Throughout the Scriptures the vine, and the wine that it produces, became symbols of the Father’s abundant love for his people. God’s people were described as a vine that had been rescued from the slavery of Egypt and transplanted to the Promised Land. This cherished vine, nurtured by the love of God, had been intended to spread its branches throughout the land.
The Prophet Isaiah, confronted with the infidelity of the people, pressed the familiar imagery of the vine to a new and unexpected purpose: “Let me sing to my friend the song of his love for his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted choice vines in it. He expected it to yield grapes, but sour grapes were all that it gave.”
The creation of this vineyard had been portrayed as an act of love, a love whose devotion had been expressed in back breaking labour and preparation. The love with which the vineyard had been created would find its echo in the abundance of its harvest.
Here the traditional imagery broke down. The people had lost all sense of the love that had surrounded them and brought them to a land that would be their own. Instead of yielding a rich harvest of love, they had yielded the sour grapes of sin. “Yes, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the House of Israel, that chosen plant. He expected justice, but found bloodshed, integrity, but only a cry of distress.”
Isaiah’s song of God’s love for his vineyard is a meditation on the history of Israel. More immediately, it is a meditation on our own lives. In prayer we are invited to reflect upon the love with which the Father called us into being. In the unfolding of our lives we are invited to acknowledge the people and events that have been the signs of his love. Finally, in humble repentance, we are invited to confess the times when we have rejected that love. We must face the question posed by Isaiah’s song of the beloved vineyard: does my life bear fruit in the abundance of God’s love or in the sour grapes of sinful sterility?
The words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel take this reflection to a new level. Once again God’s relationship with his people is likened to a fruitful vineyard, planted and nurtured with God’s love. Here Jesus gave a new dimension to the familiar imagery. We become the privileged tenants to whom this vineyard was entrusted. In the simplest imagery, the parable expresses the wonder of what has been entrusted to us. To us has been entrusted a life shared with the Father, a life that he has cherished from its very beginning.
Like the ungrateful tenants summoned to bear fruit, we can probably recall the many occasions when we have rejected conscience calling us back to the Lord.
As the parable unfolded, the landowner was brought to a final act of love towards his wayward tenants: “Finally he sent his Son to them. ‘They will respect my son.’”
Within the story of the vineyard it seems incredible that the tenants should have seized and killed the son. In so doing they had chosen to live as if the vineyard was their own.
Jesus had intended to confront us with the realisation that when we sin we live as if the gift of life were our own. We have, in effect, removed him from our lives. His final words call us to repentance: “I tell you solemnly, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to others.”
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