Called to bear good fruits for God.
1st Reading: Isaiah
5:1-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms
80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
2nd Reading: Philippians
4:6-9
Alleluia: John 15:16
Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43
Dear friends, we live in a world where
sidelining God and His will in their treatment of the things He created has
become the hobby of some people. People treat their bodies the way they wish,
including the mutilation of their bodies to assume a different sex, without
regard to the will of their creator. The same treatment goes to the natural
environment and resources of the world, where greed and insensitivity in the
use and treatment of the natural environment and resources have become the
order of the day. In today’s liturgy, the church, through the readings, calls
us to remember that He who created both man and the environment has a purpose,
and will demand account from everyone on how we treated what he placed under
our care.
The striking similarity between the parable
from the prophet Isaiah in the first reading and the parable told by Jesus in
the gospel of today is remarkable. The two parables beautifully painted how the
owners of the vineyard adorned their vineyards lavishly. Isaiah said the
vineyard was located in a very fertile land. The owner dug the land and cleared
it of stones, planted choicest vines, built a watch tower, and hewed vine vat
in it. In his own story, Jesus said the householder planted a vineyard, set a
hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watch tower in it before
leasing it.
With the beautifully painted efforts made by
the owners of the vineyard, no one would expect anything less than huge harvest
from the farms. Naturally, if you invest much in a business, your expectation
will be a palatable income to correspond to the efforts made and the money
invested. It is, therefore, heartbreaking that at the harvest time, the two
vineyard owners received the opposite of what they invested. In the case of the
vineyard owner in the parable of prophet Isaiah, the vines produced soured grapes.
The landowner in the parable of Jesus received insults, humiliation and killing
of his servants and son, instead of the proceeds from the vineyard. The two
masters were infuriated by what they received in return after having invested
much money and energy in their farms. Hence, they took drastic actions against
their farms, and the tenants in them, as in the case of the parable of Jesus.
Prophet Isaiah said the vineyard of the Lord is
the house of Israel. Indeed, God invested so much in order to build up the
house of Israel. To raise Israel as a nation, God sacrificed many nations; he
allowed many great and stronger nations to lose their lands and other valuables
in order to resettle Israel on their ancestral land. For example, the many plagues
that were rained on Egypt in order to set Israel free (Exodus 8-14), and the displacement of the inhabitants of the
promised land and the nations that resisted Israel as they journeyed in the
desert ( the Amalekites, Ex. 17:8; the Canaanites, Josh. 1; Jericho, Josh. 6;
Ai, Amorites, Jabin, Jebusites; many kings, Josh. 12:1ff.).
With the huge investment on Israel, God was
expecting fruits of loyalty, obedience, love, peace, justice and true worship
from the house of Israel. But on the contrary, Israel produced fruits that did
not give glory to the name of God. Isaiah said, “and he looked for justice, but
behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry.” The same experience
was seen in the parable of Jesus. Instead of rendering account of the proceeds
from the farm, the tenants killed the messengers and the son of the landowner. What
an insult.
Same way, God has invested much in creating us
as beautiful and handsome as we are. Our dear ladies, both old and young, do
you know that to endow you with straight legs, nice hip, beautiful face and
hair, and other beautiful features, God allowed many girls to be born very
ugly? What type of fruits are your bearing? Is it the fruit of harlotry? Is it
the fruits of using your body to offend God by leading people into sin? Do the
things you do with your bodies give glory to He who made them extra beautiful?
The same goes to our young men. Do you know that to make you physically strong,
God invested so much in you to the point that he allowed many other young men
to be born weak? What type of fruit are you giving in return? Is it that of
cultism, or kidnapping or other social vices? To give you smooth skin, God had
allowed many people to be born with rough skins. To make you wise and
intelligent, God had allowed some people to come into the world with mental challenges.
As the saying goes, ‘to whom much is given, much will be expected,’ God has
invested so much in making you the way you are, He anticipates much from you in
return. If you have not been giving corresponding proceeds to God, you may be
in list of those to be cast out of the beautiful vineyard.
Furthermore, in the gospel reading, Jesus said,
“the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Dear friends,
when we depart from the will of God in the way we handle the gifts he have
given to us, we have cast out the cornerstone - the stone that holds our house
strong – from of our lives. Consequently, it will be difficult for our house to
survive the storms of life. God is the stronghold our lives. When we reject his
will and vision in the way we treat our bodies and our environment, failure
becomes imminent. Let us stop mutilating our bodies; let us stop misusing the
resources of the world; let us instead channel our attention to discovering or
rediscovering the will of the creator and following it in all we do.
The gospel of today further reminded us that we
are only guardians of whatever we have in this world. Just as the tenants were
placed in charge of the vineyard by the landowner, God has placed us in charge
of the resources of the world, our beauties, and our talents. So, the original
owner of the things we claim as ours is God.
Just as the land owner in the parable of Jesus
sent out his servants and son to remind the tenants to submit the proceeds from
the vineyard, God sent many prophets and His Son to the house of Israel to
preach to them and demand change of heart. We all know what happened to them. In
our own time, He has been sending his priests to remind you that you must give
account of the things placed under your care. Do not take his patience as
weakness. Israel did take his patience as weakness, and they paid heavily in
721/722 BC and 587 BC. Let us start preparing our account book today, tomorrow
might be too late.
Fr. Isaac Chinemerem Chima.
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