13th Sunday after Pentecost 2020 Fr. Nicholas Carr

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

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

today's Gospel reading is a parable. It's a story.

It's a story with meaning for us to understand.

It's given to us from the Lord Himself. And He

gives us a setting, a vineyard, a place of production,

a place where grapes are produced and harvested.

And in that vineyard, he tells us there is a

hedge, there is a wine press, and there is a

tower. And I don't think that these were put

in by chance. For the vineyard, the vineyard

is protected by a hedge. It has a place to take

grapes and to make wine. And it has a tower to

watch. Well, the characters are a landowner,

the landowner's servants sent to gather the harvest,

the vine dressers who are put in the vineyard

to work. The plot. The landowner builds the vineyard,

leases it. Notice that it wasn't gives. He leases

it. He still owns it. to the vinedressers and

goes to a far country, and vintage time draws

near, and servants are sent to receive the harvest.

And the vinedressers, though, say, we don't need

to keep our part of the contract, really. I mean,

we're the ones doing all the work here, so let's

take the harvest for ourselves. And so when they

were sent, those servants One was beaten, another

was killed and stoned and so forth, ill -treated,

a broken contract. The second group, more than

the others, were sent also to collect, and what

was done to them was the same thing, likewise.

And then he sent his son, the vineyard. to the

vineyard, and they said, the vinedressers said,

this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize

the inheritance. So not only were they just going

to keep the harvest out of greed and self -interest,

but now there is murder. Well, Jesus asks at

the end of this parable, he asks a question.

He asks them to predict what will happen. He

says, What will this landowner do? And they answer

him, those that were listening, the landowner

will destroy those wicked vine dressers and lease

to other vine dressers who will render fruits

in their season. In other words, who will keep

their word in the contract and will come through.

Well, we know there is symbolism in a parable.

We know the landowner of this is God the Father.

And we know the tenant vine dressers are religious

leaders entrusted with the care of Israel and

of the land of Israel and God's people there.

And that the landowner's servants that are sent

to collect the harvest are the prophets, which

are sent by God. And they proclaim his word and

they call the people to change from this path

of destruction. but they don't. And instead of

tending the vineyard, the vine dressers devour

it themselves. And we know the landowner's son

is Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah. Now, other

vine dressers that are said will come in their

prediction, well, we are those vine dressers.

You and me and all of us. Back to the time of

St. Irenaeus and St. Polycarp and St. John the

Apostle and all of us that are in the church,

we are the new vine dressers that are now placed.

The old was taken away from the land of Israel,

from the Jewish people, and it's been given to

us as the church. And at the end of this parable,

and at the end of, after we see all this, Jesus

said to them, did you never read the scriptures?

The stone which the builders rejected has become

the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes. Jesus is that

stone, rejected by Israel as, He was crucified

on a cross. And Jesus is the cornerstone. A cornerstone

is the foundation of a building, and it connects

walls. And so you have the wall of the Old Testament

and the wall of the New Testament coming together,

connected only in Christ. And if we will allow

it, you and I, are the bricks in the wall. We

are the church. And with Christ as that stone,

then we are placed. And each one of us is significant.

Every one of us has a part to play. You know,

a stone in a wall, maybe they might say, oh,

well, that stone we could pull out of the wall.

But then it would not be complete. All of us

are needed. to make that full building of the

church that's meant to be there built on the

cornerstone of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus

Christ. But I want to call to mind a different

way of looking at this parable. If we look at

it as we are the vineyard, each one of us individually,

we are a vineyard in and of ourselves. And God

has given us this vineyard of our lives. It is

a gift of God. We are a part of God's creation.

We are given this life. And then the question

is, what type of vine dressers will we be? Will

we be selfish, rebellious, murderous, worldly,

filled with greed and all manner of vice? And

try to keep that vineyard for ourselves, for

what we want? our life for what we want, self

-willed? Or will we be loyal servants, faithful

and true, rendering God his due, tending our

lives, and giving the harvest where it should

be? Will we look to that hedge and trust in the

hedge of God's protection? Will we work the wine

press? manifesting the fruits of the Spirit in

our life, humility, self -control, faith, love,

and joy. Will these come out in our lives as

we work that wine press in that vineyard that

God has given us? Will we use the tower? Will

we watch in prayer from the tower that God has

given us in the vineyard of our lives? Will we

look for the great and second glorious coming

of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

and look also to fend off the enemy that comes

to distract us from our focus on God? God gives

us all three of these things in our lives. The

hedge, the wine press, the tower. Of the hedge,

God says, In Psalm 5, 12, For you, O Lord, will

bless the righteous with favor. You will surround

him as with a shield. Walk in faith, not in fear.

And as Father John said so well and eloquently

last night in his homily, we need to walk in

faith, not in fear of things around us, but we

have faith in the hedge that God puts around

us. St. Cyril of Alexandria, says this in thinking

of the wine press of our lives. He says this,

that we can apply to it. Those who wish to live

holy lives cannot do so without labor, for constantly,

so to speak, the pathway that leads to virtue

is rugged and steep, and for most men too difficult

to walk upon. For labors spring up before us

and we have a great need of fortitude, patience,

and nobleness of conduct. Indeed, we have need

of a mind that cannot be prevailed upon dissolutely

to take part of the base pleasures or to be led

by irrational impulses into carnal lust. He who

has attained to this in mind and spiritual fortitude

will enter easily by the straight door and run

along the narrow way. And we need to keep watch

on the tower. In the book of Mark, the Gospel,

1438, it says, Watch and pray. lest you enter

into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,

but the flesh is weak. And we all know this.

We know temptations. We've seen them in our lives.

And sometimes we've fallen to those temptations.

But if we watch and pray, then God's strength

will enter us and we will be strengthened so

that those temptations will just fall away. Revelation

3 .3 says, If you will not watch, I will come

upon you as a thief, and you will not know what

hour I will come upon you. So let us trust in

God's protection, the hedge. Let us commit to

have our lives bear fruit, to work the winepress.

And let us stand upon the tower, keeping prayer,

keeping watch in prayer. May the Lord God give

us strength as we seek to walk the narrow road

and to keep his commandments. Glory to Jesus

Christ.