At first glance, the readings today might seem like an endorsement from God to take a nice fall drive to some of the wonderful wineries that are nearby. The first reading, psalm and gospel all tell us, in great detail, about vineyards: cultivated, planted, and ready for the harvest. It sounds wonderful, especially as Autumn envelopes us with its cool breeze and tapestry of vivid colors! But there is a problem in these vineyards; a big problem. These are not just any fields full of grapes; they are the vineyards of almighty God. He has taken the time and trouble to turn the earth, remove the trees, bushes, rocks, stumps, and roots from the soil. He has planted the vines in long straight rows, installed a tower for guarding, a hedge to keep out the pesky animals that would steal the fruit, and even built a winepress in anticipation of the great harvest. In the first reading, the grapes indeed come but they are wild, bitter, unusable.
In the gospel, Jesus offers a similar parable to the chief priests and leaders of the people. It is actually the second of three judgment parables (we heard the first last week with the two sons who were asked by their father to go work in his field). In Jesus’ version, the landowner does all the hard work and then entrusts it to tenants to care for and harvest his field at the appointed time. This time, there is a great harvest but the tenants get greedy and want to keep it for themselves. When the landowner sends for his share, they beat, kill, and terrorize his servants. No matter how many he sends, they ignore him and mistreat his messengers. In a final, generous gesture, he sends his son, hoping that will cause them to be reasonable. It only makes them more irrational and they kill the son. Jesus asks what should be done to these wicked, greedy servants who have killed not only the master’s servants but also his beloved son. They answer that the evil tenants should be put to death and the vineyard given to better tenants. Jesus then turns their own judgment against them: in the same way, the kingdom of God will be taken from them and given to a people who will produce good fruit. He will do the very same thing next week and, not surprisingly, the leaders will start looking for a way to kill him.
It can be very easy for us to listen to these parables, shake our heads, roll our eyes, and think what blind fools these chief priests and leaders must have been. I mean, didn’t they see it coming? Didn’t they know that Jesus was talking about them?! But if we fall into that trap, if we fail to apply these parables to ourselves, then we are becoming the very same people and will experience the exact same result.
When you think about it, the readings are more than a little bit frightening. The readings are demanding that we bear fruit or have the Kingdom of God taken from us. This is contrary to the popular feel good concept of Divine Justice. I am referring to the attitude in life that results from reducing God to a weak, pushover who does not hold us accountable for our actions. Yes, we commend our dead to the mercy and compassion of God. And God certainly promises us mercy and forgiveness for each and every sin so long as we are sorry and seek absolution. But this does not absolve us from our present responsibility to live as the Lord told us to and to do the work of God. We have to move away from the mentality that we can get away with purposely behaving badly, acting without concern for the consequences of our actions.
All of us are tempted to believe that God will forgive and forget, no matter how badly or how often we reject Him. It is a horrible thing to assume that God really doesn’t care about our sins. This is contrary to Scripture. This is why we teach our children from the time they can understand right and wrong about sin and responsibility along with God's love and mercy. It is not good enough to be better than the worst sinner out there. I can’t tell you how many people get defensive when confronted about a sin in their life and say something like, “well, at least I haven’t killed anybody.” Our actions are judged by themselves, not in comparison to the actions of others. Not only are we called to take responsibility for our actions, we are also called to recognize the consequences of our inaction. In the parable, the keepers of the vineyard are condemned for not producing fruit.
We are called to lead others to God, especially within our own families. We need to ask God to help us fight against anything that is keeping us from giving our best to His people. He has planted His vineyard, His Kingdom within each of us. Each of our lives contain the rows and rows of God’s gifts, blessings, and protections. We need to produce a harvest from the field of our hearts, which has been planted by God himself. But we cannot do this alone. Nor do we have to. God is present with His Grace to help us fight off the temptations to push Him aside. We receive communion weekly for the strength to care for His vineyard and to ask pardon when we have failed. Our actions have consequences. Fortunately, this is not restricted to the negative. Good actions have good consequences. In the conclusion of the parable, those who made the best use of the talents God has given hear, "Well done, good and faithful servants, enter into the joy of your master.” May we too hear those words because of our loyal service to him!
