The 21st Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22A), Oct. 5, 2008
BCP: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80 or 80:7-14; Phil. 3:14-21; Matt. 21:33-43
RCL: Exod. 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 and Psalm 19; or Isaiah 5:1-7 and Psalm 80:7-14; Phil. 3:4b-14; Matt. 21:33-46
Everything gets rated, including the products of the many vineyards and wineries that have proliferated over the country. The powerful metaphor Jesus used for God’s people and their way of life is that of the harvest of a vineyard. Isaiah 5 and Psalm 80 anticipated that theme.
The psalmist asks why Israel is being judged by the Lord’s neglect of his vineyard. Isaiah reveals the answer in God’s great love for his people and the consequences for their bearing a harvest of wild and bad fruit by disobedience and injustice. The metaphor brings into question the rating of our own harvest.
The greatness of God’s astonishing love for his people, Israel and the Church is reassuring, encouraging and foundational for our common mission and our personal relationship with him. At the same time, the reality of his judgment is sobering if not frightening.
Our society prefers a deity who doesn’t judge, only approves of whatever we desire and do. It’s the fruit of such popular films as “Love Story,” whose key theme was “Love is never having to say you’re sorry.”
It’s too easy and comfortable for us to apply Jesus’ story to the people of the Old Covenant. The gospel of God in Jesus Christ applies it to us as well. Our greatest temptation is not unbelief but corrupted faith by becoming our own versions of the Pharisees. We can substitute our interpretation for the life-changing power of God’s revealed will and way of life for us. The tendency to sanctify ourselves in our self-righteousness is true for all of us across the theological/political/social spectrum from left to right.
These passages are a warning to us all. They are strong directives to complete our gratitude for God’s saving mercy and love with a profound and persistent self-reflection. We should examine ourselves by God’s word, which is living in Jesus and written in the holy scriptures. Our diagnostic tool is not the delusion of infallibility on our part, but the work of the Holy Spirit as he applies the truth of God to our lives.
God calls all his people to depend gratefully upon his grace so that we may bear the fruit of his kingdom, which is love. Love of God and love of neighbor determines the quality of all our harvests.
Look It Up
Check out Psalm 118 and Daniel 2 to explore the background to the fullness of Jesus’ ministry authority.
Think About It
How does our self-satisfaction share in rebellion of the wicked tenants against the vineyard’s owner, God himself? How can we share in the rejection of his Son, Jesus Christ, by our greed to own that which belongs only to the Lord himself?
Next Sunday
The 22nd Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 23A), Oct. 12, 2008
BCP: Isaiah 25:1-9; Psalm 23; Phil. 4:4-13; Matt. 22:1-14
RCL: Exod. 32:1-14 and Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23; or Isaiah 25:1-9 and Psalm 23; Phil. 4:1-9; Matt. 22:1-14
