Today we hear the retelling of the story of the vineyard both from the Old Testament perspective of Isaiah and from the New Testament gospel perspective. Undoubtedly the vineyard theme has something important to impart to us—since we hear it twice today.
Therefore, it must be worth our time to consider the questions that arise from reflecting on the vineyard. What is God communicating to us in the vineyard story? Does it possess a significance that reaches out across the ages? Is its meaning the same now as it was in Isaiah's time or in Jesus' day? Does the vineyard symbolize something merely spiritual, in the sense that it speaks only to an internal dimension of our spiritual lives and personal relationship to Jesus, or does it speak to a broader and more secular reality?
Unquestionably Isaiah spoke to the people of Judah about themselves, where they were in their here and now—about being a people and a nation in relation to God—and about their being the handiwork or creation of the Lord. Most certainly, Isaiah spoke to Judah about their exercise of freedom and their collective choice to be what they will. He spoke both responsibility and the ultimate consequences of rebelling against God.
Jesus tells a similar vineyard story but goes further—he calls to mind the Isaiah passage and illuminates it for his detractors. In Isaiah it is the Lord who puts all the necessary preparations in place for the vineyard; however, its produce is only wild grapes, which symbolizes the spirit of rebellion. The failure of the vineyard had nothing to do with the preparations, but rather points to the neglect of responsibility on the part of it tenants.
Jesus narrative of the vineyard serves to show us how accountability goes along with responsibility. Like Isaiah, Jesus was also speaking to the people of his time. He warning that what is neglected will be taken away from the rightful heirs and given to someone else.
Like Isaiah's prophecy, Jesus' words transcend his own time of existence on earth as a human being among us. What Jesus had to say about the vineyard, like what Isaiah had to say about it, is meant for all times. In the narratives we can a movement from prophecy about ancient Judah to prophecy concerning the generation to whom the Son of God came as a human being.
Inasmuch as modern interpretation associates the vineyard with the Church, we must see the prophecies, and the related themes of responsibility and accountability, as related to the Church. However for the fullest impact and meaning of the vineyard to be realized we must allow it to move beyond all confines of interpretation—the vineyard symbolizes much more than one particular people or religion. It tends to escape the confines that we put upon it and always seeks reinterpretation in a new or broader context.
We must allow for the enlargement of our own responsibility and accountability to others. The admonition of the vineyard story for our times is that we move away from thinking of responsibility and accountability in narrow terms. We tend to interpret community as that which is nearest to us.
Recently I was invited to reflect in small group on the meaning of community. When it came time to share I heard a lot about how community is best lived out here among us as a parish. It's true that as a parish we have many wonderful opportunities to live and relate to one another what it means to be community. However, it would be incomplete to not go further—we must consider the larger meaning of community.
Ultimately, we must allow the vineyard narrative to relate experientially in our lives on a grand scale. Indeed it is community—self, spouse, family, parish, workplace, city, nation, and the world as a whole. The vineyard is something that is always in the process of being revealed to us in greater ways, and because of this our responsibility and accountability grows in a way that is proportional to our life in community with one another.
The lesson today is important because it reveals the vineyard as being where we live in our here and now and it shows what is expected of those who have been given the privilege of being its tenants. Indeed there is a secular dimension to the vineyard that demands our involvement in the world today. We must keep our responsibility and accountability in mind with every individual whom we meet, and with the entire great world of which we are only a small part.
The vineyard is about the final work of God: the kingdom to come, and what we do in the here and now to usher it into the world of our relations with others.
This is quite timely here, as we are presently harvesting our grapes. This phase requires the participation of community: there are those who go down to the vineyard to help the owner pick the grapes. The owner takes the grapes to the winery, etc. There are people at home preparing the noon meal, making sure there is enough of everything and that things go smoothly so the helpers can go back down to the vineyard as soon as possible. There is a lot of merrymaking throughout the day, as a condiment to lighten up the hard work being done.
My Canadian cousin and his wife enjoy coming to Italy this time of year. This is the second year they've helped us with the harvest, which is one of the highlights of their trip every time. When I asked them if they were tired at the end of the day, they said "yes, but it's a good feeling, because we love to drink the wine, and it makes it even more special when we know that we participated in making it." Thus, the particiaption in a community effort has a high cost in responsibility, but it also has its rewards, which everyone (even those who didn't do anything) can enjoy, but those who participate more closely have a deeper understanding of the reward.
Posted by: Pia | October 12, 2008 at 04:13 AM