Homily for 8 October 2023

 

My dear brothers and sisters today we celebrate the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A. In today’s readings, we will notice the imagery of the vineyard being used extensively. In the first reading taken from the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah speaks about God having a vineyard. The text begins on a very positive note. The land is fertile, and the relationship between the owner and the vineyard is in good order. The building of a watchtower, hedge, and wall shows that the owner takes special precautions for the safety of the vineyard. As with all farmers, as the new vineyard would take close to two to three years to bear fruit, God waits expectantly and patiently for their development. However, we have a dramatic turn of events- the vines yield wild grapes or spoiled fruit, unfit for making good wine. Despite the best divine efforts, things go wrong! This vineyard is none other than the nation of Judah. Prophet Isaiah portrays God as lamenting over this failure and asking the people what more might He have done. Why did the crop fail? The vine is useless if it does not produce good fruit and rightly deserves to be destroyed. So what displeased God to this extent that Judah would be destroyed? The ending verses give us the answer. God witnessed an absence of justice and righteousness toward the disadvantaged members of society.

The “bloodshed” refers to the abusive practices that bleed the poor to death and the “cry” refers to their painful response. These abuses are the “wild grapes”. Right from freeing the people from oppression in Egypt to taking them to the Promised Land, Yahweh has demonstrated his power and his love again and again, and had given them every opportunity to do what was right yet the yield was only wild and sour grapes that are good for nothing. The people of Jerusalem have persisted in their rebellion and their worship of false gods. They have trampled brutally over widows and orphans.

The judgment that Yahweh announces will not be carried out in full measure for more than a century. The destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the exile of its inhabitants will not take place until the sixth century i.e. in 587 B.C. The delay offers an opportunity to repent—to renounce idol worship—to seek justice—to provide for widows and orphans and give meaning to their ritual observance. Unfortunately, the vineyard yields wild grapes right till the end. 

In the second reading taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Paul presents before the Philippians an alternative to worry - prayer and petition with thanksgiving. We are called to include genuine thanksgiving in our prayers, regardless of circumstances, knowing that God loves us and provides for our needs—both here and throughout eternity. He implies a deep relationship with God, a wholeness that comes from having a relationship once broken by sin but now restored. In the concluding section, Paul asks the Philippian Christians to look at the best values of their culture like truth, honour, justice, and purity - to reflect on them and adapt them to their Christian lives—and to use them for Kingdom purposes. The reward for faithful discipleship is that God will bring peace to them—peace in their relationships with each other, and peace within their hearts.

The gospel taken from Matthew is the second parable in response to the challenge posed by the chief priests and elders about the source of Jesus’ authority. The Parable of the Tenants is an allegory—a story in which each of the elements like people, things, and happenings has a hidden or symbolic meaning. The landowner is God. The vineyard is the nation of Israel. The tenants are the people of Israel or its religious leaders. The slaves are the prophets. The son is Jesus. The other tenants are most likely the gentiles and the church. Once we understand these symbols, the meaning becomes clear: God established a covenant with Israel. God sent the prophets to bring the people back to him but the Israelites killed them. God then sent his Son Jesus who was also killed. The punishment of the original tenants refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and eventually, God leased the vineyard to other tenants the Gentiles who accepted Jesus who will “give him the fruit in its season”

We need to ask ourselves if we have become so rigid in our beliefs and actions that we refuse to listen to anyone else? Have we become like the wicked tenants? An interesting aspect of the parable is that the landowner doesn’t immediately punish the tenants. Imagine you have rented out a flat in Mumbai and your tenant refuses to pay you or vacate the flat? How long would you wait before you decide to call the police? I am sure not very long. The landowner however keeps giving the tenants a second chance. This parable gives us an insight into the nature of God – our God is a God of second chances.

Imagine being at the gates of heaven after you die and meeting God – will he look at you and call you ‘Wild Grapes’ or will he say ‘here is the ‘good fruit’? After our earthly life is over and when we come face to face with God, the question I feel we will be asked is – did you bear fruit? Did you bear fruit while you were living on Earth for all those years? And what is this fruit? The fruit is an attempt to live a Holy life—lives lived in searching and doing God’s will. Did our life on earth make a positive impact on any one else or did we live our life just for our selves? And why do I say an attempt to live a Holy Life? Simply because we are bound to mess up in life, we are bound to make mistakes and we are bound to fail. And that’s why it's important to remember always that our God is a God not only of second chances but of third and even fourth chances. So, let us not waste our energies being afraid of being judged by God, rather let us strive to bring justice and righteousness in all our dealings and live our life on earth in a manner that we may bear abundant fruit in the vineyard of God. I also invite you to view the new series on the Bible - ‘The Bible Explained’ in which I have attempted to explain the complexities of the Bible in simpler terms. You will find the link at the end of this video and in the video description. May God bless us all.