Word to the Wise
Sunday, October 4, 2020 - 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Isa 5:1-7; Phil 4:6-9; Matt 21:33-43]My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes.....[Isaiah] "Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit." [Matthew[
One of the lesser-known features of the vast wide plains of West Texas is that it is a major wine grape growing area! California and Italy get all the publicity, but Texas wines compete well with some of the best in the world. Isaiah's and Jesus' images of the vineyard will elicit knowing nods of appreciation. The image in the Gospel According to John, at the Last Supper (I am the vine, you are the branches. John 15:5) would be familiar to most of us. There the focus is on the grapevine itself. Isaiah points out all that God has done for the vineyard and yet the results are negative. In Matthew, Jesus points to mismanagement and fraud
In both images, what strikes me is accountability. In Isaiah, the accountability is collective. The whole nation has become corrupt. In Matthew, the accountability focuses on leadership. The incident occurs during Jesus' last days in Jerusalem when he confronts the chief priests and elders with their failure to provide fruitful leadership.
All of us are accountable for our own lives and for bearing "fruit that will last." But leadership is also important, as we have painfully learned over the past 20 or more years in the sex abuse crisis. Jesus' statement about the kingdom being taken away from the leadership in Jerusalem could be applied to leadership in our Church from top to bottom! But the average pewperson cannot escape personal accountability as well. The owner of the vineyard will ask, "Where's my grapes?" What will all of us from pewperson to Pope be able to reply? AMEN