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.