Beyond Sour Grapes...

 “Beyond Sour Grapes”

Jeremiah 31:27-34

31:27 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.

31:28 And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD.

31:29 In those days they shall no longer say: "The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge."

31:30 But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

31:31 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

31:32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.

31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

31:34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Psalm 119:97-104
119:97 Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long.

119:98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me.

119:99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your decrees are my meditation.

119:100 I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.

119:101 I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.

119:102 I do not turn away from your ordinances, for you have taught me.

119:103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

119:104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.

Genesis 32:22-31
32:22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.

32:24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

32:25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.

32:26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me."

32:27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."

32:28 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed."

32:29 Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him.

32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved."

32:31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Psalm 121
121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- from where will my help come?

121:2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

121:3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

121:4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

121:5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.

121:6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

121:7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

121:8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it,

3:15 and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

3:16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

3:17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

4:1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you:

4:2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.

4:3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires,

4:4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.

4:5 As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

Luke 18:1-8
18:1 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.

18:2 He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.

18:3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.'

18:4 For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,

18:5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'"

18:6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says.

18:7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?

18:8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

 

Sour grapes. Most of us know this phrase from a fable by Aesop. A fox sees some grapes that look really good, but upon finding them unattainable, he rationalizes this by suspecting that the grapes were sour, anyway. 

 

This weekend’s lectionary passages are an eclectic bunch, but all of them have some kind of “bitch” (sour grapes) that God desires to turn around, because God loves God’s people. Here’s your “minute commentary” on them:

 

Jeremiah 31:27-34 – God’s judgment can be harsh; if parents eat “sour grapes,” then the kids will have to eat them, too. Meaning? The sins of the parents are visited upon the children. Fix? God’s promised (eschatological?) “new covenant” will turn this around.

 

Psalm 119:97-104 – The loyal “servant” of the Most High keeps God’s commandments because it is the “right” thing to do. The “sour grapes” implied is that keeping God’s commands may require giving up personal freedoms, but this is seen by the psalmist as better than being smited by God.

 

Genesis 32:22-31 – Jacob “wrestles” with God and wins; he gets his way. Jacob, the conniver, always seems to get his way, eventually. Only Laban, his father-in-law, gets one over on him, but only for a brief while. Jacob leaves a trail of “sour grapes” wherever he goes. His seed, Israel, is pretty much an extension of both his perseverance and goodness, and his selfish manipulating.

 

Psalm 121 – A beautiful and popular Psalm, the “sour grapes” here are that one who keeps her eyes on the hills gets a stiff neck, and waiting for God’s deliverance can be a test of patience, given “God’s time is not our time.” 

 

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 – The famous “all scripture is inspired by God…” passage; of course, many who appeal to this verse today forget that in Paul’s day, what he was WRITING was not yet canonical, and the “scripture” available to his audience was the Torah and the Writings. Even the Gospels weren’t yet “in print.” The “sour grapes” was that there were people with “itchy ears” who would not “put up with” sound doctrine. Again, we are left to question what “doctrines,” apart from Judaism, were in circulation? The church was so new that the doctrines Paul may have been referring to were ones HE or the Jerusalem Council had prescribed. To lift the “all scripture is inspired by God…” verses and say that today they mean we should take the Bible literally is a far, far reach at least, and ludicrous, at most.

 

Luke 18:1-8 – This is Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge. The woman sought justice “against her opponent,” presumably in a court of law, but the judge couldn’t be bothered, probably because she was just a woman, and one whose husband had rejected her and kicked her out (many of the “widows” of that day were in this state). The “sour grapes” is that this woman had to keep pestering and pestering to get justice in this system, and only her badgering this idiot of a judge was she able to overcome the prejudice inherent in it, and find the justice that should have been afforded her by law. Sound familiar? What year is this? 2022? 

 

Every one of this weekend’s passages could be the text for a message entitled “sour grapes,” but more from the perspective of how the term is used by the prophet, and not the storyteller, Aesop. There are many ways to look at the Jeremiah text. Overall, it is a prophetic “promise” that a “new covenant” is coming from God for God’s people. This hopeful prophecy says that no longer will the ”sour grapes” (sins) committed by the parents will be passed on to their children as a kind of curse. Do we hear what Jeremiah is saying about God’s new covenant? It will result in the total dismissal of “original sin.” The only sins people will be responsible for in the future will be the ones they, personally, will commit. AND, God will forgive these sins and “remember them no more.” 

 

Jeremiah just didn’t get the “evangelical” doctrine of needing to feel sorry for sin, repent of it, confess it to God, have it forgiven by the “blood of Jesus,” and live life like it may bite them in the backside again, soon. No, the word God gave to Jeremiah to speak to the people of God was that ALL of them would “know God” in this new covenant, have their sins wiped out by an ever-flowing wash of grace, and would be able to “read” the law of God from off the renewed hearts God would put in each of them. Jeremiah foresaw a much larger Jesus than is preached from evangelical pulpits today. Jesus himself saw his role as much more than a “piece of meat” burning on the altar (or hanging on a cross), although this “substitutionary” act somehow became of primary importance to these evangelicals. Jesus’ main aim was to institute this “new covenant” and through his teachings, “write the law of God” onto our redeemed hearts. The “evangelical process” that has evolved and that is labeled as “salvation” today works for some people, but is failing to connect with so many others, especially as humans and society evolve. Some in the evangelical community believe it is just “sour grapes” if persons refuse to engage in the “I’m a sinner”—confess my sin—apply the blood of Jesus—“Now I’m saved” rubric. They tend to see this exclusive, contrived doctrine of “how to be saved” as the “narrow way” Jesus talked about. After all, “broad is the way that leads to destruction.” But what if Jeremiah is right? The “broad way” that leads to destruction are doctrines like the passing of the sin curse (“sour grapes”) from the parents to the children—original sin—and the requirement that persons must be “saved” by a specific rubric of “accepting Christ.” What if Jeremiah is right that in the “new covenant” of God, ALL people will eventually “know God,” from the “least to the greatest”? The “narrow way” is the “escape hatch” from such rigid, “religious” practices to a place where God does the heavy lifting and God’s grace and love are made readily available to all.

 

Some in the evangelical community fear that this more inclusive “way” may give way, in the least, to licentiousness, and to an eternity in hell, at the worst. Jeremiah’s prophecy allows the difficult task of redemption up to God, and the praxis of righteous living up to us, as we unpack the “law of God” written on our hearts. Each generation suffers not from “original sin,” but from bad parenting, bad choices, or both. Unfortunately, so many are born into circumstances that put them at such a steep disadvantage they have to climb a tall ladder to see the first glimpses of the guiding light. Still, Jeremiah prophesies that even these folk will not be forgotten by God. And when Jesus comes on the scene, he makes a beeline for these people. 

 

The best advertisement for the New Covenant instituted by Jesus is a functioning, peaceful, and justice-seeking faith community. The evangelical movement thinks it’s a “saved soul” with a “powerful” testimony. Again, sometimes this formula works, but less and less so. People today too easily dispatch such an individual witness as “well, glad that worked for you,” while not seeing its application for their lives. And when the evangelical community espouses doctrines that erode the ”all people” new covenant promise of Jeremiah’s--such as excluding the LGBTQ community or condemning those who found themselves in the difficult circumstance of having to choose an abortion of a pregnancy—the “power” of the individual testimony gets lost in the toxicity. Jeremiah’s God, and the Jesus of the New Covenant, is much bigger than this.

 

Let me push this “sour grapes” argument one step further. What of those who are dedicated adherents to other faiths? Does the “narrow way” theology mean they are condemned unless they enter the “evangelical process” of “coming to Christ,” they will be condemned at the judgment? Or does Jeremiah’s “new covenant” and the “New Covenant” of Jesus see the narrow way as a God-built “birth canal” into forgiveness, acceptance, and the beloved community of the redeemed? 

 

I’m writing this message on the “at sea” day toward the end of our Royal Caribbean cruise to New England and Newfoundland. I’ve heard a lot of “sour grape” stories from Royal Caribbean cruise veterans on this trip as to how things “just ain’t what they used to be.” The service, in their view, has been far less than stellar, the food inferior, the logistics at ports of call botched, and the entertainment sub-standard. While I must confess to being upset at the poorly-handled “customs and immigration” process in Boston as we returned from St. John, Newfoundland (it resulted in an inordinately long wait on the boat before disembarking into Boston and missing a meeting with friends there, in our case), I can’t share these other “sour grapes” of this cruise. First of all, we felt the food was plentiful and decent. Since this is only our third cruise, I don’t have much with which to compare it, but I’m guessing that if there is a slight quality issue, it is probably related to the 35% rise in food costs that could not be passed on to passengers who paid for the cruise over a year ago. The logistics were most likely affected by the fact that this is an entirely new crew for this cruise, and also due to the hiring difficulties most businesses are having, post-COVID. Still, EVERY member of this crew has been friendly, accommodating, and apologetic, when things don’t go well. Entertainment? We’re on a big boat with great ports of call, perfect weather, good company, and lots of choices of things to do. (Since I like boats and the sea, we spend a lot of time on deck, watching the world go by. I’m not too affected by a lousy vocalist or a bad comedian.) If you eavesdrop on a few conversations, you will hear a broad assessment of how the cruise line is doing. Some are going to write nasty letters to the management; others (like us) have already booked our next cruise. Does this sound like the church? One person’s “sour grapes” is the next person’s blessing. How did we get here from God’s desire to include and bless all?

 

Is there any better covenant than “I will be their God and they will be my people”? The life, ministry, death and resurrection, and efficacy of Jesus Christ became God’s “signature” on this covenant, and assured that the definition of “God” was broadened beyond the ancient one to include differing theological “angles” on our desire to define the Divine. AND Jesus assured that “my people” would be greatly broadened to include anyone who WANTED to be included. 

Regardless of which definition of “sour grapes” you use (Aesops’ fox using the term to devalue the unattainable, Jeremiah’s using it as the “sins of the parents,” or the way it is often used in contemporary language as a doppelganger for “gripe”), all of the lectionary texts today—and especially Jeremiah—are trying to get us beyond the “grapes” to both receive and rejoice in the rescuing promises of God. Why is it so hard for us to “loosen up and let love in”? Why are we so often compelled to turn a “new covenant” into a “rigid doctrine” of how it works and to whom it applies? Are we not happy as humans unless SOMEBODY is left outside the camp? It seems to me that what the Bible is trying to tell us is that the only people “left out” of God’s promises are the few who absolutely and resolutely WANT to be left out, and to this end, they will have to persist at this willful rejection for the totality of their days on earth, as the “Hound of Heaven,” the Holy Spirit, will keep at their hearts with her “softening agent” of grace and her soothing balm of divine love.

 

It’s time to get beyond “sour grapes.” Amen.