Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (today’s lectionary)
Let me now sing
Let me now sing of my friend.
Everything today is about wine.
Lord, look down from heaven and
Take care of this vine.
The lonely grape pounded by bare feet, perhaps the bare feet of Lucy and Ethel, juice in jars fermented and strained. Jesus made new wine for a wedding, then marked wine he drank at Passover with his blood, and we drink it still. Bridegroom with his bride, every day.
Give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
Let your face shine upon us
And we shall be saved.
In this infinite eternal vineyard of the Lord, we have nothing to fear. Paul did not disclose the secret of his contentment, but toward the end of his life, imprisoned, waiting, he encouraged others out of his own peace.
Be anxious for nothing but in everything pray.
Give thanks and let God know exactly what you’re thinking.
Trust him with your body, mind and soul,
And his peace will guard every part of you in Christ Jesus.
No doubt Paul was provided with wine during his house arrest. No doubt he shared glasses with his friends and probably with his captors. He spoke kindly of them. Whatever harshness he knew in his early years had been drained away. From his suffering came the gift.
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right
Whatever is pure, lovely, and admirable
All that is excellent or praiseworthy …
Are we not made in the image of God, the imago Dei? Aristotle and following him, Aquinas said we are stamped with goodness, truth, and beauty. The Creator marked us, his creatures, with goodness, truth and beauty. Fountains flow within us of goodness, truth and beauty. We strive, like God strove in us, to project that onto everything we touch, so that not just our soul but also our senses can see, touch, feel, hear, smell and taste it everywhere.
What better place to start than wine? The fruit of the vine that entwines around us and God, and then us and each other, and then us and all the world. Whatever is true, and noble, and right.
I have chosen you from the world, says the Lord
To go and bear fruit that will remain.
Stay put, settle in, put down your roots and spread the joy of God far and wide. In the vineyard, think on these things.
But there was darkness in Whoville. So Jesus told another parable.
In this vineyard, Jesus said, the wine was good but the tenants were bad. They seized, they stoned, they killed, they coveted not only the wine but also the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?
If there ever were a rhetorical question … but the priests and elders answered. Out of their own darkness they spoke:
“He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and find other tenants who follow the rules and make the owner rich!”
Jesus warned them, then, of their sin upon his coming, this rejection of their own God. Soon they would seize him, stone him, kill him, truth, goodness, beauty poured out on the ground, and they would be lost.
Blood offering, yes, but for what?
The kingdom of God will be taken away from you
And given to a people who will produce its fruit.
But Jesus does not remain a bloody corpse. Nor do we. Resurrection is built into life – neither sting, shame, nor annihilation can be found anywhere in death. Just ask the small and lonely grape, clutching to the vine, waiting for the day when she’ll become her Savior’s wine.
(Isaiah 5, Psalm 80, Philippians 4, John 15)
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