Two vineyards both expected to yield profit for its owner and yet both failing to do so; one as a result of poor grape varietal (Isaiah 5:1-7) and one the result of poor management practices on the part of tenant farmers (Matt.21:33-46). Both of these stories relating to the expectations of God for God's people in light of the Covenant and the Exodus story. There are clear expectations in the Covenant with God that the people of Israel are obligated to meet. The story at the time of Isaiah and at the time of the Gospel is the same that the expectation has not been met. Both illustrations are comparable with the times and are understandable in terms of the economic principles of the day. They clearly indicate what God will do to those who do not conform to the covenant. If, the stories are talking about the covenant how relevant are they for us today as we live in a time beyond the requirements of the law as propounded in terms of the covenant. Yes and no, yes that we are indeed beyond the law as stated but no in that we each have entered into a relationship with God and each other that is covenantal in nature and we are thus bound by its obligations.
In the Exodus story (Ex. 20.1-20) the Israelites are given the basis of the law in the ten commandments, in the Jewish literature and its words, they actually "see" God's words and stand at a distance. The basis of the law when it is given is too overwhelming for them that they are pushed back and tremble in fear. Some sources actually suggest that they are pushed away from the presence of God by some 40 miles and are brought back by angels following each utterance. They cannot accept what is being asked for them and so put Moses in front to come before God. Our intercessor is Christ not Moses but we still need to make the initial response to God's call upon us to love our God and our neighbours as ourselves. This is as true now as it was then, for our community becomes broken and in despair if we do not make this commitment for ourselves. We like the Israelites in the Exodus passage are driven away from God by our own desires and the fact that we find ourselves afraid of embracing the truth that God brings into our lives. The Israelites feared God's presence as they saw God's words and did not want to have that closeness to God, so they asked Moses to stand before God and mediate for them.
Like the Israelites before us we are invited into a close relationship with God as he invites us to care for the vineyard that is our life and our life in community. We are called to labour in the vineyard and give to God that which God requires. We are called to tend the vines, the growth of our community, so that the wine of love and the ecstasy of God's presence can be felt by all. Yet, we fear the responsibility and we do not wish to garner the fruits and product only to lose it. We want someone else to do that not ourselves who have been given the responsibility. We then reject what is asked of us and throw those who come to us from God out of our lives. Our communities eventually suffer as a result of our rejection of God's love. It is not God who destroys us but our own greed and wants that drive us towards destruction. The vineyard that we tend as tenants are our own lives and the lives that are our communities. We hide away because we are unable to take on the responsibility and prefer to give that to somebody else, whether it be priest, bishop, pope or the government. Just like the Israelites we drive ourselves away from God in our rejection of what it means to have God as part of ourselves.
In accepting our responsibilities we need to accept them all. We can not be a people of faith who grow wild grapes and only give a minimum of flavour to the world around us. We must be cultivars that are filled with hope and grace so that we may impart God's love into the hearts and minds of those who surround us in our communities. Only when we can shed our fears and accept God's fulness in our lives through the acceptance and willingness to follow the Christic road of sacrifice and love. The sacrifice we make is the sacrifice of everything. So many of us think that it is just a little bit of time, it is just our due and no more. The rest is for me not for the other or the person I despise and leave on the street corner. This is the action of the poor tenant who rejected the servants and cast them out. We give freely of ourselves in sacrifice to contain the love of God that we can impart to our neighbours only to receive so much more. Paul writes in Philippians that his one desire is to know Christ (3.10) and he is willing to sacrifice everything for that one desire. In our daily lives and our faith lives can we truly state that our one desire is to know Christ? If that is the case we will not moan about our needs but are willing to sacrifice everything for the greater need of the faith. This is what it means to be a good tenant and produce a wine worthy of respect and the grace of God in our lives. A wine that can inebriate the community in which we live with the love of God's outpouring love.
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