Cycle A 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
5 October 2008
Tend the Vineyard
Isaiah 5:1-7
The prophet sings a song about a vineyard which turns out to be a parable about God and His people.
Psalm 80:8, 11-14, 17-19
"Give us new life, and we will call upon your name. Lord, restore us.”
Philippians 4:6-9
Live in the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, and the God of peace will live in you.
Matthew 21:33-43
Matthew gives us another vineyard parable. This one’s about an owner who has trouble with his tenants.
It was the grape harvest time and the week long feast of Tabernacles was being celebrated in Jerusalem. IASIAH was probably at one of the parties when he decided to sing a song. He sang a song about a vineyard. He introduced the song by saying it was about his friend’s love for his vineyard.
Isaiah sang about how much care and love his friend put into building and planting his vineyard. He really loved that vineyard. He built it with great attention to all the small details that make for a great vineyard. He was dreaming about the wonderful grapes he would get at harvest time. But the grapes it produced were sour and rotten. What a disappointment!
The song goes on to ask the audience – the people of Jerusalem – what this owner will do to his vineyard. Then Isaiah tells them he is going to tear it all apart and let it go back to weeds and thorns. He expected great grapes and only got sour ones. This vineyard is a worthless disappointment.
Next the song turns guilt on the audience. Isaiah says that the vineyard is the nation of Israel. God is the owner of the vineyard and he gave it much care and love. But Israel only produced disappointing behavior. They were not treating the poor and powerless with justice. God expected merciful judgment and justice for the poor but what he got from his people was violence and the “outcry” of the poor as they pleaded for help.
In our response psalm, PSALM 80, the theme of the vineyard is continued. As our repeated response verse says: “The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.” Israel was once a prosperous and independent nation, now they are conquered and feel abandoned by God. In this psalm-prayer the people ask God why this has happened. Then they ask for deliverance from their enemies and promise to be faithful to God in the future.
At times we can also feel abandoned by God. Some days it seems that nothing is going right. We experience personal and family problems. We pray but wonder if God is listening. Like Israel, we ask “why is this happening?” Where do we get the strength to get through hard times? Saint Paul gives us a suggestion.
In his letter to the PHILIPPIANS Paul says that we should turn to God in prayer. In other words we should talk with God and build our relationship with him. Deep inner peace comes from being in harmony with God, the Creator, and all of His creation. This is the peace that keeps us going in times of trouble and crises.
This peace only comes from living a life of integrity. It comes from living by God’s values – justice, mercy, forgiveness, kindness, love. It is a benefit of living our lives in a sense of stewardship. If you live these values, “Then the God of peace will be with you.” Says Paul.
In our Gospel by MATTHEW today we hear Jesus reworking Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard. Again, God is the owner of the vineyard. Jesus is talking to the chief priests and elders. They are the religious leaders of the Jewish faith. And in Jesus’ version of the parable they are the tenant’s who refused to give the owner a return on his investment. The servants sent to collect the owner’s share of the harvest represent the Old Testament prophets. The owner’s son is Jesus himself.
Just as Isaiah did, Jesus asks his audience what they think the vineyard owner will do to his unfaithful tenants. They answer correctly – the unjust tenants will be punished by death.
In Matthew’s day Christianity was changing from being based in the Jewish world to its new center in the Gentile world. At first glance we might think God’s rejection of the nation of Israel in Isaiah’s song and Jesus’ rejection of the Jewish religious leaders in his parable, lets us off the hook. We might think these parables are only addressed to the Jews. We might think they are not addressed to us. But they are.
God is rejecting these people because of their values not because they were Jewish. They were using their power and position against the powerless and the poor. They were not being merciful nor kind. They were not being just. Isaiah and Jesus were not concerned with ethnics, they were concerned with ethics. Anyone – even you and me – who betrays God’s trust and acts unjustly and without mercy and love, will receive the same judgment. God expect us to act from our Christian values not from our needs.
The vineyard tenants represent us. God's trust is the Vineyard. It’s a symbol. We are responsible for it. We are its stewards. We are the stewards of God’s trust.
Stewardship stands in contrast with absolute ownership. Absolute ownership means I have complete authority and control over my property. I can do anything I want with it. I can give it away, sell it, or destroy it. I don’t have to answer to anyone for my decisions about my property.
As Christians we view ownership a bit differently. We recognize that we have a responsibility to others in the way we use our property. We believe that God is the creator and “owner” of the vineyard of the earth. We are the stewards or custodians in charge for a while. We hold this property in trust. We do not have absolute rights of disposal.
Strictly speaking, stewardship deals with the ownership of property. But our parables about vineyards today teach us that stewardship applies to all of Christian life. Whatever is yours – faith, love, trust, talent - is a gift from God. It is your responsibility to use it for the advancement of God's kingdom. All life is a blessing, a gift. All life is to contribute to building up the kingdom of God.
If you tend the vineyard - If you live the life of stewardship suggested by the vineyard parables - “Then the God of peace will be with you.”
Tending the vineyard means creating abundant life. It means becoming the person God’s calls you to be. It means taking care and giving care. It’s about values and responsibility. It’s about love. It’s about life.
So what about the abortion of unborn babies and the death penalty and the care of the powerless, the poor and the elderly? Do you consider yourself an absolute owner or a trustworthy and just steward in these matters? Today is Respect Life Sunday.
Think about it – Pray about it.
Copyright © 2008 by Fr. Michael A Librandi
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