Today readings focus on the vineyard of the Lord. In the first reading the prophet Isaiah sees Israel as God’s unsatisfactory vineyard. Israel, God’s first chosen people, did not produce the fruit expected of them. God found fault with them and the promised inheritance passed from them. The image of the vineyard which Jesus refers to in the Gospel is based on this prophecy of Isaiah. Jesus was addressing the chief priests and the elders through the parable of the landowner and the vineyard, making them reflect on their own lives, how they rejected Jesus and his teaching, and as a result how they were losing out on what God was offering them. Jesus presents himself as the son who is sent last of all. The verse ‘it was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone’ (which is taken from Psalm 118) would be fulfilled in his death and resurrection. Jesus though rejected by his own people, in God’s providence becomes the keystone of a new people.
The parable of the landowner and the vineyard in today’s Gospel can prompt us to consider how well we exercise our Christian responsibilities in our own lives. Jesus warns us against the destructive effects of greed and says that the kingdom of God will be given to a people who produce its fruit. We the people of God have each been given the vineyard of the gift of faith by God our Father. Are we good tenants of the vineyard given to us? How well do we produce good fruit by the actions of our lives?
Jesus asks us to build the kingdom of God here on earth by sharing the fruits of our faith with others. He invites us to be co-workers in his vineyard, generously sharing our gifts and talents with one another in a spirit of unity and love, accepting the opportunities for growth and new life which are presented to us. In that way we can produce much fruit and be recognised as Christians by those we encounter in our daily lives, and when vintage time arrives we can look forward to the fruit of eternal life that awaits us in the heavenly kingdom.
