The Sánchez Archives TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Year A

By
Patricia Datchuck Sánchez

A Love Story

ISAIAH 5:1-7
PHILIPPIANS 4:6-9
MATTHEW 21:33-43

Is there anyone among us who doesn’t like a story? Story-tellers and the stories they tell have a way of tweaking our attention and drawing us in. Stories engage our imagination, hopes and desires. Stories make us laugh and cry. A good story, well told, can lead us through every human posture from tender compassion to a flare of anger. Besides their value as entertainment, stories can also be effective teaching tools; stories create a safe distance, a vantage point, from which the hearer may examine and accept a truth which he/she may have otherwise rejected. In today’s first reading and gospel, both Isaiah and Matthew couched a serious message within the context of a story.

Isaiah had delivered the same lesson to his contemporaries on countless other occasions and in a variety of ways. A quick glance at the earlier chapters of the prophet’s work (Isaiah 1-4) will reveal a series of visions, threats and oracles, all of which were intended to turn Israel away from evil and back to God. Evidently, these calls to conversion had fallen on deaf ears and unyielding hearts; then the prophet tried a fresh approach. He sang a song, a ballad which told a story of a loving and caring vineyard owner. Isaiah portrayed the owner as a provident and conscientious person who could not do enough for the vines he had planted and yet the crop had failed to produce good grapes. Only at the end of the song and with his listeners, held in rapt attention, did the prophet drive home his point. Israel was the vine; Yahweh the vine dresser. The story recalled God’s countless overtures of love as it confronted Israel with its history of inadequate responses to that love.

Paul believed that it was his privilege to realize the universal scope of the story of salvation among those who had not yet heard it. In his preaching to the Philippians (second reading) he handed on to others the story he himself had learned and accepted. In the Matthean gospel, Jesus’ parable picked up where Isaiah’s ballad had left off, putting before his listeners additional chapters of the story of the vineyard and its loving owner. As the parable unfolds, it becomes clear that it is the story of salvation which is being told. In the telling of this story, there is also an appeal that those who hear, will also learn, and thereby experience, a share of that salvation.

In his fine study entitled Christian Religious Education (Harper and Row, Publishers, San Francisco: 1980), Thomas H. Groome continued in the traditions of Isaiah and Matthew by underscoring the importance of the story. An elemental part of the learning process, the Christian Story is defined by Groome as the “whole faith tradition of our people, however that is expressed or embodied. From that Story, by God’s grace, we draw our life of Christian faith, and by making it accessible again and again, we experience God’s saving deeds on our behalf.”

Unlike the fairy tales of childhood fantasy, our Story, as believers, is grounded in historical events. The climax of the Story or fullest expression of God’s intervention into human history has been revealed in the person and mission of Jesus Christ. At each Eucharist, this story is remembered, proclaimed, and experienced anew; each time it is represented, this Story of our Salvation enables us to perceive that God continues to be active among us and challenges us to recognize and respond to that activity.

Groome reminds his readers that the Story is still being told and will not be completed until the final advent of the kingdom. Meanwhile, chapters are still being written; as God’s plan unfolds, we continue to find ourselves in new historical situations, each of which calls for its own response.

Each response and each page of our Story will manifest some continuity with the past, but there must also be a newness and a uniqueness brought to bear with each new page of our Story. Otherwise, we would be doing little else than repeating the past. If we are to unfold the future, we must actively appropriate the Story, adding to it, within the context of present experience, our own personal contribution and, only then, should we hand it on to generations yet to come. In that way we become active participants, in the greatest love Story ever told.

ISAIAH 5:1-7

Isaiah’s ballad of his friend and the vineyard on which such loving care was lavished was plucked directly from the day to day experience of his listeners. Vineyards dotted the ancient Palestinian hillsides. Some vines were planted in rows and trained on stakes in open fields. Others were planted on the sides of terraced hills. Travelers to the Negeb, or southern Israel will still find vines which have been trained to grow over heaps of black flinty stones. The surfaces of the stones radiate solar heat and, because they are heaped into mounds, the stones keep the grape clusters from touching the ground. Vines require long-term care; the soil must be dug and kept clear of stones. Pruning, hoeing, thinning and supporting the grape clusters, as well as irrigation, kept the vine dressers occupied from sunrise to sunset.

As Isaiah described, the vineyards were fenced in for protection, sometimes with a hedge of thorny plants, at other times with walls of piled stones. Vine presses usually consisted of two parts, a receptacle for the fruit and a vat for its extracted juices. Usually hewn out of rock, the press, was operated by at least two people who trod the grapes by foot; often there were as many as seven or more, pressing the grapes into new wine, just as they were picked by the harvesters.

The watchtowers were either circular or square-shaped and varied in height from fifteen to fifty feet. Some were flimsily built and served for only one season. Others were constructed more durably and served as shelter for a guard who was able to survey the entire vineyard from atop the tower. At harvest, the vineyards were guarded both night and day to protect the ripened fruit from animals and/or thieves until it could be gathered.

As his song described, all the work of his friend for his vineyard, Isaiah also noted that in addition to every other amenity, the vineyard owner had also planted only the choicest of grapes. These would have been obtained from Sorek, a valley in the foothills west of Jerusalem, renowned for its delectable fruit.

Through his musical metaphor the prophet was, in fact, detailing the history of Yahweh’s generous and constant care for Israel. When he asked, “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done?” (v. 4), Isaiah’s listeners were compelled to admit that absolutely nothing had been wanting in Yahweh’s dealings with them. For their part, however, God’s care had not been met by an appropriate and worthy response. Israel had proven unresponsive to God’s love and did not reflect the goodness that had been lavished on them in their treatment of one another. Whereas choice grapes (sorek) were sown, bitter stinking fruit (soreq) was reaped (v. 2). While judgment (mishpat) was expected, only bloodshed (mishpah) was found. Where God looked for justice (sedaqah), there was only and outcry (se’aqah) to be heard (v. 7). This series of three paranomasias, or wordplays, was not lost on Isaiah’s contemporaries; his message was clear. Yahweh had given all; Israel had yielded nothing.

Even today, Isaiah’s love song continues to invite believers to reflect on the numerous divine gifts that have been such an important part of their lives. How have these many blessings been met? How has God’s goodness to me been reflected in my relationships with other people. Shall the harvest of my life be characterized by choice sweet goodness or by bitter stinking fruit? If some change is warranted, then, today is the day to begin.

PHILIPPIANS 4:6-9

From the information gathered from Paul’s letters and the Acts of the Apostles, it would appear that the Philippian church was established through the cooperative efforts of several missionaries, Paul, Silas (or Silvanus), Timothy and possibly Luke. In his account of the founding of the community at Philippi (Acts 16:10-17), Luke wrote in the first person plural (we), thereby suggesting that he was a companion to Paul on this mission and at other times as well (see Acts 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16). Scholars continue to debate the authenticity of these so-called “we sections” of Acts but Luke’s presence would certainly account for some of the details included in these portions of his narrative. Some scholars have suggested that Luke was left behind in Philippi after Paul’s forced departure and may have been the partner or yoke-mate (syzygus) on whom Paul relied to bring about a reconciliation between Euodia and Syntycke (Philippians 4:2-3).

In any event, the Philippian foundation was a vital one, from which Christianity spread rapidly into the rest of Europe. Today’s second reading is a portion of Paul’s advice to the Philippians concerning their life together. A sense of discontinuity in this reading can be attributed to the fact that it is a composite text, comprised of part of Paul’s second letter to Philippi (vv. 6-7) and part of his third (vv. 8-9). Disjointed or not, Paul’s wise counsel remains valuable.

Anxiety or worry (v. 6) accomplish nothing except the frittering away of energy and hope; Paul counseled the Philippians to rid themselves of such a detrimental exercise. He was not being insensitive to the exigencies of their lives; Paul understood that living according to the good news in a city like Philippi was no easy feat.

Philippi was a Roman colony and home to a large population of veteran Roman soldiers who were expected to maintain peace and order in this very strategic locale of the empire. Christians, with their proclamations of loyalty to only one leader (Jesus) and one reign (the kingdom of God) were regarded as threats to national security. Being in that tenuous position was, no doubt, a source of anxiety for the early believers.

Also of concern was the treatment to which the mainly gentile Christian community of Philippi was subjected to by the Judaizers (3:2-3). These right-wing Jewish Christians attempted to diminish Paul’s authority among the Philippians by forcing gentile believers in Jesus submit to circumcision and the Mosaic legal prescriptions regarding ritual purity, diet, etc.

Aware of their situation, Paul called the Christians of Philippi to bring their worries to God in prayer and therein to find peace. Drawing on their firsthand experiences with the Roman army, Paul used military terminology, promising the Philippians that God’s peace would stand guard (phronein) over their hearts and minds. As William Barclay (“Philippians”, The Daily Study Bible, Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh: 1975) has explained, when Paul further described God’s peace as being beyond all understanding (v. 7), he did not mean that the peace of God is such a mystery that the human mind cannot grasp it. Rather Paul meant that the peace of God is so precious that humanity, with all its skill and knowledge, can never produce it; it is only God who originates and bestows such peace.

Rather than be consumed by anxiety, Paul directed his readers to concentrate on the virtues of honesty, purity and decency, as he himself had taught them, by his words and through his example. In describing the Philippians’ acceptance of his teaching, Paul used the Greek term, paralambanein, a technical term which referred to the tradition of the faith being handed on from one believer to believer. It was this rich tradition and not anxiety from any source (Romans or Judaizers) which was to motivate and shape the life-style of the Philippian Christians; this same tradition continues to inspire readers of Paul and disciples of Jesus, today.

MATTHEW 21:33-43

Paul Harvey, the noted radio personality is probably best known for his segments entitled, “The Rest of the Story”. This long-running staple of talk radio usually begins with some well known person or event and then continues to reveal additional, lesser known but very poignant information. At the conclusion of his feature, Harvey’s pleasant voice intones the familiar phrase: “and now you know the rest of the story!” When the Matthean Jesus in today’s gospel began the familiar story about a vineyard owner, who planted vines, hedged them in, dug a vat and erected a tower, his listeners, no doubt, recognized the centuries old familiar ballad of Isaiah (first reading). But then, in a style not unlike Paul Harvey’s, the parable went on to tell the rest of the story.

As Joachim Jeremias (The Parables of Jesus, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York: 1963) pointed out, this parable exhibits an allegorical character which is unique among the parables of Jesus. However, the allegorization of the key figures of the parable is usually attributed to the Matthean community and/or evangelist.

The vineyard is clearly Israel, the tenant farmer are Israel’s leaders, the chief priests and elders to whom the parable was addressed. God is the vineyard owner and the two groups of slaves represent the prophets of both Hebrew and Christian tradition who endeavored to keep the vineyard “fruitful”. The son, sent as a last resort, is Jesus. It is significant that the parable specifies that the son was dragged outside the vineyard and killed. Obviously the Matthean community intended that readers of the parable would call to mind the death of Jesus who was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem (John 19:17, Hebrew 13:12). To more closely align his parable with what was known of Jesus’ death, Matthew departed from his Marcan source (Mark 12:8) and situated the son’s killing outside the vineyard.

A further indication of the early church’s involvement in this story is the decision of the vineyard owner to lease his vineyard to new tenants. Combined with the formula citation from Ps. 118: 22-23 (v.42), the message is unmistakable. “Jesus, God’s chosen stone (cf. Isaiah 8:14-15, Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45) has been rejected by the builders of Israel (the leaders who crucified him). But by the resurrection, God has vindicated him and made him the cornerstone or keystone of a new structure, the new people of God” (John P. Meier, Matthew, Michael Glazier, Inc., Wilmington: 1980). Included among this new people of God will be anyone (tax-collectors, prostitutes, sinners, gentiles, etc.), who welcomes the attentive care of the vineyard owner by responding to his servants and receiving his son with honor and love.

The pages of this saving saga are still being written; when the “rest of the story” is finally known, what part of the allegory will best describe your role?

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