October 9, 2023
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A) on October 8, 2023 at the Paulist Center in Boston, MA. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80; Philippians 4:6-9; and Matthew 21:33-43.
We’re in our third of four weeks with St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. This is widely considered to be Paul’s happiest letter. Paul praises the fidelity of the Philippian community. It probably didn’t hurt that the Philippians – led by the disciple Lydia – bankrolled Paul’s subsequent travels. The generosity of the Philippian community gave Paul the freedom to ask everyone else to donate money for the impoverished Christians back in the Holy Land.
Paul’s joy in the Letter to the Philippians is even more remarkable, considering that he wrote this letter from prison. For those of us who tend to dwell on what’s going wrong in our lives, rather than on what’s going right, Paul is a shining of example of cultivating gratitude to God in all circumstances.
And speaking about what can go wrong, the rest of our readings today are about people squandering the gifts given to them by God.
For the times when we have failed to use our God-given gifts, we ask for God’s mercy.
Jesus and the Old Testament prophets used grapes and vineyards as metaphors for people not upholding God’s covenant. But for most of us, we know very little about vineyards and tenant farming. Do we even know enough to correctly place ourselves within the metaphors? Are we the faithful servants of the landowner, disinterested bystanders, or the evil tenant farmers?
I suggest three contemporary challenges in our lives that may serve as more relatable analogies than the vineyard.
The first is our nation. Beginning with John Winthrop’s claim in 1630 that Boston would be the “city on a hill,” millions of people have believed that the United States is specially guided by God. Whether or not you think it’s heretical to compare representational government to God’s vineyard, I think most Americans would agree that our current elected representatives are squandering the good fruits that can be harvested in responsible government.
The second metaphor for the vineyard is the Church itself. We pray fervently that the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, which kicked off this past week, will lead to a great blossoming in God’s vineyard. Nevertheless, many outside forces are fighting to control the narrative. Western conservatives are spending millions to convince Catholics that the synod is illegitimate. Western liberals emphasize the synod’s concerns only about women’s ordination and the treatment of divorced and LGBTQIA people, even though two-thirds of the world’s Catholics live in the global south, where the people’s concerns are more focused on poverty, healthcare, government corruption, polygamy, rising sea levels, and increasing violence.
The third metaphor for God’s vineyard is the most obvious: it’s the earth itself. On Wednesday, Pope Francis released a new exhortation on caring for the environment. The last two paragraphs call us to task for our outsized contribution to the environmental crisis. Francis writes:
[E]missions per individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries… [A] broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact…. When human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies. (Laudate Deum, #72-73)
As much as we don’t want to identify with the wicked tenants in the parable, we must recognize how and when the role fits us.
I know that this is a hard homily to hear.
I’m struggling with it, too. The temperature was perfect yesterday, yet I wanted us to turn the air conditioning back on because it was too humid. Am I really open to the Holy Spirit’s promptings at the synod, or am I more interested in the voting delegates take my side on the issues threatening to move the Church towards schism? I’m mad that the House of Representatives is in disarray, but I’m afraid that my doomscrolling is mostly motivated by wanting to see which political party gets blamed for the dysfunction. So much for me saving the planet, following the Holy Spirit, or working for unity.
The next 12 months are likely to be filled with heightened divisions and anxieties. Our concerns about the environment, the synod, and the presidential election will surely intensify. And on every side, we will be urged to pick up our swords and fight off those who disagree with our solutions to the problems facing us.
Paul, writing to the Philippians from his jail cell, suggests that the solution is the opposite, to become less fiery, less partisan. He urges us instead to replace our anxiety with thanksgiving, making all our petitions known to God. Paul advises us to think and to do whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and gracious.
How can we convert our hearts and use our God-given gifts to build a world where everyone endeavors together to produce good fruit in God’s vineyard? The answer has two parts, and both parts of the answer are obvious:
- If we are going to start working together, someone has to go first.
- As Christian disciples, we are the ones who are supposed to go first.
Even though greedy corporations thrive on our outrageous consumption, even though media conglomerates exploit our disagreements, even though political parties feast on our rage, no one is forcing us to destroy the vineyard. The Holy Spirit has empowered each of us to root out bitterness and cultivate gratitude instead. The Spirit has taught us what is true, what is honorable, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely, and what is gracious. We can embrace and enact all these things, despite the algorithms, social media, marketing, and outrage culture working against us.
The days before the synod began, the preacher of the papal household, Domincan Timothy Radcliffe gave a series of reflections to the synod delegates. On Monday, he spoke about the fears that the synod could devolve into angry disputes rather than orderly debates. Radcliffe pointed out that to achieve communion, something more was needed than order in the discourse. He said: “The sheep trust the voice of the Lord because it is that of a friend. This Synod will be fruitful if it leads us into a deeper friendship with the Lord and with each other.”
And when we are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and gracious people, it is then, that the peace of God will be with us.
And if the peace of God is with us, who can be against us?