Parable of the Vineyard Fr. James Jorgenson

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

We have an interesting liturgical coincidence

this morning with the gospel reading, of course,

about the cross, because last week we celebrated

the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross.

And as a reminder of the importance of the cross

in our life, it is placed for the whole week

after this feast in the center of the church,

as it is done also during the middle of Great

Lent after the Sunday of the cross. And then

we have the familiar gospel parable of the vineyard,

which you've heard before, and believe me, this

idea of the vineyard was even more familiar to

the Jewish people. What is a coincidence? Because

at the conclusion of this vineyard, after the

tenants take different servants and stone them

and beat them up, then they say, here's the heir,

let us kill him. The stone... which the builders

rejected, Jesus reminds his hearers, has become

the headstone of the corner, and this is the

Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

There could be no more vivid expression of the

rejection of this cornerstone than the crucifixion

of the Savior, the Messiah, the promised one.

the stone which the builders rejected. Now I

want to focus our attention primarily on the

gospel passage about the vineyard. As I said,

this is a familiar one. It occurs a number of

times in the Old Testament, and I want to call

our attention to two specific ones which I think

are of primary importance. The first one is from

Psalm 80. This, of course, is God leading the

Jewish people from the captivity of Egypt to

the promised land. Thou didst bring a vine out

of Egypt. Thou didst drive out the nations and

plant it. Thou didst clear the ground for it.

It took deep root and filled the land. The mountains

were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars

with its branches, and it sent out its branches

to the sea, and it shoots to the river. Then

the mood becomes more ominous. We have a wild

boar which comes in. The psalmist is referring,

I believe, quite clearly to the same prediction

that Isaiah has in his parable of the vineyard

that we'll look at momentarily. The wild boar

is the impending invasion of the Babylonians,

whom God sent as chastisement. to the Jewish

people because of their sinfulness and their

infidelity to him. So, after we see how he's

taken care of the vineyard, then the mood changes.

Why then hast thou broken down its walls, so

that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?

The boar from the forest ravages it. and all

that move in the field feed on it. Then there's

another shift in mood. Turn again, O Lord of

hosts, look down from heaven and see, have regard

for this vine, the stock which thy right hand

planted. And I also draw the connection between

the bishop's blessing of the congregation at

the entrance, the beginning of the liturgy, in

the pontifical liturgy, when he has his three

-branch and two -branch candelabra, the dikiri

and trikiri, and he blesses the people. And what

does he say? Look down from heaven, O God, upon

this vine which thou hast planted with thy right

hand. and establish it. So the vine which God

has planted is this congregation. We are branches

of this vine, and this vine is one of the many

vines in the vineyard of the Lord, the church.

Then the second one is from chapter 5 of Isaiah.

This is right at the beginning of Isaiah's ministry.

Isaiah says, let me sing for my beloved a love

song. Notice the intimacy here between God's

love for the vineyard, God's love for Israel.

When he speaks in these terms, a love song concerning

his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard. on a

very fertile hill. He digged it and cleared it

of stones and planted it with choice vines. He

built a watchtower in the midst of it and hewed

out a wine vat in it. And he looked for it to

yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. Aha!

Mood's going to change again. And now, O inhabitants

of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray

you, between me and my vineyard. What more was

there for me to do for my vineyard that I have

not done for it? When I looked for it to yield

grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now

I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured.

And I will break down its walls, and it shall

be trampled upon. And I will make it a waste,

and it shall not be pruned or hoed. Briars shall

grow from it. I will also command the clouds

that they rain no more upon it. This is, again,

the coming of the Babylonian invasion. And then

our Lord makes it very clear. The vineyard of

the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and

the men of Judah are his pleasant planting. And

he looked for justice, and behold, bloodshed,

and for righteousness, and behold, a cry. So

this parable, this delightful parable and story

of Israel as a vineyard, was very familiar to

the Jewish people. It was a warning to them,

and I would say it's also a warning to us. We

who are the modern day vineyard of the Lord.

And what could it be? It's a wake up call for

Christians as well as for each and every one

of us individually. Is there a wild boar which

can attack us and the church? The wild boar,

of course, for us individually is temptation

to fall away and to sin. And I would say the

wild boar, which is one of the many temporary,

hopefully, chastisements which God has for his

church, the wild boar nowadays in our Western

society is secularism. This sort of rejection

of Christianity. The stone which the builders

rejected. So many people, it appeared. There

are many good people, obviously. But religion

does not pervade our society as it once did.

And I think it's a call for the church and for

us individually to be vigilant, to bear... Real

grapes, not wild grapes. And how do we do that?

By leading holy, pious lives. To be an example

to one another and to the people we meet on a

day -by -day basis that Jesus Christ and his

church mean something to us. We want to be fruitful

vine. in his vineyard. And so whatever this impending

wild boar might be for us and for the church

collectively, let us be on guard and reform our

ways as Isaiah and the psalmist advised the Jewish

people to do, lest there be a Babylonian invasion,

an invasion of rejection of the church. God grant

that this does not take place and to give us

strength if it does. Amen.