A cool and odd readings about vineyards: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

A vineyard

·      I love the new rectory

·      I am able to walk through three gardens: our rectory, the community and our church

·      And I am so bad, that one of my friends said to me, “Fr. Ben, you have ton of grapes and you could make wine or jelly.”

·      I had know clue as I have no clue to have a garden, or a vineyard.

But God is

·      We had the images of a vineyard through Isaiah, our Responsorial Psalm and Jesus parable

·      But unlike the vineyard, or the gardens I, and many of you see often, our readings speak about some bad stuff

In Isaiah

·      A friend worked hard for his vineyard

o   “…on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press.”

o   Sounds cool…

o   “Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes.”

o   Hmmm…not a grape to produce a vintage of wine

·      Or in Jesus’ parable

o   “There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.  Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.”

o   Again…wonderful

o   “When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.  But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned.”

o   What?

God is showing how His vineyard should follow us to Him

·      Work, action and production

Well, in Isaiah and Matthew, the humans did not fulfill the true vineyard

·      In Isaiah, it was God’s people: the Israelites and the people in Judah

o   “The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant; he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed!  for justice, but hark, the outcry!”

o   The Israelites and Judaists were not following God but other gods—idolatry, adultery, sins

·      Jesus was speaking about how his workers were the leaders and prophets in the OT, as well as the disciples and apostles in the NT

·      And, Jesus himself

o   “Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.'
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.'”

o   And who were going against God’s vineyard?  Yes, enemies.  Yes, evil.

§  Are we not being persecuted in our culture?  Are we not with martyrs today around our world?  Are we not watching people who cut out God, who cut out Jesus Christ?

o    But yes, each of us in our sinfulness.

As God’s sons and daughters,

·      We are to work for God’s mission. 

·      We are to live with action and discipline for God’s vineyard and not ours. 

·      And God wants us to offer produce and fruit for Him.

·      How is God calling you to work, follow actions and offer produce to God’s vineyard?