Readings: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80, Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43.
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus.
The readings of today invite us to a sober reflection.
The First Reading is the story of a vineyard with many advantages. The vineyard belonged to a very loving person. It was on a fertile hillside and the ground was carefully prepared. It was planted with good stock, protected and provision was made for the fruits to be processed.
Considering the great advantages and opportunities this vineyard had, the owner justly expected good fruits (grapes). However, the vineyard yielded poisonous, worthless, sour and noxious grapes instead.
All the care, love, work and investment had no result. The owner of the vineyard left nothing undone but he was disappointed.
The vineyard is a symbol representing the people of God, the house of Israel but most particularly, you and me.
Dear friends, the message of today is very clear. Every one of us is a huge divine investment. God has shown us so much love, care and mercy. He has deposited so much grace in us. He has spared nothing necessary for us to be fruitful.
God has been patient with all of us. He has spared many of us from harm and death. He has brought many of us out of the miry clay, from nothingness to something. People have given up on some of us and some of us have at one point given up on ourselves but God worked His miracle in us. Some of us came to Jesus with only five barley loaves and two fish and God has multiplied what we had.
The challenge today is:
I. Do we even recognise what God has done for us or we are just complaining, comparing our lives with others and mourning what we lack?
II. How grateful are we for all that God has done for us? How are we showing our gratitude?
III. What kind of fruits do we bear for all that God has done for us? How are we repaying the Lord for His goodness to us?
Are we like the tenants in today’s Gospel who were ungrateful to the owner of the vineyard and repaid his kindness with wickedness and cruelty?
Do we repay God’s goodness to us and all His privileges by living a life of disobedience and wickedness to others?
For sparing our lives from death, do we give Him our lives as a sacrifice of praise or do we see the prolongation of our lives as an opportunity to continue in sinfulness?
I suppose that as parents/teachers, we would find it heartbreaking and disappointing if, after investing so much in our children/pupils, after sacrificing so much for them and giving them all the privileges and opportunities that we can afford, they grow up to become thorns instead of olive branches? Do we not think God our Father will also feel the same way when we yield thorns instead of figs?
Let us pray that all the care, love, mercy and privileges that we have enjoyed from God will not be in vain. May we not be wasters of divine privileges. May we not be a disappointment to God.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka Gukena Okami on October 8, 2023.