In today’s gospel reading Jesus tells the story commonly called the parable of the untrustworthy tenants which tells of a man who builds a vineyard and entrusts it to tenants for them to farm. In return he requires part of the crop. However, the tenants do not honour their agreement and they keep all the crop from the vineyard for themselves.
The vineyard owner sends servants to collect his dues. But the tenants, rather than pay up, attack the servants. Next, he sends another group of servants to collect his crop but they too are killed. Finally, he decides to send his son, because, surely, the tenants would not dare harm him. But he is wrong and the tenants kill the son too.
Now, primarily the purpose of this story is to point out that the Jewish religious leaders who had responsibility for keeping and teaching God’s law had failed to be true to God’s ways, despite God sending the prophets and finally his own son to ensure they met their responsibilities.
Even though this is the main intent of the story, I feel that there is something else happening just below the surface of the main narrative. This story could easily be called ‘the parable of warnings ignored’.
The vineyard owner gave the tenants three warnings, each time escalating the gravity of the warning to the point where finally he sent his own son. The tenants were given ample opportunity to reconsider their actions but they chose not to, risking dire consequences.
The gravity of their rejection of the vineyard owner’s request for payment is emphasised when Jesus asked the religious leaders, “When the owner of that vineyard comes, what do you suppose he will do to those tenants?” and the leaders answered, “He will kill them in some horrible way”.
We could leave the story there. A story of actions and consequences but so often the parables of Jesus have a timeless quality that speak to us here and now. Sometimes they have a subplot.
Throughout the Bible and throughout history God has sent us warnings. He warned Joseph not to go back to Nazareth but to go to Egypt so he, Mary and Jesus would avoid the slaughter of the innocents.
A case could be made that through people like Winston Churchill, Giacomo Matteotti and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, God gave warnings about the evils of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Communist Russia.
But these are not just stories from the past. God still speaks to us and still issues warnings and in today’s world I believe that God’s greatest warning is about an existential threat to his creation here on earth and that is the human contribution to climate change.
Warnings about human-caused climate change have been given for generations, building on scientific work that began in the late 19th century. The significant point is not a single warning or date, but the repeated pattern. Evidence has been presented, risks identified and opportunities to respond have been offered time and time again just like the warnings given to the tenants in the vineyard.
The warnings about climate change are not new. We have had over a century of them. For example:
In 1896, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius published the first calculation predicting that burning fossil fuels and increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide could significantly warm the Earth.
In 1938, British engineer Guy Callendar connected rising carbon dioxide levels from industrial emissions to actual global temperature increases.
In 1957–1960, oceanographer Roger Revelle and geochemist Charles Keeling proved that industrial carbon dioxide was accumulating in the atmosphere rather than being entirely absorbed by the oceans, prompting early scientific alarms.
In 1965, in America, a science advisory panel formally warned that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels were modifying the global heat balance and could melt Arctic and Antarctic ice and raise sea levels.
In the 1970s–1980s, warnings expanded globally. Scientist Wallace Broecker popularized the term “global warming” and major energy companies like Exxon received internal warnings from their own scientists about fossil fuel climate risks.
Now admittedly, the warnings haven’t been totally ignored. Green energy is growing. Solar panels grace the rooftops of many Australian homes. The take up of electric vehicles is increasing. Net zero emissions targets have been set around the world.
Believe it or not, in the 2007 Australian federal election both the Labor Party and the Liberal/National parties took emission control policies to the electorate.
Political parties such as the Greens have been established across the world to make environmental issues, especially climate change, front and centre in public debate.
So there has been some response.
But in so many ways we have gone, and continue to go, backwards.
In the late 1970s American president Jimmy Carter began serious investment in green energy including having solar panels installed on the roof of the White House which were torn down when Ronald Reagan became president.
In 2013 Australia’s first comprehensive carbon tax introduced by the Gillard government was removed by the Abbott government.
We have the president of the United States saying climate change is a hoax.
Across the world right wing political parties are winding back any progress made in de-carbonising energy and industry.
In Australia, we have voices in national politics describing climate change as “crap”. One Nation and the Liberal and National parties have walked away from net zero targets. The current Australian government has approved 37 new, expanded or extended oil, coal and gas developments, including new coal mines and gas drilling projects.
It appears the warnings are not only being ignored – they are being resisted, just as the tenants of the vineyard resisted the collection of the owner’s dues.
I am aware that some may be uncomfortable that something that may be seen as political is being talked about from the pulpit. I do not take this responsibility lightly.
However, I feel that climate change is the great moral and ethical crisis of our time. If an existential threat to God’s creation is not a moral issue, then what is?
On a personal level we have young people as part of our congregation and many of us have children and grandchildren – I have two granddaughters aged five and six. I wonder what world will they live in if we do nothing now. Will they wonder why we didn’t act.
After all we have been called to action. The call is as old as the scriptures. A modern translation of Genesis 1:27–28 says:
“He created humanity in his image, created them male and female. Then God blessed them and gave them this directive: ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Populate the earth. I make you trustees of my estate, so care for my creation and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that roams across the earth.’”
Hear that again: “I make you trustees of my estate, so care for my creation.”
Also, consider that as followers of Christ we are called to care, nurture, protect and save. These responsibilities are at the core of our faith and apply not just to people but to the whole of creation.
The challenge is whether we embrace these responsibilities or will we be like the untrustworthy tenants and just kill the messengers, or the modern equivalent which is denying the validity of the science and the gravity of the warnings.
These warnings stretch back over 130 years. The disastrous signs of climate change are already with us. God has sent his warnings. What more do we want. I pray we choose to be faithful stewards of this, God’s exquisite creation. I pray we display the high standards of strength and sacrifice that are asked of us and may we, with God’s blessing and help, heal this small blue planet we love. Amen.
