Scripture Study for
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 5:1–7 / Isaiah 5:7a / Philippians 4:6–9 / Matthew 21:33–43
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Understanding the Word
By Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.
The first reading tells a story about a vineyard. The vine dresser diligently performed each step of the process to produce grapes. However, not only was there no abundant harvest, but wild, useless grapes sprang forth. This unnatural yield was not due to poor cultivation. Rather, the vineyard itself had failed. It becomes clear that the prophet is really talking about the Israelites. Judgment is now passed on the vineyard (the people). God invested so much in the future of this people, and they scorned the attention of the vineyard owner. What began as a poem about friendship and devotion ends as a message of doom.
The tenderness with which Paul regards the Philippians is evident here. They are anxious and Paul offers them encouragement and direction. Rather than be anxious, they are admonished to turn to God in prayer. Paul is not advising some kind of magical exercise that will right every wrong, but an openness to God that itself can help people bear trying circumstances. They will then know the peace that only God can give, the peace that surpasses all understanding. He then exhorts them to live lives patterned after Christ. Christian thinking and behavior will open the believer to the kind of peace that only God can give.
Jesus too tells a story about a vineyard. When he is finished, he turns to the leaders and asks them to provide a legal ruling on the situation. They must have known that the parable was highlighting their own resistance to God’s directives, and they also would have known that whatever judgment they might suggest would fall on their heads as well. The sentence they passed was quite harsh, but it was actually no harsher than the conduct of the tenants. Just as the vineyard is taken from the wicked tenants and given to others, so the kingdom of God will be taken from the leaders and given to people who will produce fruits.