Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Every so often, I take the time to evaluate my life from the ‘big-picture’ perspective. This year, for example, I have been a priest for twenty years. Prior to that, I was in the seminary for twelve years. I have spent thirty-two of my forty-eight years in religious life. For most part, I am very content with where I am today. I feel exhausted with daily labor on most days, but inside, I feel I am in a good place with God and my communities. My faith in God has never been stronger. My life-vision is discipleship. But, life has not been a cake walk. I am not a man without sins, failures, numerous vocation crises, and some regrets. As I am approaching fifty, I think of the last 48 years as a gift from God. But then, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, how should I plan my life ahead? It is going to take some ‘big-picture’ prayer, reflection, and planning.
Today, I want to take the same ‘big-picture’ approach with this homily. And I am inviting you to join me in applying the ‘big picture’ approach to your own life using the scriptures. For the last three weeks we have been hearing different parables about the vineyard. Two weeks back it was the parable of the workers hired to work in the vineyard at different times of the day and then getting paid equally; last week we heard about the two sons who were asked to work in the vineyard and their different responses and actions; and today we have the parable of the vineyard that is leased out the tenants who turn hostile toward the owner. Each of these parables has its own message but today, I would like to reflect on them all together – see ‘the big picture.’
I would like to offer three lessons that the parables of the vineyard may be offering for our lives.
a) The Vineyard. As I read the three parables together, I realize that there are different elements within the parables. For example, there is the owner of the vineyard; there are the workers in the vineyard; and then there is vineyard itself. It is easy to figure out that the owner of the vineyard is God. The workers in the vineyard are God’s people- good and bad, complying and rebellious, obedient and careless. What about the vineyard? Isaiah tells us that, “The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant.” In the Christian context, though, the vineyard is the Kingdom of God as Jesus proclaimed it. Our parish, our city, our country, the earth, and the ever-expanding universe are all part of God’s kingdom.
If the vineyard is the kingdom of God, then we can think of the vineyard as particularly or as generally as we want. Really speaking, the vineyard is wherever we find ourselves. The vineyard could be our lives; or the vineyard could be our families; or the vineyard could be our workplaces; it could be this parish community. No matter what our vineyard is, first we must remember that is it God’s vineyard. Our lives, our families, our work, and our parish are God’s gifts to us. The challenge for us is that we take good care of God’s vineyard; to remain grateful for God’s generosity; to bear good fruit. I hope when God looks at your life and mine that God does not feel disappointed. I hope God feels proud of what we have made of God’s vineyard.
b) The Tragic. As I read the parables together, I also realize that there is an element of tragedy in each of these parables. In the first parable, the workers who came first resented the owner’s generosity. In the second parable, some of God’s children said yes to God but then did not do what God wanted them to do. In the third parable, the fine vines that the owner planted brought forth wild grapes. Some of God’s children became rebellious and even put owner’s son to death. This is indeed very tragic. What does that mean for us?
Today we can connect the tragic in the vineyard stories to the regrets we may have. A lie that affected others lives, a gossip that did serious damage, something we did that still makes us cringe; the love we did not offer to someone, not standing up for righteousness out of fear, our lack of faith in God in a time of crisis- these are all tragic situations. Yes, it is a tragedy when that sometimes we are not as generous, loving and trusting as God is with us. Yes, it is tragic when we do not do what God expects us to do. Yes, it is tragic and we can become hard-hearted, mean and revengeful people. The bottom line is this - the power to let God’s plan either fail or reach its fruition is in our hands. If we had to stand before God today, would we have a tragedy to offer or will our life be a testimony to the goodness, love, trust and generosity of God? That power is in our hands and ours alone.
c) The Gift Continues to be Given. I absolutely love the end of today’s parable. We might be inclined to focus on that part of the parable where the owner puts “those wretched men to a wretched death…“ But there is a good news in all of this. The good news is that God does not stop giving. The vineyard is still given out in pure trust to people who presumably will produce the desired fruit. There is no guarantee that the new tenants will not repeat the mistakes the earlier tenants made. But God continues to trust and give.
As we look back at life there is no guarantee that we will not make the same mistakes in the future. All we know is that the life ahead of us is still God’s gift to us. May be Paul’s words in today’s second reading can guide the rest of our lives. He says, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” God’s love is eternal and God continues to offer us our vineyard. In that love, let us live whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, whatever is excellent, whatever is worthy of praise. May our vineyard be our gift back to God.
- Fr. Satish Joseph