Reflection for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Hear the words of the prophet Isaiah:

Let me sing of my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard:

            My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

            He dug it and cleared it of stones,

            and planted it with choice vines;

            he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

            and hewed out a wine vat in it

Hear also the words from Jesus’ parable in the Gospel of Matthew:

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower.

These sound incredibly similar, don’t they? Two vineyards, created to be used by others. Two vineyards full of all the things that tenants would need in order to have a rich, bountiful life. A fence and watchtower for protection, cleared of stones that would keep the vines from growing, wine vats for turning the fertile ground’s harvest into wine… all these are the things are provided by the owner of the vineyard.

And yet, things have gone wrong. Life abundant has been choked out by the thorns of violence. In Jesus’ parable we hear about the tenants, who have been made stewards of this well-created vineyard, and how their greed and squandering of their good fortune has led them away from their role as stewards and into a pattern of violence.

And so what of this vineyard that we have been given? What of the gifts that we have been given to care for? They are different for each of us. We have all been given different gifts, different strengths and passions, different calls in life. How do we care for those gifts, passions, and callings? How do we continue to care for this bounteous vineyard even in the face of the changes that come from simply living life? When the harvest time comes, do we panic and hold hostage the harvest, claiming that because we have been given much, then more is owed to us?

There are many things that threaten us in the world, so much to be afraid of. The media is filled with news of violence both far away and close to home. It often seems that any discussion of politics quickly turns into fruitless argument and not productive dialogue.

Yet, we have been given this vineyard to care for. This vineyard has been created for us, given into our care. What are we doing with it?

My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill…

The One who loves us, who we love in return, has given us this fertile vineyard. Who do we welcome into it? How do we care for it?

Thanks be to God for the gifts we have been given, for the vineyard and for the harvest, for life and for breath, and for forgiveness when we do not tend as we ought.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.