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.