The 27th Sunday of the Year Is 5:1-7; Phil 4:6-9; Mt 21:33-43 (Year A)
”Let me sing to my friend the song of his love for his vineyard.” A love song, by its very nature, comes from the heart and speaks to the heart. For this reason the prophet Isaiah chose the language of love to confront the infidelity of Jerusalem and the southern kingdom.
Each step in Israel’s history was likened to the love that both creates and sustains a successful vineyard. With great care, the owner must choose suitable land, clear it of stones and plant it only with the choicest vines. It is indeed a labour of love.
Such had been Israel’s history. The people had been chosen by God and settled in the land. As the vineyard owner anticipates a fruitful harvest, so God had looked to his people for integrity and justice.
What had begun as a love song concludes with a dispute: “And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem, I ask you to judge between my vineyard and me. What could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done? I expected it to yield grapes. Why did it yield sour grapes instead?”
Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard invites every generation, and every individual, to consider life’s unfolding as a gift rooted in the love of God. As the vineyard must be cleared of stones, so must we encounter life’s difficulties. We do not face them alone, for the love that called us into being is the same love that equips us for life.
A vineyard is judged by its vintage. We are judged by the love that called us into being. “Yes, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah that chosen plant. He expected justice but found bloodshed; integrity, but only a cry of distress.”
Matthew’s parable of the vineyard sharpens Isaiah’s challenge. It was set against the ongoing dispute between Jesus, the chief priests and the Pharisees. Jesus likened the gift of life to a tenancy. It is a gift from God and intended to bear fruit. As the parable develops, the ungrateful tenants refuse the expected fruit and fail to acknowledge the owner’s repeated promptings. In murdering the owner’s son, they cut themselves off completely.
Inevitably, we must ask ourselves: do we acknowledge God’s love, choosing instead to reject the love that called us into being?
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