God's vineyard

Many times in the Gospel we hear Jesus making use of the vineyard as a most meaningful metaphor to convey to us the real meaning of the Kingdom of God. Apart from the fact that the vineyard is also mentioned metaphorically in many passages of the Old Testament, it brought to mind in his hearers something which was most familiar to all, including his disciples.

Wine, perhaps even more than today, was a very common and vital element in Our Lord's time, as it was among the Israelites before Christ and as it still is all over the world even in our own times. Not for nothing Our Lord chose the elements of bread and wine as the matter for his eucharistic presence in the Church for all times and in all cultures.

As in most parables, Jesus makes use of metaphors in a forceful and almost exaggerated way to teach us something of vital importance. God, the lord of the vineyard, sends his prophets to his own people to help them produce good fruit and fulfil his divine plans in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.

We know what sort of fate most of them had to face. Many of them were killed. In the fullness of time God sends His own Son to His people, but his end was no different than that of the prophets before him. Although he too was killed, however, Jesus became the Saviour of mankind, also of those who had put him to death.

The life of each one of us is now God's own vineyard. He takes care of all our needs, as every father would do, but He rightly expects good returns from us. He invites us to work out our own eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and good works; he gives us all the help we need through grace and the teaching of those who represent him among us within his Church.

Thus the life of each one of us can be said to be the history of God's grace in our regard. Our own person and individual life is God's vineyard. As labourers in this vineyard we are at times faithful to our call; at other times however we are unfaithful and we even rebel by killing or rendering inefficient all the helps He offers us. That is what sin is: a rebellion against God, a "killing" or rendering inefficient all God's invitations to holiness.

Each refusal on our part makes us solidary with the powers of evil wreaking havoc in the world around us and in the environment in which we live. As Christians we believe we have been the object of divine predilection. But the goodness of the tree will be judged by its fruits.

Let us remember what Jesus said: "Not those who call me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven."

God has fitted us with a conscience, and a properly formed and informed conscience will tell whether or not we have taken good care of the Lord's vineyard. Jesus has said: "Those who are not against me, are with me." But He has also said: "Those who are not with me, are against me." The two sides of the same medal.

When all is said and done it is our good works or lack of them that will decide our final judgment before God when, in the concluding words of today's Gospel, we shall be able to say: "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes."