In the first
reading, Isaiah opens with what is known as the "The Song of the Vineyard" the short version of a much longer poem. This love-song to his beloved and the vineyard has much of the
same description of preparation that Jesus, who knew Isaiah’s writing very
well, is using, imagine! In this case, after all the work to dig, and
clear, and plant, Isaiah says he
expected it to yield grapes.
However, it yielded wild grapes.* Obviously today it’s easy to discover which wild grapes are edible and
which are not. But Beloved clearly wasn’t happy with the results of his
hard work and worked as hard or harder to destroy it all. Isaiah says clearly in verse 7 that the vineyard is the House of Israel and the people of Judah. Those in his hearing knew exactly what he was saying in this piece and the much longer message, that Judah is called to pass judgment on itself.
In a parallel to the Isaiah passage, the psalmist
recounts the story of the vine brought from Egypt, and tells those of its time and us now that the vine failed the Lord’s expectations. Despite all the
work and planning for it to flourish, it denied its roots, so God broke down a
protective wall and allowed the wild beasts to ravage it. The psalmist then
pleads to God to restore and preserve what God’s right hand has planted.
Paul recounts some
of his personal history and achievements
in this piece of Philippians, and while on one hand he measures those
achievements as a loss he then says: ...this one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press
on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. [Philippians
3:13b-14]
The Gospel this week is
back in the Vineyard with workers whose expectations far exceed grumbling about
hourly pay for the fruits of their labor. This time Jesus tells the Chief Priests and Elders a
parable about the tenants running the vineyard who twice trounced the
owner's slaves coming to collect the owner's share of the produce. One was
beaten, one was stoned, and another killed. The second group sent were treated
the same way. Finally the owner sent his son, believing that, as things are
meant to go, his son would be treated with all due respect. But even the son
was killed because the tenants assumed that they could "get his
inheritance." [Matthew 21:38b] At first glance, I wondered
if these tenants could be the disgruntled workers of the previous vineyard
parable working longer hours for the same pay as those who worked fewer.
At second glance, with the group-think
irrationality of the tenants’ actions, I feel as if I'm reading a headline
about a local, national, or even international situation. In this country alone
the epidemic of school shooting tragedies and murders based on racism, gender
identity, and sexual orientation, etc., prompts me to wonder what was/is the expected outcome
by the perpetrators? More recently there are “official” and non-official every-day
actions of politically-fueled rage with its too-often cruel disregard and
treatment aimed directly at illegal and legal immigrants. Then there are
increasingly too many individual drivers who act as if they’re entitled to some
kind of thrill-seeking to make the roads as perilous as sitting on a
railroad track with an oncoming train. Also, there seems to be ever-escalating instances of personal
behavior being more important than caring about the inherent dangers for
themselves and others. The headlines on air, online, and in print tell us that
“Life” is getting meaner by the moment, as we watch here and
abroad to see that, not unlike in Jesus' own time, brutality is the
tool of cowards, especially in groups, who know no other way but swaggering bravado
to express the fear of their own impotence however, and if, unconsciously.
And then
there's the third glance where in this week’s Gospel Jesus is giving a local
lesson to the disciples about what is happening then and what is to
come while the ever-watching Chief Priests and Elders unhappily get the picture about
who's who and what's what in this parable. And as they should and do know, God is pretty clear in The Law about how we are to behave ourselves and
toward one another. In our times, we may not be able to make the world less mean, but we can each add more Christ-meaning within ourselves, and then extend it to the world. Here's to a new variety of grape
expectations!
* Interestingly, for me, was an editorial development
that arose in my review of the readings beyond the citations. It serves my
desire for ever-greater understanding of each week’s passages thematically as
well as theologically. I often use BibleGateway.com rather than pick up one
of the multiple Bibles of varying English translations sitting next to me a on
a bookcase. This week I wanted to refer back to a verse in Isaiah without going
to one of the hard covers or to what the Parish Office sent to me as the full
readings for the coming Sunday. Something on the Bible Gateway didn’t match
what I remembered about what was sent. I went back to what I had received from
the Parish and then back to the Bible Gateway website and looked for the
passage under the NRSV tab again. It used the word rotten for the grapes in verses 2 and 4 rather than the wild that came from the office ~ I know what the Parish
is using. I went to my shelf for several of editions of the NRSV
by different publishers and all said wild. I went back to Bible Gateway and checked their King James Version, their
New King James Version, and The Orthodox
Jewish Version and all said wild.
Then, I went
to my shelf and looked at my copy of The Hebrew Bible which said rotten, and The Jewish Study Bible which said wild. Back on Gateway I looked at a number of paraphrases
and others listed as translations for what my personal opinion believes as those
that are used in more “conservative” churches, and most used, bad, sour, or worthless, while one used sour
and wild. Yet I would
consider King James and New King James as used in “conservative” churches. What
fascinated me most was that Gateway’s Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition and
the 1599 Geneva translations both used wild. My adventure in this quest took quite a while and highlighted and
underlined what many of us understand about the acceptance-without-question of
many for the literal nature of the source materials and translations. Sadly,
many people in the pews do not.
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader: ~ Beloved God, our Master Planter, we, Your humble tenants,
often lose sight of our temporal presence on this fragile Earth, our island
home. As we strive to accumulate more earthly goods, our actions seem to show
that we value the gifts of Your hands ever less. Grant us the care and
consciousness to recognize our call to produce the good fruits of Your kingdom
and give to others as You have given to us.
O God of Hosts
RESPONSE: Restore us, Receive us, and Help us grow our Faith
~ Beloved God, our Master Planter, climate issues, war, violence
in our streets, and severe poverty all surround us. Let us raise our voices to
be heard in the halls of the political leaders in our country, our community,
and our world, for significant action on behalf of all Your people and for this
planet. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
O God
of Hosts
Restore us, Receive us, and Help us grow our
Faith
~ Beloved God, our Master Planter, in Your mercy, enfold those
wracked with pain of disease, the anxiety of mental illness, and the throes of
addiction. Grant extra energy and compassion to all of their care-givers. We
pray especially for: add your own petitions
O God of Hosts
Restore us, Receive us, and Help us grow our Faith
~ Beloved God, our Master Planter, lighten the burden of those
whose hearts are heavy with grief. Give us the peace to replace dirges with
comfort in knowing that those we love are welcomed into the glory of You, our
Living, Loving God. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
O God of Hosts
Restore us, Receive us, and Help us grow our Faith
~ Beloved God, our Master Planter, we pause in
this moment to offer You our other heartfelt intentions and petitions, silently
or aloud…
O God of Hosts
Restore us, Receive us, and Help us grow our Faith
~ Beloved God, our Master Planter, our prayers ascend especially
for those ordained and steadfast in their life mission to help us find our way
to You. With Your grace and their prayer-filled guidance, we share this hope-filled
journey together. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
O God of Hosts
Restore us, Receive us, and Help us grow our Faith
The Celebrant adds: O God in Christ Jesus, You are the Cornerstone of our life and
faith. Grant us the courage to live the life You have given us to live, by
working consciously and continuously in whatever ways we have, toward the
abundance in health and spirit for all. We make our humble supplication to the
Son who was slain yet lives again, and the Spirit who breathes holy life into
our souls, together with You, as one God, in the timelessness of Your Eternal Kingdom. Amen.
