SOUR GRAPES

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:28-34; I Corinthians 11:17-26

A number of years ago, Dr. Fred Craddock was the keynote speaker for an assembly of Christian churches in the South Carolina low country. In between his Bible studies and sermons, he had an afternoon free, so Dr. Craddock decided to drive around the town and take in some of the historic sites.

He came upon an old cemetery, and walked through the rows of gravestones until he found one which caught his attention. This is how Dr. Craddock describes what happened:

“I noticed one section with a huge stone bearing the family name and a lot of burial plots on either side…All the graves were lined up straight…but there was one grave…with a large slab and a marker that was crosswise, or as we used to say in Tennessee, ‘cattywampus.’ I pondered that. What a careless thing to do. Why would they do that?

Suddenly, I became aware of another man walking around the cemetery, perhaps for the same reason I was, and I said to him, ‘Are you from around here?’ ‘Yeah’ he said. ‘You’re looking at that grave, aren’t you?’ ‘Yes.’

He said, ‘I knew that fellow. He was in his seventies when he died. We were in the same church and I knew him all my life.’ I said, ‘Why is this stone at an angle?’

‘Well, the family wanted it that way, and the church agreed.’

‘But why?’ I asked.

‘Because that’s the kind of guy he was…He was crossways with everybody and everything. We never knew him to be pleased about anything at home or at church. He’d say, ‘Well, why’s she doing that?’ or ‘Why’d they ask him to do that?’ or ‘Well he’s the wrong one to be doing this’ or ‘I wonder who decided to do that?’ He said that kind of stuff all the time, all the time, and the family decided they wouldn’t try to change him just because he died. So they buried him crosswise.’

‘That’s an awful thing to do’ said Craddock. ‘Well’ he answered, ‘they wanted it to be a witness. The family said, and the church agreed, ‘that if God wants to straighten him out, then God can straighten him out. But he left here just like he lived…crosswise.’” (From “The Cherry Log Sermons” by Fred B. Craddock, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, pages 71-72).

Well, I have known some people like that and perhaps, so you have you – folks who are difficult to get along with and not easy to be around, who are critical and negative and tend to tear almost everything and everyone else down. They belong to families and school boards and civic organizations and to churches, and more often than not, they take themselves far too seriously.

There’s an inscription on the gravestone just outside Winchester in England which describes a woman who was the Countess of Huntington:

“She was a Godly, righteous and sober lady, a firm

believer in the gospel and devoid of the taint of enthusiasm.”

In Scotland, they call such people “dour.” Here in the states, we often refer to them and their attitude as “sour grapes.”

Now, I don’t want to sound too judgmental in reverse, because most of those people have been abused or hurt somewhere along the way. A psychiatrist might say that they have developed a defense system, like a hard shell, to protect themselves. And if that is the case, then it must be lonely and painful inside for those who are living crosswise and are full of sour grapes. As Christians, we need to love them and pray that God’s grace will someday, somehow prevail. But between now and then, we cannot allow their anger and fear to derail our lives, or to set the pace for our families or for any community of faith. Because sour grapes is not the way the Lord wants it to be.

II.

In preparation for this sermon, I did some research to find the origin of that phrase, “sour grapes,” and it’s in the Bible, the Book of Jeremiah, chapter 31. The prophet Jeremiah, called by God to speak the truth to King Zedekiah and the people of Judah during the dawn of the 6^th century B.C., foretold that the Babylonian army, led by their ruler Nebuchadnezzar, would conquer the Hebrew nation and take them off as captives into exile (Jeremiah 27-31).

That was the bad news, and King Zedekiah and his people did not believe it. In fact, they didn’t want to hear it anymore, so they put Jeremiah into prison (chapter 32). But from his cell, the prophet went on to tell them that Everyone shall die for their own sin; and those who eat sour grapes, their teeth will be set on edge (Jeremiah 31:30).

Well that was the bad news of the prophecy, declaring to those angry, fearful and resentful people that their resistant and recalcitrant attitudes had gotten them into trouble and they were suffering from the bitter taste of sour grapes.

And yet, from that same prison cell, there was also good news to tell and hope for the future, as Jeremiah prophesied that The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with my people…I will put my law within them and write it upon their hearts…I will be their God…And they shall all know me, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

You see, going all the way back to the 6^th century B.C., there was bad news and there was good news and it was up to those people to decide: would they remain bitter and resentful in their suffering and pain, setting their teeth on edge with the taste of sour grapes…or would they choose instead to trust in the Lord to lead them toward better days, embracing the healing and hope and joy for the journey ahead which he promised those people if they would be faithful to him?

So it was then, and so it still is today. When bad things happen, when trouble strikes and turns our lives upside down, we Christians have a choice to make. We can become bitter and wallow in our sorrow with an attitude of sour grapes, or we can look toward the future with hope in our eyes and the expectation of healing in our hearts, believing that the God who loves us will work all things together for good for those who love Him.

There’s a sign on the wall of a psychiatric hospital in New York which says: “Do you want to stay bitter, or do you want to get better?” For Christians, the answer to that question is found through the forgiveness, grace and life-changing power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

III.

Less than a generation after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, there was a church in Corinth that was ailing with a bad case of sour grapes. The members of that congregation had turned crosswise against each other, arguing about who was most important in the pecking order and about improper behavior as they came to the table for the Lord’s Supper.

When the apostle Paul heard about it, he sent them a letter to help those Corinthians straighten out the mess they were in. He wrote words of correction, he encouraged forgiveness and reconciliation…and then he reminded them of what happened on that night in Jerusalem when Jesus and His disciples shared their last supper together:

Jesus took the break, broke it and said, “This is my body, broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And then He took the cup of wine and said, “This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me (I Corinthians 11:23-25).

You see, what those Corinthians had failed to remember, and what we, all these years later, must never forget, is that Jesus Christ offered His love and His life at that table for those first disciples and for everyone else since then who seeks to follow Him.

CONCLUSION

So as we come to this table today, if there is anyone here who is crosswise with another, if there are people here who are bitter and want to get better, if you need to be forgiven or if you need to forgive, if you are tired of the taste of sour grapes and are looking for love and for God’s amazing grace, then you have come, my friends, to the right place. Let it go, leave it behind at this table, and ask God to lead you out those doors toward a closer walk with Him than you have ever known before.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.