TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
4 OCTOBER 2026
The
prophet Isaiah uses a vineyard to describe the care of God in taking his people
from slavery in Egypt and transplanting them in the Promised Land. Vineyards played a critical role in the life
of the people of ancient Israel. They
produced the grapes that were made into wine, the important drink that
nourished people and provided work for laborers. The vineyard became an image for what God had
done. God took his cherished vine from
Egypt and transplanted it in the Promised Land.
With great care, God placed his people on a fertile hillside like a
landowner would plant a vineyard. God
spaded the hillside, cleared it of stones, built a watchtower, and hewed out a
wine press. But Isaiah laments that
instead of finding good grapes, God found wild grapes. His people had forgotten the care he had
taken into settling them in the Promised Land. They chased after false gods and
abandoned the Covenant. As a result,
their enemies defeated them and trampled down the vineyard God had planted.
Jesus uses
that same image in his parable directed at the chief priests and elders of the
people. His Father is the
landowner. They are the tenants placed
in charge of the vineyard. For
centuries, God had sent prophets to instruct the tenants on how to produce good
fruit. But the religious authorities
ignored some, killed others, and dragged his only son outside the vineyard to
kill him. Because the religious
authorities refuse to listen to this parable, the vineyard is taken away from
them and given to a people who will produce good fruit.
Instead of
judging the religious leaders who refused to listen to this parable, we must
realize that the Lord is speaking to us.
We are the current tenants entrusted to producing good fruit for the
vineyard. The stone rejected by the
builders has turned hard, stony ground into fertile soil. Now, we are entrusted with the work of
producing good fruit. For many decades,
our bishops have set aside the month of October as “respect life month.” They urge us to use this month to be tenants
in the vineyard to produce the good fruit of respecting human life from the
moment of conception through natural death.
Sadly, that is not at the heart of our current secular society. Instead of regarding each human life as a
gift from God, too many people regard human life as worthwhile if it is
productive. That transactional view of
human nature means that we can determine the worth of another human being based
on how useful they are. In this view, it
is easy to exclude people because of their disabilities, their ethnic makeup,
their place of birth, their racial makeup, their advanced age, or any aspect
factor not deemed to be useful. Last
week, I heard a story on the radio about the current debate about immigration
and ICE activity. In a small town in a
very red state, the reporter marveled that the people of the town rallied
around their immigrant neighbors and blocked ICE agents from coming into the
town. But, as the reporter continued the
story, it became clear that the townspeople did not act out of concern for
their inherent dignity. They were more
concerned that the removal of their neighbors would hamper the work of the
major industry in town and cause the price of beef to go up.
The Lord
has given us the task of producing good fruit in his vineyard. We need to build a wall of peace that guards
our hearts and minds. Then, we can make
our requests known to God by prayer, petition, and thanksgiving. Like Paul, we can learn from each other. We rely on what we received from our elders
who have gone before us and handed down our tradition. We hear the Word of God spoken to us each
Sunday. We see how we can carry out our
mission to bear fruit. With the support
of this community and the strength of the Eucharist, we can practice ways of
seeing each human being made in the image and likeness of God. As faithful tenants trusting in the Lord’s
love, we can bear much fruit in this vineyard God has given to us.
