Isaiah 5:1-7

The metaphor of the vineyard would have been familiar to all who lived in the region of Israel and Palestine. A dominant feature of the local agricultural economy, vineyards known to produce great bounty, but also required careful tending. Isaiah speaks of God’s frustration with the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, carefully nurtured but not yielding the fruit of righteousness. While direct punishment from God seems unlikely, the accumulation of social and economic (and political) injustice is what brings down empires – the Kingdoms of Israel were no exception. Those of us basking today in the glow of apparent prosperity in Canada (and the West generally) should take note. Are we prepared for the consequences when our comforts are purchased at the cost of injustice to others?

Psalm 80:7-14

The Psalmist’s cry puts it all honestly – we are not the authors of our own successes. Our prosperity is the product of an infinitely complex mix of conditions and circumstances – timing, natural resources, climate, location and many more God-given blessings. And so we are called to ensure that those gifts benefit all, not just those lucky enough to be born under favorable circumstances, in lush environments, with rich natural resources and security. Faced with destruction, the Psalmist offers a cry of remorse for what we have not done with such bounty. A plea for forgiveness. And underlying it all, a cry of thanks for the blessings of this life for which we cannot claim responsibility.

Philippians 3: 4b-14

Who among our worldly leaders would turn away from all their accomplishments to follow Christ? Paul, a leader of his community, a Pharisee, ‘blameless before the law,’ threw it all away to pursue a life of poverty and want, of threats and danger. This is not the highly publicized embrace of piety that we see all too often in our world, but something more real. Paul turned his back on worldly status and achievement, pursuing an uncertain future to spread the Gospel that he was certain offered a path to righteousness. The certainty of the Gospel overcoming the uncertainties of life.

Matthew 21: 33-46

Matthew’s narrative on the parable of the evil tenants tells of the long history of the established orders of the Israelite world rejecting God’s covenant. Whether in the face of the prophets, or the ministry of John the Baptist or in response to Jesus himself, the authorities seem ready to reject, ignore, and persecute God’s offerings of wisdom, grace, and truth. But fearing the people (rendered ironically in Greek as the ochlous – the great unwashed, the masses) who recognize God’s presence in the world, the authorities are rendered impotent for the moment. So let us side with the people, giving pause to worldly authorities resisting or distracting us from the Kingdom of God.