Don’t Worry About It

Reverend Philip Stringer

Matthew 21:33-46

Philippians 3:4b-14

LET US PRAY: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Speak to our hearts with your living Word and feed us, that we may live to serve you in faith and love. AMEN

A number of years ago, a relative of mine stated that they had stopped reading the news. They noticed that they had begun spending more and more time reading about all of the bad that is happening in the world and it was casting a shadow over their whole life. It was all too overwhelming, and they felt a growing sense of hopelessness in themselves. They knew it wasn’t healthy, so they just shot off the problem.

No reading the news.

No listening to the news.

No watching the news.

And I get it. I think you do, too. It can be overwhelming — and it has to be kept in check. For my relative, the short-term solution was to cut it off altogether. But that is not a long-term solution. Burying your head in the sand may get it out of mind — but it is still there.

Today, our Scripture texts carry to us a remedy that is better than hiding away. And better than thinking that we must solve all of the problems. Today, God’s Word declares to us that all of life’s problems — all of your problems — all of the world’s problems — are dashed to pieces against the rock of Jesus and his resurrection.

So don’t worry about it.

Whatever haunts your past.

Whatever troubles you today.

Whatever is bad in this world.

Whatever troubles you about the future.

Don’t worry about it.

But don’t misunderstand me: To not worry about these things is not the same as to not care about them. To care about them, in fact, is very important. But to not worry about them changes their meaning entirely.

Jesus told a parable to the religious leaders who were challenging him. He knew that they hated him and were jealous of the respect the people had for him — they were worried about his influence and wanted to shut him up — and they had no qualms about bringing about his death to accomplish it.

The chief priests and the Pharisees were worried — and so they set about fixing the problem.

You and I do this every day — if we see a problem we start thinking about the solution; how to fix it.

As I thought about this, what came to mind for me is a problem that I have on my farm — It is a forest — but not a pristine forest. It is full of all varieties of invasive plants and animals.

The spotted lantern fly — waiting for that shoe to drop.

Kudzu down the street — Bitter Orange — keep finding it.

Weed on the hill — someone’s great idea for groundcover.

Mugwort — pull, pull, pull

In the next few weeks I’ll be meeting with foresters to plan a controlled burn. That’s one way to solve a problem — scorch the earth.

But here’s the thing: These things all help, but they will never solve the problem. I will forever be battling invasive species. My fix is not a solution.

I was thinking about the chief priests and Pharisees.

I was thinking about Jesus’ parable.

I was thinking about all the problems of the world and everything that is wrong in our lives — our relationships — ourselves.

And I think that our hearts are a lot like my forest. We can throw our energy into fixing the world’s problems and reordering our own priorities, but the truth is that we can never fix these things. We will never be done. And that would be really depressing news if it weren’t for the cornerstone of Jesus and his resurrection.

The good news in our scripture texts today SOUNDS like bad news: “The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” Jesus is talking to the chief priests and Pharisees, but he’s talking to you and me, too. And it is not a threat. It is a promise. That’s the good news!

That’s a very confusing statement — and doesn’t sound like good news at all — but here is what I mean:

Jesus spoke specifically to the chief priests and Pharisees — but what he addressed in them is at work in us, too. We long to believe that there are good people and bad people and that we can prove that we are good people by pointing to bad people — but selfishness and sin are at home in our own hearts, too. And like an invasive species, we may have beaten it down — and we may think that we have it under control — but the truth is that we will never fully root it out. It will always be there. It permeates every part of us. It is lurking just under the surface, and if we think that we can master it, we are just fooling ourselves.

Saint Paul realized this himself when he got knocked off of his high horse.

Born Saul, he was the poster child for righteousness through both birth and discipline. He was a hardliner for following the laws that defined what it meant to be good. He worked hard to earn his place and to keep it.

And then — like a rock hurled against his head — Jesus literally smacked him down and reduced him to nothing. Or at least “nothing” as would have been defined by Saul.

In his letter to the church in Philippi, Saul — now Paul -- wrote that he now sees that all of his plans were misguided and all of his work toward fulfilling those plans accomplished was nothing. In fact, his efforts to fix the problem were actually part OF the problem.

Instead, he sees now that his righteousness and salvation have been taken care of already by Jesus. “…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.”

In other words — you can’t fix it. Whatever it is, you can’t fix it — but don’t worry about that. It is in God’s hands. It isn’t your job to fix it — that is God’s job. And God will get the job done. God WILL fix it — God IS fixing it — and has already fixed it through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

There is a lot of talk about vineyards in our Scripture texts for today — and I wonder: where is God’s vineyard today?

Broadly speaking, I think we could say that it is everywhere; it is everything.

The church is the vineyard of God.

The world is the vineyard of God.

Your life is the vineyard of God — your neighbors, your relationships, your family — they are all the vineyard of God.

Your heart is the vineyard of God.

And every time we fall into the trap of measuring good versus evil in the vineyard, we are showing that we are part of the problem. Whenever we think we have made ourselves worthy of going to heaven — the invasive species of sin is springing up again.

Paul’s message to the Philippians and to us is that God’s vineyard doesn’t need you. But that is OK. You are in the vineyard of God because God loves you. It is a gift to work in the vineyard.

The vineyard of God is everywhere that God’s love is at work.

You, Church, World, neighbors, family.

You are in it and you are part of it. How wonderful to be safe, because God loves you!

You are in the vineyard of God, because God loves you — and you have a job in this vineyard — the work of the vineyard is to love. The work is to be loving — tend the soil of this world with love. When you see suffering in the world, meet it with love — do what you can to root it out.

Tend the soil of your relationships by being loving toward others in all circumstances. Do it as best as you can.

You are not perfect — but don’t worry about that; God is fixing that.

Here is a mystery — when you do the work of the vineyard — when you strive to be loving in all that you do — what you will find is that the brokenness in your own heart is being fixed, too. It is Christ who has done the loving through you, but you were given a role in it.

The world is a mess — don’t worry about it. We can’t fix everything that is wrong, but we don’t have to. We just need to address what is wrong with love and we will find that we have been privileged to play a part in the love of God breaking forth to overcome the world.

To not worry about it does not mean to not care about it. Indeed, we are called to love the world with our whole hearts — and to trust that the love of God is enough.

AMEN