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 Br. John R. Barker, OFM
The prophet Isaiah sings of “my friend” who had a vineyard. Israel is often spoken of in the Bible as the vine God has planted or the vineyard God has cultivated. God has put a great amount of work and care into the vineyard, giving it everything it needs to produce a “crop” of righteousness and fidelity to God, only to find the wild and useless grapes of injustice and bloodshed. Just as a vineyard owner might rightly and prudently abandon the vineyard, so God might do the same to Israel. The oracle, then, is meant to justify the divine decision to bring judgment and exile to Judah, absent the desired repentance.
It is clear from Paul’s letter that the Philippians struggled with internal tensions as well as outside opposition. Although the Christian path is difficult—Paul himself has likened it to a prize toward which one constantly strives—it is in fact a joyous struggle because it involves becoming more like Christ and it occurs “in Christ.” This transformation is slow, and perhaps painful, but it manifests itself in peace, kindness, calm. The struggle the Philippians are undergoing tests their resolve to follow Christ, but they must know that it is a path marked out by what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and gracious. In a word, it is the path to excellence on which they travel with their God and Messiah.
In this third vineyard-owner parable, the tenants rebel and take over the vineyard as if it belonged to them, refusing to recognize the rights of both the vineyard owner (God) and his son (Jesus). The curious feature is the statement that they killed the son in order to acquire the inheritance, which suggests a desire to appropriate to themselves his authority. The chief priests and the scribes, then, are being accused not of failing to recognize the authority of Jesus but seeking to destroy him precisely because they do recognize him as the son. Jesus accuses them of profound malice in seeking to appropriate to themselves his authority over the vineyard (Israel).