1 Corinthians
16: 13-24
Most of us today--even in Texas-- buy
our food in supermarkets and rarely think about the soil from which it grows. Things were very different in biblical times,
when abundant crops, milk, honey, wine, and oil were signs of God’s blessing to
people who knew how dependent they were on the fruits of the earth. This is the case from the beginning of
Genesis, when God planted the garden of Eden and gave Adam the responsibility
to care for it. But the soil became cursed
when he and Eve disobeyed; full of thorns and thistles, it would sustain them
only through the hard and frustrating work that farmers have known all too well
across generations.
Many times in the Bible, cultivated
land is a sign of our relationship with God.
For example, the prophet Isaiah spoke of God planting a vineyard.
Because of the sins of the people, God said of what He had planted: “I will forsake My vineyard. It shall not be pruned or cultivated, but
thorns shall sprout forth as in a barren land.
I will also command the clouds not to rain on it. For the vineyard of
the Lord of hosts is the house of
Israel, and the man of Judah His beloved plant.” (Is. 5:6-7)
Jesus Christ used stories about planting
seeds, harvesting crops, as well as other similar examples, to proclaim the good
news of salvation. In today’s gospel lesson, the Lord told a
parable about a landowner who had workers take care of the vineyard he had carefully
planted. When the grapes were ready, he
wanted the fruit and sent servants to get it.
But the workers beat and killed whomever he sent. Even when the landowner sent his own son,
they killed him also. These wicked servants brought destruction upon
themselves, and the landowner then found new tenants who would give him his
fruit in due season.
As in Genesis and Isaiah, this story is not
simply about agriculture, but ultimately about our relationship with God. St.
Matthew tells us that the chief priests and Pharisees knew that Christ was
speaking this and other parables against them. The parable of the vineyard
reminds us that religious and political leaders so often rejected and killed
the prophets whom God had sent them in the Old Testament. And that is also how they responded to the
Son of God, their own Messiah, refusing to accept His teachings and handing him
over to the pagan Romans for death on a cross.
The Lord concludes this parable with a quotation from the
Psalms about a stone, rejected by builders, that became the chief cornerstone,
the most crucial part of the foundation of a building. He shifts the imagery
here from a vineyard, the people of Israel, to a temple that includes all who are
members of the Body of Christ. As St.
Paul wrote to the Gentile Christians of Ephesus, “you are no longer
foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and
members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In him
the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in
the Lord.” (Eph. 2:19-21)
Likewise, St.
Peter wrote in his first epistle that Christians are “living stones…being built
up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
(1 Peter 2:4-5) In other words, the Church is the temple of God by the
power of the Holy Spirit, “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation.” (1 Peter 2:9) This blessed
identity is shared by all who are members of Christ’s own Body, regardless of
ancestry or ethnicity. There is neither
Jew nor Greek in Him. By the Savior’s grace, all may become branches of His
vine and communicants of His own Body and Blood. He is the Groom and we are His Bride, the Church.
Did you notice
that these images for our relationship with the Lord are all as organic as a vineyard
or a garden? We went from speaking of a
cornerstone to envisioning a temple, which sounds like just another architectural
structure. Nothing could be further from the truth, however, for this
Cornerstone is not a piece of rock or masonry, but our living Lord. As members of His Body, we are also living
stones, not inanimate objects, because of our “one flesh” union with Him. By
the power of the Holy Spirit, we are a temple organically united to Christ, the
prophets, the apostles, and all the other members of His Body, the Church.
Through Him, we become full participants by grace in God’s eternal life that
overcomes even the grave and Hades itself.
We are also the
new workers in today’s parable who have taken over stewardship of the
vineyard. Vineyards grow grapes from
which wine comes. Abundant wine is a
sign of God’s blessing in the Old Testament, but is fulfilled in the New Testament
as the Blood of Christ. As He said
at the institution of the Eucharist, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My Blood
of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins… But I say to you, I will not drink of
this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you
in My Father's kingdom." (Matt. 26: 27-29) To
share in this fruit of the vine is to participate in the fullness of God’s
salvation in the heavenly banquet. It is
the completion of God’s gracious and life-giving purposes for human beings ever
since He first planted the garden of Eden. The Second Adam reverses the curses
of the first Adam that subjected the creation itself to futility. Now He makes wheat His Body and enables grapes
to become His Blood. In every
celebration of the Divine Liturgy, He makes us participants at the heavenly banquet
that manifests the salvation of the world, the fulfillment of the entire
creation for His intended purpose of bringing us into His blessed eternal life.
With this good news
comes great responsibility, for we have to ask ourselves whether we are being
good stewards of the vineyard of the Lord.
Are we offering our fruit, which is really His fruit, to Him? We are not talking simply about grapes, but
about our lives in this world, especially what we value and treasure the most,
our most cherished abilities and strengths, and the habits and routines most
familiar to us. To change the metaphor,
are we going through each day as living stones of His temple? Are we grounding ourselves thoroughly on our
one true foundation Jesus Christ and turning away from all that is not holy? Our
calling is not to escape the world, but to offer our little pieces of it for
the healing and fulfillment of the Kingdom. It is through making our life in this world holy
that we participate already in the world to come.
If the Pharisees
and Sadducees of old brought judgment upon themselves for corrupting the Old
Testament law and the teachings of the prophets, then we had better be
careful. For we are not accountable merely
for instructions and rituals that foreshadowed the fullness of what was to come. No, we have received the fulfillment of all
God’s promises as a Person with Whom we are united intimately and organically,
Who dwells in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Through Him, we “dare” to call God “Our
Father,” as we say in the Lord’s Prayer.
There is no upward limit to the holiness to which our deep personal
union with Christ calls us. He planted the vineyard to begin with and is the
cornerstone of our life. We must live as
those in organic union with Him if we are to enter into the blessedness to
which He calls us, for His life really is ours. Thanks be to God!
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