God's Vineyard

In the gospel this morning, our Lord told a parable about a vineyard. This parable drew on common imagery from the Old Testament which would have made its message immediately recognizable to the people. In Isaiah 5, we find words very similar to the ones Christ spoke, 

“Now I will sing to My Beloved a song of My Beloved regarding My vineyard: There was a vineyard for My Beloved on a fertile hill. He built a hedge around it removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst and also made a winepress in it.”

We see from this that the vineyard is not just established anywhere. Care is taken to place it where it will thrive. Care is also taken in how the ground is prepared in order to allow the vines to thrive, and care is taken in selecting the right kind of vine to plant there. Planting a vineyard is an investment in the future, not just the near-term future, but into the distant future. You want a vine that will be well established for many years to come.

We see in the words of Isaiah and from Christ that the landowner, God the Father, also put a winepress in the midst of the vineyard. The vineyard itself represents the people of Judah, the hedge around it is the law which was meant to safeguard the vineyard. The winepress is where the blood of grapes is poured out. It represents the altar. There is also a tower reaching up to the heavens which represents the temple. So the picture in both Isaiah and the gospel is of a people who have been given everything that they need to bring forth fruit and to benefit from that fruit. 

In the Psalms we read: 

 “You removed a vineyard from Egypt; You cast out the nations and planted it; you prepared the way before it, and You planted its roots; and the earth was filled. Its shade covered the mountains, and its vines the cedars of God; its branches reached to the sea and its shoots as far as the river.”

God brought them out of Egypt, brought them to the land which had been promised to Abraham, cleared the stones which were the nations living there, planted a vineyard, and filled it, and it flourished. Again we have an image of God’s provision for His people. But in all of these accounts, things go wrong. 

God planted good grapes, the best vines, but as the Prophet Jeremiah says, “I planted a fruitful vine for you, one most healthy and sweet, yet you turned it into a vine unknown to Me, with a taste of bitterness.” In Isaiah, the vines brought forth thorn-plants and sour grapes. In the gospel, the vines produce, but the people do not want to give what is due to the landowner. All of these point to the failure of the people of Judah. They have perverted what God intended, they make it so that the vineyard does not do what it was supposed to do which was to allow them to enjoy the fruits of the vineyard to be gladdened by the wine that it produced and to give to the Lord the first-fruits so that it may continue perpetually, even eternally. 

In Deuteronomy Moses tells the people the difference between the God of Israel and the gods of the nations that were worshipped in the land of Canaan saying, “ our God is not like their gods, but our enemies are foolish. For their vineyard is of the vineyard of Sodom, and their vine is of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall; their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the wrath of serpents, and the incurable wrath of asps.” 

Having different grapes planted in the vineyard of the Lord is deadly, it doesn’t just change the taste of the grapes. The people of Judah didn’t see the importance of the hedge around them protecting them from danger. They mingled the blood of sour and bitter grapes with the sweet grapes that God had planted, and they built other towers and worshipped foreign gods. As the Psalms say, “A wild swine from the forest laid it waste, a solitary beast devoured it.” In short, the devil cannot stand this beautiful vineyard that the Lord planted and comes to destroy it. 

The Lord tells us that “when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. The Lord sends His prophets to correct the people. He calls them to repentance, He desires that they should turn from the wickedness that has taken hold of them so that He can continue to bless them. But they are so committed to their sinfulness that they kill them all. 

The Psalmist tells us that at this point, there is an outcry from the righteous:

“O God of hosts, convert us now; Look down from heaven and behold, and visit this vineyard which Your right hand planted, and perfect it. [incidentally, these words are used by the Bishop when he visits a parish and serves liturgy.] And visit the son of man, whom You strengthened for Yourself. It was set on fire and uprooted, But they shall perish at the rebuke of Your face. Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, and upon the son of man, whom You strengthened for Yourself; Then we will not turn away from You; You will give us life, and we will call upon your name. O Lord God of hosts, convert us, and reveal your face, and we shall be saved.”

It is fitting that God should visit the vineyard that He planted and so He visits it in the person of His Son. This visitation is with the hope that they will reverence Him. That they would recognize that the vineyard belongs to Him and that they will give Him their fruits in season. But instead they seized Him took Him outside the vineyard and killed Him. They thought that they could take from God what belongs to Him. And so this visitation turns against them. Instead of joy at receiving their Master, they will see Him again coming in judgment. 

Jesus tells them that when the Owner returns, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons." These other vinedressers are us -- the Church; but we can’t forget the lessons of the previous tenants of the vineyard. We have to take care of the vineyard. We have to pull up the weeds and thorns of the passions trying to grow up all around us. We have to tend and fertilize the ground with love and piety, tending to our souls at all times. We have to give our attention to the roots, the vine, the leaves, the blossoms and the fruit, by being in the vineyard which is the Church as often as we can, in prayer, attention, and with devotion. We must make sure that we take care of the hedge which runs around the vineyard by understanding the teachings of the Church which keep us safe from the dangers outside. We must come to the winepress on which the blood of Christ has been poured out by preparing ourselves and receiving Holy Communion. And we must ascend the tower which leads us to the contemplation of God. 

The danger in tending to this vineyard is that we begin to think that it is our vineyard and that we own it. It is still God’s vineyard, and the work and the labor we do is all so that we can give Him its fruits in their season. Let us labor greatly, but with the Lord’s coming again always at the forefront of our minds. We want something to give to Him for all that He has given us.