Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 15 2025

Scripture Study for

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.

Jan 12 2025

God the Gardener

On this day of honor for St. Francis of Assisi, the prophet Isaiah describes how much God the gardener cherishes the vineyard—such care, such choice vines the divine hand has planted! That image naturally turns my thoughts to my relationship with my garden. I too get attached to my plants. I start my lavender and tomatoes from seed. I place them into soil that I have composted and manured. But my attachment is only a semblance of the devotion that God has for the human vineyard.

Last summer when I came back from vacation, the bunnies had chewed all my pole beans at ground level. The deer had chomped the tops off the sunflowers. Oh, I was exasperated. Imagine the angst when the stone fence around your vineyard is allowed to crumble so that wild beasts trample and eat all your grapevines. When you deeply care about something, you are more deeply hurt when it is not cared for.

Jesus’ parable mirrors the Old Testament prophets’ solemn warnings to the leaders of Israel. The “Great-I-Am” is looking for fruit. But there is no fruit. God’s distress is with caregivers who do not give care. Leadership means to cherish and tend the vineyard, to do everything necessary to bring it to fruition.

As we read this series of vineyard parables in Matthew, we might question whether God is very “nice.” We hear death and destruction, the wrath of the landowner and handing the stewardship to another— Jesus’ ending is not “nice.” Though American culture places a high value on “niceness,” there is no “nice” in the Bible. God is merciful. God is kind. God also wants justice. God intends for this vineyard to be treated right. Woe to those who do not.

Consider/Discuss

We throw our whole heart into many things in life—gardens, children, relationships, parish, school, job, business, and so on. What does it feel like when something we care about yields “rotten grapes”? What role does (or doesn’t) “righteous indignation” play in the Christian life?
In my early days of gardening, I was too “nice” to thin overgrown perennials and throw out diseased tomatoes. As a result, the whole garden suffered. What are the challenges to “just letting things go”? How do we balance that with pruning for the “greater good”?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord our God, you are true. You are honorable. You are good. Thank you for caring for each of us and all of us so deeply. In whatever role you give us in life, send us your grace to discern how we are to lead and care for those whom you entrust to us. Help us to listen carefully to your warnings and not be so self-assured that we do not hear your correction. Not to us, but to you, is the glory when our efforts bear good fruit.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

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).

Jan 06 2025

Ask, Then Act

The prophet Habakkuk asks God how long he (the prophet) will have to see violence, ruin, and misery. God answers with a vision to be written down and a call to wait patiently in faith. “The just one, because of his faith, shall live.”

Paul sounds a call to interior action, urging Timothy to stir into flame the gift of God: a spirit of courage, energy, and action. Though separated by over six centuries, the prophet Habakkuk and the apostles Paul and Timothy faced suffering and destruction; all three responded by witnessing to their faith in the God of Israel. For Paul, this faith finds expression in fidelity to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel answers two questions: how do we get this faith and what do we do with it in the face of trials? We get it by asking. Jesus tells the apostles it is not a matter of quantity but quality. A little faith can go a long way in producing results. While Luke’s version of this saying of Jesus is less dramatic than Matthew’s—with Luke faith can uproot a mulberry tree, while Matthew has it moving a mountain—the basic point is the same.

After his response, Jesus calls them to action. Faith flowers into service. Serving Christ, especially in the least and the needy, flows from faith. The vision faith provides carries us into making this world a better place, embodying the faith, hope, and love that can transform the world.

Consider/Discuss

How have you experienced the power of faith?
Has it helped you to get through difficult times, giving you strength to uproot any obstacle and toss it in the sea of God’s mercy?

Responding to the Word

Give us faith, generous God, to carry us through whatever trials and suffering might come in the future. We believe you are with us in all life’s circumstances and events, but darkness can sometimes cloud our vision. At those times, help our unbelief. Send your Spirit to strengthen us.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

The circumstances within which Habakkuk finds himself are overwhelming: violence, ruin, misery, and destruction. He faces strife and discord. It seems to be more than he can handle, and so he cries out to God: Why? Why do I have to be a witness to all of this desolation, especially since you do not seem to be open to my call for help? Finally, God responds with a vision, not an answer. Without telling the prophet why he has had to carry the burden of suffering or how long he will have to wait, God instructs him that the righteous wait in faith.

Paul appeals to Timothy to be courageous in the face of hardship. He admonishes Timothy to renew his zeal, to be unashamed of the gospel that he preaches, to bear his share of suffering, to adhere to Paul’s teaching, and to safeguard it. Paul is aware of the risk that one takes in publicly professing faith in Jesus Christ. There is a stigma attached to such bold testimony. Despite this, Timothy should be willing to accept and to embrace the suffering that will inevitably befall him as a minister of the gospel. Nothing should undermine Timothy’s confidence, for he can be strong with the strength that comes from God.

Two independent sayings constitute the Gospel reading: the power of faith and the responsibilities of discipleship. Jesus’ attitude is so different from that of the apostles. They ask for an increase of faith; Jesus speaks about its nature. They are interested in quantity; Jesus is concerned about quality. Using the image of a household staff, he insists that though it is relatively small, it is still expected to perform several tasks—plowing, tending sheep, preparing food, and serving at table. The householder might appear unreasonable, but the story is not about being considerate. This is a teaching about the obligations of the one serving, not of the one being served.