Today’s Gospel picks up right where we left off last week. Jesus has made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as we celebrate on Palm Sunday. This is now what we call Holy Week.  His conflict with Jewish religious and civil authorities is building toward his trial and crucifixion. Jesus is still at the temple.  He’s speaking directly to the chief priests, scribes and elders of Israel.  They have challenged him and challenged his authority to even teach there. This is the second vineyard parable in a row, right after the one about the two brothers we heard last week.

This parable unfolds in terms that are very familiar to these leaders.  Jesus uses imagery directly from Isaiah in the passage we just heard. Israel is the vineyard; a metaphor used many times in the Old Testament.  The story has a very clear moral flow. Of course, the tenants must honor their covenant with the landowner to produce a good crop and give him his share of the produce. Of course, their treatment of his servants is horribly wrong, and their treatment of his son is outrageous.  Of course, the master will punish these wretches and get new tenants.

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We are so very blessed by the clergy and lay leaders who contributed to the design and construction of our sanctuary. Week by we enter into this holy and very beautiful space to worship and share community in Christ. I brought the kids up to the altar to teach them how our physical focal points of the altar and Jesus reflect our spiritual focus. Let’s start at the front and recognize the design elements that accentuate our worship and fellowship.

We start at our red doors, which are only a few years old but had been anticipated when the church was first built. They are red to remind us that this space is sanctuary because of the blood of Christ. The red carpet, red kneelers and red seat cushions all follow that theme. Next, we look up and admire our beautiful wood ceiling that evokes the underside of a boat, which we use to navigate the waters of chaos, like Noah and like the disciples, facing storms and waves on the Sea of Galilee.

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The book of Jonah is the fourth shortest book in the Bible. Just 48 verses among its four chapters, it nevertheless is easily the most memorable of the twelve minor prophets. His encounter with the whale or “great fish” is probably in just about every children’s Bible and Sunday school curriculum. I expect most of us know it. If you do not, the entire book is only about a page and a half in our pew Bibles, and you just heard about a quarter of it. It doesn’t take long to read, but it may take some time to reflect on his story and what his experience teaches us about God and ourselves.

This morning we heard the final scene. Having repented of trying to flee from God’s command and being spat out of the great fish onto dry land, Jonah does as God instructed. (We assume after a bath and freshening up a bit.) He goes to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, to warn them to repent and turn to God, or God would destroy their city.

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