27 TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
I begin this week with a thought about the second reading from St Paul to the Philippians. It could have been written for us in our present situation with covid19 pandemic. St Paul tells us that we should not worry and that we should pray to god for our needs and as a result of our prayer the peace of God will come to us and guard our hearts and our thoughts in Christ Jesus. This is a very consoling reading we should not worry because god will come to us to guard us and give us his peace during these hard times. Also this week we heard the news that the president of the USA and his wife have COVID 19. I personally wouldn’t want myself or anyone else to get this virus and I hope that everyone who is stricken down by COVID19 at the present time including the trumps will get well soon.
Humanity is trusted and is talented enough to handle the work of maintenance and productivity. In his trust of humanity, God is patient. He sends messenger after messenger to collect what is due him. God repeatedly asks us to return to him what is his due. The workers in the vineyard are responsible for their denial of what is due to the landowner. They beat his messengers, stone one, kill another, and continually reject the landowner’s claims to the fruit of his vineyard. Finally, the landowner sends his own son, thinking the workers of the vineyard will respect the son. But even the son is abused and murdered because the workers think they will have the vineyard as their own with the death of the son. In the end God will provide judgment on all who work in his vineyard. Even so, there is a focus on those who work in the vineyard. They are trusted, they are privileged to work at maintenance and on production in whatever way suits them. They are free to make decisions in their work. God is no micro-manager. But in all this freedom, there is a responsibility to bear fruit. Humanity is accountable for what comes of the vineyard and giving it to the Creator. In the original context the tenants represent “the chief priests and elders of the people”. In the parable the “tenants” become angry when they are reminded that the vineyard has been leased to them and they must be accountable for what they have done or not done with it and they do not like this.
Their anger grows ever more violent as the story develops, the root of their anger is revealed – they want to own the vineyard rather than to work there. Through the parable of the vineyard Jesus reprimands the “chief priests and elders of the people” gathered around him. He focused on the unfaithful people who, by their sin and failure to listen to the prophets, had brought God’s anger down on them. Jesus’ reference to the killing of the King’s only Son was not lost on the Pharisees. They had already decided to kill Jesus who claimed to be the Son of God. Jesus’ words enraged them, and their hearts were further hardened against Him and it all ended up as we know at the Cross of Calvary on Good Friday. So this weekend we are asked to reflect on our own faith and we are called to go out into the vineyard that is the world where we live and have our being. Were we work to nourish the vines of other people’s faith by what we do and say so that as a result of our efforts all of us will be able to give glory to God our father in heaven.
Fullerton T 