Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus,
Today’s first & the gospel readings (of 27th Ordinary Sunday) narrate to us an interesting parable: the parable of the Vineyard. The first reading from Isaiah is indeed a love song which describes how God planted his beloved people a vineyard on a very fertile hill. Because he gave it all his loving care, he obviously expected it to yield grapes, but unfortunately it yielded only sour wild grapes. God calls the guilty people to pronounce their own judgement. Since there is no reply, God proceeds to pronounce the sentence. Consequently, he will remove the protective hedge and wall, so that the vineyard will lie exposed and become a wasteland, with no more care nor rain. God looked for right reason and instead got treason. He looked for plain dealing but got only complaining.
Similar is the tone of anguish in today’s Gospel. Jesus laments for he sees no positive response from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Like in the first reading, Jesus describes how God planted a vineyard, enclosed it, dug a wine press in it, and leased it to tenants. When the harvest came, God sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants rebelled and killed all of God’s messengers. They killed even God’s own Son, so that they could grab his inheritance. After punishing those wicked tenants, he leased the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.
We see how God turned it all around. By means of Jesus’ death and resurrection, God established a new covenant with his people. Now, we are the people to whom God’s kingdom has been given and we are expected to produce the fruits of the kingdom. At this point some of us may ask: how to produce the fruits that are expected of us? Well, Paul tells it all in the second reading wherein he, in the name of Jesus, asks us to do whatever is true in faith, honourable with wisdom and just toward ours neighbour; whatever is pure toward God, pleasing leading to friendship and commendable preserving our good reputation.
Dear brethren, if we learn to do these and all what Jesus has taught us, then, we will bear sweet fruits in abundance and the Peace & Love of God will be with us. So shall it be!
God bless & Have a joyous weekend!
Fr Saga.
Pastor.
