighbor. And let us embrace the praxis that
Speaker 2: we have received, not out of fear, not out of duty,
Speaker 2: but out of love for God, making our small offering
Speaker 2: of ourselves out of our own free will. And having
Speaker 2: been made sons of God, not by the law, but
Speaker 2: by faith, let us draw near to Him who has
Speaker 2: given us a promise through His incarnation, voluntary ascent upon
Speaker 2: the cross. To Him be all glory, honor, and worship
Speaker 2: of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Hill Country Homilies. For more information,
Speaker 1: visit Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church at www.AnnunciationTX.com and please join
Speaker 1: us again next week.