A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, October 2, 2011 | Carl E. Olson
Readings:
• Isa 5:1-7
• Ps 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
• Phil 4:6-9
• Mt 21:33-43
What do parables and vineyards have in common? When attended to with care and attention, they both yield fruit and nourishment. Today’s readings contain two of the best-known parables about vineyards in the Bible.
The first, from Isaiah 5, is often called simply “the parable of the vineyard.” The prophet uses the vibrant imagery of the vineyard to describe Israel and her relationship with God. The Lord, Isaiah explains, had demonstrated His love for Israel through His patient work in establishing, caring for, and protecting the vineyard. Today’s responsorial Psalm (80) uses very similar language.
But when God went to see what fruit had been produced by Israel, He found that it had yielded wild grapes, unsuitable for the winepress. The work of God had been ruined by the unfruitful actions of the people.
Although vineyards and wine are common in our modern day culture, we tend to view them as luxuries. We might enjoy drinking wine on occasion, but it is not a necessity. But in the ancient Near East wine often was a necessity, especially when good drinking water was not easily available, as was often the case. Vineyards and wine were therefore obvious images of sustenance and life. This can be seen, for example, in the covenantal curses found in Deuteronomy, which describes what will happen to those who forsake the Law: “You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them” (Deut 28:39).
Loss of the vineyard, put simply, was analogous to loss of life, or at the very least the loss of joy and happiness. Abundance of wine, on the other hand, signified the fullness of life. Prophets such as Isaiah, Joel, Amos, Jeremiah, and others used vineyards and wine when speaking about both the curses of God and the future blessings He would eventually impart to His people, when “the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it” (Amos 9:13).
Isaiah 5 is a lament for the vineyard of Israel, which had become overgrown by sin and ruined by injustice. The parable of the wicked tenants, today’s second parable, is similar; it seems evident that Jesus was pointedly drawing upon Isaiah 5 when He spoke to the chief priests and the elders.
This parable is rather unique among Jesus’ many parables, for it is the most overtly allegorical of any of them—that is, the landowner, tenants, servants, and son all represent specific people. The landowner is God, the tenants are the chief priests and other religious leaders, the servants are the prophets, and the son is Jesus himself.
St. John Chrysostom, in his homily about this parable, reflected on God’s providence, love, and patience. God had done most of the work in establishing the people of Israel. The leaders of Israel had little to do; they were asked to be holy and uphold the Law. But they “made little effort to be productive, even after they had enjoyed such great blessings from him.”
God sent the servants, His prophets, as further evidence of His love and patience. Having been given the covenants and the commandments, the leaders violated both, murdering the Son of God. “While they had time to ask for pardon for their offenses and whereas they ought to have run to him to do so, they persist even more strongly in their former sins.”
The vineyard, Jesus said, would be leased to other tenants. They make up the New Israel, formed by the Son, consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, and bound together by communion in the Holy Spirit. “The Church,” states Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, “is a piece of land to be cultivated, the tillage of God. …. That land, like a choice vineyard, has been planted by the heavenly Husbandman.”
Nourished by the True Vine (cf. Jn 15), we should produce good fruit, mindful of the gifts of love and life given to us by the landowner and his son.
(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in a slightly different form in the October 5, 2008, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)
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