Vinedressers Harvest; First fruits, Reverence and Awe
13th Sun. after Pent., Sept. 19, 2021, Matt. 21: 33-42
In today’s gospel we hear Christ re-telling a well-known parable (Is.5:1-10) to the chief priests and Elders of the Jews. There is no mistaking that He is describing them as the wicked vinedressers. We hear Christ tell them about God planting a vineyard, building a tower with a winepress, and putting a hedge of protection around it. He adds a significant detail to the Isaiah rendering. God sends not just his servants, who of course represent the prophets, but His very own Son whom they take outside of the Vineyard and kill. Asking what should be done? “…He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease His vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to Him the fruits in their season.”
The privileged period for the Jewish nation, when they were the only ones who were “God’s chosen people” was about to come to a crashing end when they (the Jewish leaders/ Wicked Vinedressers) killed the Son of the owner of the vineyard, crucifying Him on a cross. This is prophesying the birth of the Church where, (Gal.3:27-29) “…as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” We are most grateful and full of joy that we are now included in the eternal providence of God’s kingdom. What can we learn from this parable?
He is the vine – we need to stay attached to the vine. (John 15:5) “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
The hedge set around the vineyard represents God’s protection, the law, the prophets and the angels; sent to guard us from the wild animals outside the vineyard, representing our enemies, the devil and his evil demons. We are safe within the hedge of Christ’s protection, however like Adam and Eve and almost all others since, we seem to think we should stick our heads through this hedge of protection at times. There are so many fascinating things to see and learn about these wild animals. We then end up bruised, but hopefully wiser rather than dead from the experience.
The winepress is where the fruit of the vine is crushed beyond recognition and in the process becomes ready to be transformed into the miracle of wine. The ultimate transformation is being transformed into the very life blood of Christ our God. The wine transformed into the blood of Christ becomes our very life and salvation. However, we too are promised much crushing and trouble in this world. (John 16:33) “In this world you will have much tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
The tower represents the Church where we meet to worship God, and join with our family, our brothers and sisters in Christ, the angels, the saints gone before us, and enter into eternity and the kingdom of God. During the Divine Liturgy, from the first “Blessed is the Kingdom.” We gather in a mystery with the entire kingdom of heaven to worship at the throne of God.
God leaving us and going into a far country represents His giving us free will. When we use this freedom to “go our own way” we live far from God’s kingdom in a delusion of our own creation. To return, we need to learn to choose to always turn to Him in all things. In the far country (heaven) all things are done in love and according to the will of God. To fulfill the Lord’s prayer, “here on earth as it is in heaven,” we need to learn not to consume for our own selfish desires, obeying what our loving Creator has told us will keep us connected to life. We are to (Matt. 16:24) “…deny ourselves, and take up our cross, and follow Christ.” And (1Thess.5:18) “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Returning from this “far country” represents the end of this age and the arrival of the last judgement when all things will be put back in order “on earth as it is in heaven.” Christ returns and for those who worship and adore Him there is great joy! But for those who still insist on “doing it their way” their destination is a most frustrating and powerless state of isolation known as hell.
God has provided everything needed for us to live and prosper in His vineyard, but in today’s parable, He shows that He expects us to return to Him two things: the first fruits, and respect and reverence. We hear in today’s parable; “Now when the vintage time drew near He sent His servants to the vinedressers that that they might receive its fruit.” and “They will respect My Son.”
In the old testament there are many passages regarding the necessity of tithing first fruits. Then and now, we are told to render unto God that which is God’s. He asks that we give generously to Him, by supporting His Church and the poor and needy, as all humans are created in His image. Right from the beginning we are instructed that honouring God is not just some sort of spiritual mental exercise, but as we are very much living in a material reality we need to honour him with our material blessings. So in today’s parable, when we see the Landowner, God, being refused His first fruits by his tenants, we are being asked to examine our attitude towards our God given wealth. May we not end up like the righteous rich man in last weeks gospel, who sadly walked away from Christ’s invitation to come and follow Him, as his wealth and the demon of avarice had possessed him.
The second requirement that God requires of us – the current vinedressers caring for His beautiful creation here on planet earth – is respect and reverence. This requires that we know our place as created creatures and recognize how completely different is God. He is the Creator of all and completely outside of our understanding and comprehension. He is God and we are not! He is not our cosmic buddy. He is certainly our loving heavenly Father who loves us beyond anything we could ever comprehend or begin to understand. But in our culture, we have largely lost an understanding of reverence and awe, with the resulting loss of basic respect for God and for authority.
The very best place to begin to learn reverence and respect for God and His ways is right here in the Church. Let us enter and stand in fear and awe. Christ is here, invisibly present. Our focus is now upon God whom we have come to worship, not upon visiting with each other. We immediately go and venerate the icons first, out of respect for our God. We greet the saints and the image of Christ in our brothers and sisters. Christ is always present in the reserve Sacrament on the Altar; therefore we cross ourselves when we pass in front of the Royal Doors, and we don’t turn our back to the Altar. We remain standing when the actual chalice is out amongst us. Christ is in our midst – literally! As the service starts, we do our best to concentrate and join in as best as we can, given the blessed disturbances inevitable from our young children, and the many non-helpful thoughts that try to invade our minds. If you are a parent of young children, your main ministry is to just be with them as you worship and help them to learn that this is a very special place and time. Sometimes it may seem as if you have very little opportunity to pray and concentrate, that’s ok, may God bless you for your main ministry of just being here with your children. Once they are old enough to be in school, they are old enough to start to stand during the Lord’s prayer, when the gifts are out, when the priest is blessing you. The more they participate in the responses and singing, the more they will be learning to worship, and the more they will grow in the love and worship of God. This is built into their DNA, even if they resist and test you along the way. As they get older, they can start coming for confession and begin some light fasting. These practices instill reverence and awe for God in their young receptive souls. Even in the world, at our workplace and schools we understand the need to bring our best and to respect the company or school culture. On Saturday evening or Sunday morning if you can pray some pre-communion prayers and/or read the gospel and epistle for the day as a family, you will be blessed. Try to come to Vespers once a month and the occasional feast day. Let us all purpose to be good & fruitful vinedressers working in the Lord’s vineyard with thanksgiving. With the feast!