"He sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce"
Is 5: 1-7
Phil 4: 6-9
Mt 21: 33-43
We
have certain phrases we use in everyday conversation that I would call either
throw away statements or throw out comments.
Things like “Hey, have a good day!” or “God bless,” or “Watch yourself
now.” Maybe you’re from the south and
might say, “Y’all have a good day now!.”
One
that I think is very common and I use it as well is, “Take care.” It’s thrown out in casual conversation at the
end of a conversation – “Take care, now” we say in a friendly tone. Or maybe the same in texting someone, “take
care now.” These phrases are handy and
seemingly just friendly commentary but they can also imply much more than just
a quick way to end a conversation.
Our
readings this Sunday, in particular the first from Isaiah and the Gospel passage
from Matthew speak of a vineyard. In
fact the Gospel has Jesus making comment on the specific passage we hear today
from Isaiah. Yet, the images are
tough. They begin with a vineyard owner
who very lovingly prepared his vineyard: on a fertile hillside, spaded it,
cleared the ground of stones, planted the finest vines he could find and then
built a watchtower in the vineyard to guard it carefully.
But
the best laid plans went sour. He went
to harvest the fresh, juicy grapes and found they were wild and tasteless. He is angry and disappointed so he abandons it
to become a ruin filled with thorns and briers.
How sad. Such care and love had
been given to it in the beginning but for some reason it was wasted.
This
is where Jesus fleshes out further commentary.
Tenants in the vineyard had squandered its riches on their own selfish
pursuits. Any servants sent to the
vineyard were welcomed with a violent end and even the son of the landowner was
killed there. It’s a tough story for
sure. Historically, we might see the
servants in the vineyard as the prophets of Israel who were rejected and
killed. The son of the landowner is of
course Jesus, who died outside the city walls of Jerusalem. And the vineyard taken away may identify the
rejection of Jesus by the Jewish leaders and God who then handed over the care
of the new vineyard, the Church, to the Gentile community. Yet, that is a
dangerous way to view this. For it isn’t
about Jews and Gentiles but rather about all of us called to the vineyard of
the Lord.
So,
if we see this for what it is meant it challenges all of us who have been given
all as gift from God. Our task, by
reason of our Baptism, is to take care of that vineyard in which we live: the
vineyard of our faith community and the values by which we live here and in
this world as missionary disciples of the Lord. Yet, this history of humanity since the
creation of Adam and Eve and the journey through the Old Testament is a
patchwork of fidelity and of rejection of God by humankind. Yet, it is also a story of God’s eternal faithfulness
and mercy offered to everyone who would accept it.
Remember
the parables on the kingdom of heaven that Jesus often speaks of and that we
heard not too many Sunday’s ago. The
kingdom of heaven is a way in which we live together in a new relationship not
based on my own selfish desires but rather on virtues that are centered on the
other: those in need, the poor, the sick, the forgotten, the suffering. That my life is guided by knowing that I’ve
been placed in the Lord’s vineyard with many gifts given from him that are not
meant for me alone but meant to be shared for the good of all. In other words, to take care of one another, to
nurture our faith in the Lord, and to guard God’s creation around me for
example and not exploit it for my own selfish pursuits.
As
I’ve been given the charge and the gift from God to carefully till the soil of
my faith and to grow in imitation of Jesus himself, I can see all as gift and
all as an invitation for me to be a good servant.
Our
second reading from Philippians drives this home beautifully for us. After a poetic reflection on truth, honor,
justice, and beauty, Paul writes: “Keep
on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.”
As
we gather at the Eucharist each Sunday we see this played out as well. The very word “eucharist” means to give thanks to God. We gather not to decide what’s in this for me
but more to recognize our unity in the Lord and our care for one another in Christ. Baptized into Christ we have been placed in
the vineyard of the Lord.
Take
care to tend it carefully.
Almighty ever-living God,
who in the abundance of your kindness
surpass the merits and the desires of those
who entreat you,
pour out your mercy upon us
to pardon what conscience dreads
and to give what prayer does not dare to ask.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
(Opening prayer of Sunday)
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