Homily 702 – 13APE
Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church, Ames, Iowa
August 30, 2026
Epistle:  (166) 1 Corinthians 16:13-24
Gospel:  (87) Matthew 21:33-42

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God.

Jesus begins many of his teaching parables with “The Kingdom of God is like …”  Or, like this morning, “Hear another parable …” which indicates the parable before it probably began with “The Kingdom of God is like …”

We hear some things so often that we sometimes gloss over it, and miss the significance of those words.  Parables, in particular, are frequently misunderstood.

Part of the reason for this is that we expect things to be precise.  We want to take things absolutely literally.  But think about that – if God is, as we say in the prayer of the Anaphora, “inexpressible, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever-existing and eternally the same”, how are we supposed to put into language who God is, the realm of the Kingdom of God, the nature of the bodiless hosts – anything?

We are literally expecting an exact description of something that it is literally impossible to describe.

We can continue to seek that precision and exactness.  But let’s talk about a futile search.  Why would we waste our time and effort trying to figure out what can never be figured out?

It’s a baffling question.  We become like dogs chasing their own tail.

The Church, therefore, has introduced for us what is called an aphobatic theology.  It is the theology of negation.  I’ve searched and searched for the right description of this kind of knowledge and understanding.  I think I finally found something that comes close, from a Druze mystic from the early 11^th century.

He wrote, “Our Lord, sanctified be His name, is neither ancient nor eternal, for the two are created and He is their creator. His identity cannot be visualized by ‘fancy or physical organ and cannot be determined by opinion or comparison … He resides in no known place for He would then ‘be restricted to that definite place and out of all other places; nor can it be said that any place is outside His presence for that implies lack of power; nor is He first for a first must be followed by a last; nor is he last for a last must be preceded by a first; nor is He visible for that suggests invisible, nor is He invisible for He would then be shadowed by the visible. I cannot say that He is life or soul for He would then be like his creatures and subject to addition and subtraction…”

No matter the words we use to attempt to describe God or understand Him, it simply cannot be done.  St. Gregory of Nyssa, the brother of St. Basil the Great, tells us his thoughts that we will spend eternity exploring these never-ending depths of the Love of God, in unity with everyone else that loves God.

Even that is wholly imprecise, though. This leads us to a really important quandary though.  How are we to understand the parables?  What are they trying to tell us?  How can we begin to understand what cannot be understood?

First thing is to recognize the impossibility of getting an exact depiction from a parable.  We have to look at the parables of Christ and ask, “Why is Christ telling us this parable?  What does he want us to get from this?  Specifically, what does He want ME to get from this?”

Now, in the present parable, Christ is doing something very, very interesting.  He is recapping the entire history of Israel, without ever mentioning Israel or the Jews by name.

He describes Himself – the Son.  He tells us what the Jews will do.  Then, He asks a question:  What will the owner of the vineyard do after the Son is killed?

The answer given is pretty accurate.  The current tenants will be out, and others will be in, and the tenants that are tossed out will be destroyed.

Now – that is the human response.  That is how human beings will indeed behave in this circumstance.  But what does Jesus say?

“Have you never read in the Scriptures …”  Which is fascinating.  This is from Psalm 117 in the Septuagint, Psalm 118 in the Masoretic Hebrew texts.  This text is part of the text read every major festival and feast of the Jewish year.  Passover, Sukkot or tabernacles, the feast of Weeks (Shavuot), and other times.

He would be in effect saying “Are you even Jewish?”  It would be like Him saying to us, have you never heard the Lord’s prayer?  Have you never read “For God so loved the world …”?

It was the ultimate dig.

Then, He quotes the scripture, and they are forced – we are forced – to confront the truth.  The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.  This is the Lord’s doing.

God doesn’t operate like humans.  The people said that the owner of the vineyard, who is God, should toss the tenants out, destroy them, and give the land to new tenants who will follow the rules.

But Christ says something quite different.  No, He says.  God will take this betrayal, and use it as the foundation, the basis, on which He will build His kingdom – the Church.

And so, Christ is the rejected stone, the dead son, the sign of the people’s supposed triumph over God.  At least that is what they think.

In reality, Christ is indeed the rejected, the dead – but He will be resurrected.  He will die but live again, and destroy death itself in the process.  He will be indeed the foundation on which the Kingdom is built.

As the inheritors of that Kingdom, our job is not to question the cornerstone.  It has already been laid by God, and is marvelous.

No, beloved, our role is to keep our eye on the corner, and continue building the Kingdom, which will be realized in the world to come.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God. Glory to Jesus Christ!