27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
This week saw the beginning of the month of October and there are two aspects to this month. It is the month of the rosary, and the feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated next Wednesday 7th. October is also the month when we celebrate the missionary effort of the Church throughout the world with World Mission Sunday on the 18th. In our first reading from Issiah, we hear about the owner of the vineyard who did everything he could to care for the vineyard to avoid the sour grapes that the vines produced. The vineyard in this story represents Israel but it could also be us. All of us might become a wilderness without gods love. this reading echoes the Gospel reading.
In the Second Reading St. Paul warns the converts at Phillipi against anxiety and he gives them valuable advice on how to live so that they may enjoy the peace of God that will be with them. Our first reading and the Gospel for this Sunday are all about the grapes and of course we all know that wine that comes from grapes and sometimes the grapes are sour. The parable is also the story of the “tenants” and again we are invited to place ourselves with them. We must, however, understand the frame of mind of these tenants correctly. In many cultures the “tenants” were poor people who are harshly treated by their landowners Jesus certainly would have been on their side, and we would be on their side as well. However, the tenants in the parable are quite different. 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. Their anger grows ever more violent as the story develops; the root of their anger is revealed they want to own the vineyard and be the people in charge rather than working there to help the vines grow and produce grapes that aren’t sour but sweet.
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 this 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 at the Cross of Calvary on Good Friday. So, this weekend we are asked to reflect on our own faith, and we are called by that faith to go out into the vineyard that is the world where we live and work and have our being. We are called to be humble workers in the vineyard of faith that leads to hope and joy so that we can nourish the vines that represent other people’s faith. We do that by what we say and do so that as a result of our efforts all of us may give glory to our father in heaven.
