27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

October 6, 2002

by Rev. Herbert Nichols

October is a month for harvesting: pumpkins, apples, corn. And these harvest parables seem rather appropriate this time of year even if we don't immediately understand them.

Matthew has given us three consecutive parables from the mouth of Jesus: 1. the hired men called to work at different stages but paid the same wage..2 Last week it was sons, not strangers who were called to work, the Father's vineyard. 3. In today's parable we find the seemingly perfect or ideal son-- the one who says yes and does it, but in doing so finds himself rejected and even murdered by the very ones he came to serve.

There are many SS who think is one of the last parables Jesus used before going to his crucifixion. Throughout the SS God had been rejected through his prophets, but now it is His Own Son being rejected. Rejection is a terrible thing. Like a cancer, it reaches into the very depths of our being, eating away at our personal identity and leaving lasting scars.

Before his final entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus sat high up on a hillside overlooking Jerusalem-(There's a big modern hotel up there now--but I'm sure it wasn't there then.) Jesus looked out over the city and wept. -- not for himself-not out of self-pity-but for all who experienced the suffering of rejection and isolation and loneliness. The son of God had been rejected by the house of Israel. He came to his own but his own received Him not. But to those who believe he opens the way to Eternal life.

Have you ever wondered how those tenant farmers got their chutzpah? What were they thinking? Perhaps they thought the owner would not return or simply right off his investment as a tax shelter. It is one thing to be gutsy and ambitious and on a few occasions Jesus even commended such worldly wisdom, but usually tongue in cheek reminding us that in the ways of eternity we seem to lack that same parallel.

The vineyard in today's scripture is symbolic of God's community--his relationship with individuals and groups whether as small as families, a circle of friends, a study group or a large cathedral gathered at worship. However large or small it is expected to bear good fruit.

But that doesn't always happen. There are many distractions that cause us to loose focus on what is really important. As a result our relations become stressed, we fall behind in our commitments and we loose patience in situations that have not been scheduled into our day.

As I said in past weeks our culture, our society today blow ill winds and the seeds of weeds take root in our garden and in our community. It is not that we are people; though I certainly believe that all of us, myself not excepted could be better if are try. The point of the parable today is that we are the tenants and the caretakers of the vineyard and not the owner. With that attitude life can be much more blissful.

The wild and sour grapes are the products of seeds of injustice and violence. where people are isolated, ignored, or alienated; Violence occurs where people do not feel loved and accepted; where their voices are not heard and they cannot communicate their feelings; where they do not feel enabled and supported by their fellow parishioners and clergy to become all that God has called them to be.

God's Eden is still struggling to bloom but the fruit of evil still pervades it. When our jobs, our priorities, our commitments become more important than our relationships with our spouse, children, fellow citizens and parishioners, we are participating in acts of injustice which propagate feelings that blossom into violence like road rage.

God's Eden will only find fulfillment when we like our first parents recognize the presence of God walking with us--even within us. As we learn to live in loving relationships, only then can we begin to recognize the full potential of the garden vineyard. Only then can we understand what it means to live in relationship with Jesus--to know Jesus as our personal friend and savior.

As this week continues you will have time to discuss and realize what this really means. Ours are the hands that are on the plow and the pruning hook. Ours is the responsibility to the Lord. What will future generations look back at us to say?

We can always learn from our mistakes. Remember who we are and whose we are and never forget these parables.