Sermon
delivered at Roman Catholic Chapel, Whaddon, Wiltshire on Sunday 25 March 2018
Isaiah 5:1-20; Mark 12:1-12 – Homily on Vineyards
May
I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
I expect many of us are very familiar with the Parable of
The Wicked Tenants in our second reading from Mark’s Gospel but I wonder how
many of us recall that Jesus is actually parodying Isaiah’s own example of the
vineyard in our first reading.
Now I have to confess that anything to do with vineyards
and wine immediately gets my attention!
It is also a great bone of contention in our house – should we drink red
wine or white? Liz only likes Sauvignon
Blanc from the best vineyards in New Zealand or, by contrast, Vinho Verde from
Portugal whereas I much prefer a red claret – so we usually end up opening two
bottles – one of each!
Wine seems to feature a lot in Jesus’s ministry – the
first miracle at the wedding in Cana, the last supper, the supper at Emmaus,
this parable and he certainly appears to have loved attending dinner parties
where I am sure much wine was consumed. He talks about being the vine and his
disciples being the branches – needing pruning. One could almost imagine that in
those unknown years between his childhood and ministry he was an enthusiastic
viticulturist – try saying that after a few glasses of cabernet sauvignon!
But what is Jesus really trying to say in this
parable?
For many years I thought it was his original work but as
we’ve seen this evening, the parable is actually a parody on the earlier
writings of Isaiah – which would have been known to his disciples. Time and
time again we find Jesus either quoting the Old Testament or using its stories
to get his message across about the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Isaiah is talking about the people of Israel in our first
reading. It is headed “The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard” in
my bible. My beloved in this context,
the vineyard owner is the God of Israel who planted his chosen people, the
Jews, in His promised land which had been well prepared – the vineyard; but
instead of the good cultured grapes he had expected, wild grapes were yielded,
as the passage puts it. The point was that God had done everything, as a
viticulturist, to produce a good and fruitful nation yet it had all gone wrong.
What does the vineyard owner do in such circumstances –
he tears down the wall, uproots the vines and starts again. Indeed, this is precisely what happened in
France in the late 19th Century when the great French Wine Blight
struck – the dreaded diseased phylloxera - and all because of a tiny
aphid. In the same way, Isaiah reminds
his readers of how the great nations of Israel and Judah have been swept away
by the sins of the people. But they were
later rebuilt as we read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. France rebuilt its
vineyards by taking cuttings from vines in California which themselves had
originally come from plants in France. Jerusalem and the Temple were likewise
rebuilt from the ruins of their predecessor.
Jesus takes up this theme in his parable in Mark’s Gospel
with reference to himself and his role as God’s Son and as we saw it angered
those in control – because they would have known and recalled Isaiah’s
prophecy.
In Jesus’s version there are lessees or tenants of God’s
vineyard, and here is an important point, we are all mere tenants of God’s
world and therefore are obliged to look after it for future tenants,
generations, to come. Again, as in
Isaiah’s version, the owner (the beloved in Isaiah’s illustration) has gone to
great lengths to produce a vineyard which will bear the very best of wine.
However, part of the deal in letting the vineyard was that the owner should
receive rent in the form of a portion of the wine produced; a very fair and
honourable arrangement. In the same way
we are expected to give back to God something of ourselves, our heart and love,
in return for all he gives us – in the words of that famous Harvest Hymn –
“All
good gifts around us are sent from Heaven above, so thank the Lord …etc.”
We would all do well to constantly remember that. In our
prayers before our supplications we should give our grateful thanks to Him.
Jesus describes how the owner sends first his slave
(meaning his prophet) to collect the rent but the tenants decide rather than
give it to him they will keep it for themselves and so beat up the slave. Then the owner sends a second slave (or
prophet) and likewise beat him up more severely and so on and so on killing
them. Finally, the owner decides to send
his beloved – his only son – and see how that word “beloved” is the same as is
used in Isaiah’s story for the owner himself.
The owner believes that the son will be respected unlike the
slaves. He will have more gravitas, more
authority; but instead the tenants realising that the son is the heir to the
vineyard, in killing him there will be no family inheritance and they can seize
the vineyard for themselves.
Jesus explains to the scribes and elders of the Temple
that this outcome will not happen because, as with the beloved owner in
Isaiah’s story, the owner in his will destroy the tenants and give the vineyard
to others.
Applying this parable, what Jesus is prophesying is that
the Temple will be destroyed, not only the building itself but the whole
institution which the elders have tried to protect for so long without regard
for the true commandments of God. He is the son who has been sent by God to his
vineyard world and like the beloved son in the story he will also be killed but
from his death and the destruction of the Temple will rise a new and greater
understanding of God’s love and covenants.
A new covenant which will be for all – Jews and Gentiles alike.
We live with that wonderful legacy – God’s only son being
sent to us for us to understand and respect God’s love for us.
Today is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week
leading up to Good Friday and the Resurrection on Easter Day. This is the week when we remember that God,
the vintner, sacrificed his son for us – the tenants of this world.
It has a wonderful ending but an horrific beginning. Isaiah prophesised it, Jesus foretold it in a
similar parable, we live with it and remember it this week.
As this next week unfolds let us think and reflect on how
we can show and tell the story in our daily lives – how we can explain to
others how our Faith is based on the truth revealed in the Easter story; above
all how we can make the message meaningful to those around us. Perhaps over a glass of wine?
Amen
MFB/23032018/112
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