The Vineyard of the Lord: Reflections on the Readings for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

If you haven’t already read the readings you can find them here.

Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80
Philippians 4:6-9
Matthew 21:33-43

Our lives are not our own. They belong to God. We are but tenants. Similarly we have been entrusted, not only with our own lives, but also those of others, our family, friends, and neighbors. This is part of the reasoning behind, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” In a similar way the vineyards in today’s readings, like our lives, belong to God. We are caretakers and God expects a return on His investment; a return for His love and the gifts He has bestowed upon us. To be Catholic is to be obedient to God’s will, to take care of the vineyard. This means action, not passiveness. Recall the Letter of St. James, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)

In the first reading from Isaiah God is describing metaphorically what He has done for us as we are the “new” Israel, grafted onto the vine. And yet, what have we given Him in return? Wild grapes! Thus the Lord will turn His back on those who turn away from Him.

But all is not lost. Israel’s failure opened the way for the Gentiles to be grafted onto the Holy Vine. Two key messages come up later in this chapter of Isaiah, so it would be good to read beyond today’s excerpt. In verse 20 he relates, “Ah! Those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness to light, and light into darkness, who change bitter to sweet, and sweet into bitter!” And verses 23 & 24, “Those who acquit the guilty for bribes, and deprive the innocent of justice! ... Their root shall rot.” In the RSV translation these statements begin with the word “woe.” In verse 26 he says that God will call to the Gentiles, “He will raise a signal to a far-off nation, and whistle for it from the ends of the earth. Then speedily and promptly they will come.” The gospel reading will reflect this same theme.

The responsorial psalm reemphasizes the imagery of Israel being the vineyard of the Lord. It also notes the broken-down walls and openness to passers-by and wild animals. In the first part of the psalm, not quoted here, the psalmist acknowledges the Lord’s anger and asks for restoration. At the end he acknowledges the need for God’s grace, “... if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.”

The Catholic faith is based on Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the authoritative interpretation of them through its teaching arm, the Magisterium. In the letter to the Philippians St. Paul alludes to the importance of tradition when he says, “Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.”

Paul also tells us to make our requests known to God by prayer and petition. Trusting in God will bring peace “that surpasses all understanding.” This is reminiscent of Jesus’ message to the apostles at the Last Supper: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27)

The gospel selection brings us back to the image of Israel as the Lord’s vineyard and the Jews as tenants. In this case Jesus is speaking directly to the chief priests and elders; the Jewish leadership. He does not mince words. We won’t see it until later but since we have the benefit of Scripture we see that Jesus is not only scolding the Jewish leadership, but He is also foretelling His own death and suffering outside the walls of Jerusalem. Then He warns them, using their own answer to His query, of what was to come; terrible judgment and that their legacy would be turned over to other tenants (i.e., the Gentiles; us) who will give him the produce at the proper times.

Jesus then points to Himself when He says, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” And just to be sure they understood the message (we know they didn’t) He tells them, “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit." Are you producing good fruit for the Lord?

As I said at the outset, to be Catholic is to be active in obedience to the Lord. It is not a place for passiveness. Just plopping your seat into a pew once a week every Sunday is not enough. You need to be an active participant at Mass, in your parish, in your community, and in society. In other words, we are called to be active both in the Church and in civil life. It’s called the Apostolate of the Laity. That means knowing what the Church teaches and properly forming your conscience and voting in accordance with that teaching. This doesn’t mean to be Republican or Democrat, but to be Catholic. Voting for intrinsic evils like abortion and euthanasia or for representatives that favor those things puts your soul in danger.

In the Creed we state that we believe in the communion of saints, that is, the community of the faithful. We support each other, look to each other’s needs and stand up for what is right, including things like warning the sinner.

Last week Bishop Fulton Sheen was formally declared “Blessed.” We should reflect on some of his wisdom.

“Moral principles do not depend on a majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong. Right is right, even if nobody is right.”

“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.”

“If you do not worship God, you worship something, and nine times out of ten it will be yourself. You have a duty to worship God, not because He will be imperfect and unhappy if you do not, but because you will be imperfect and unhappy.”