After the son is killed Jesus asks "Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They respond, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
Odd this should be their response for a number of reasons. Within the parable the owner does not send those who would inflict miserable death after the second set of servants die. Do they think the owners spirit would change or believe something fundamentally has changed in the tenants spirit and violence that they would not treat his son in the same way as the slaves he has already sent?The second reason this is an odd response is the tag to the parable: "When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet. So if they think of this as him speaking about them they are providing a judgment that is against them. If they saw themselves as the owner of the vineyard I don't see why they would want to arrest Jesus for a parable that reinforces their perspective.
When we listen to the response Jesus gives, where he sides is made rather explicitly, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 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. 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. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
Their response of the owner inflicting miserable death is not amazing but rather comes from a common perception of how human authority is wielded.
We sang Canticle of the Turning as the Sending Song. This is a song details a world where God's authority is the cornerstone. This continues to be the Lord's doing and those who are not "crushed by the falling of the stone" will recognize it.
For Adult Forum we watched and discussed our reactions to Rob Bell's nooma called She.
Pastor Ray exploring how those gathered reacted to feminine language and images of God. From the response there did not seem to be anyone close-minded about feminine language and images of God (which did not surprise me given Creator's past and current theology although I have wondered what differences there would be not having a woman pastor here). One detail I noticed is that Pastor Ray does not wear an alb. While some might put this down to personal preference or that it is a generational preference, I think woman might wear an alb more because of the affirmation of authority others may see in it.
Back to Rob Bell's video - personally I was surprised by what we watched and what it evoked in me.
Rob Bell told a story about encountering geese when he was riding his bike. When he tried to intimidate them to continue his bike ride he is confronted with the biggest goose "hissing"which he describes as "a truly satanic noise".
He tried to make the connection that a mother protects and nurtures her children the way this "mother goose" was and implying, to my ear, this is at the very least different, if not above and beyond how a father protects and nurtures children.
This struck as something more fundamental than openness to feminine associations of God. I was also made aware that my feeling of not directly apprehending God in the physical world was understood by some as something within me to address which might have come from the way I experienced my mother and father.
An interesting perspective to I will surely explore.
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