October 3, 2014
The following is a homily based on the Scripture readings for Sunday, October 5.
People usually hate paying rent. “Why do I pay and, in the end, I get to keep none of it?” The housing bubble of 2008 was, to some extent, the result of the “ownership” philosophy that America had largely adopted. Renters feel perpetually cheated. The owner can never do enough: The water is dripping, the socket doesn’t work, the walls need painting. “I’m paying all this rent, and what does the owner do for me?”
Of course people pay rent when owning is out of reach. I lease a car I cannot afford; I rent a house that’s beyond my income level to purchase; I can even lease furniture because monthly payments are doable.
Yet we probably have never been as reluctant to pay rent as these tenants in the Gospel today. Of course, this is a parable meant for us to think about. But, at its root, the renters think they can be owners. They think giving some of the wine to the owner is too difficult. They want it all. As Jesus narrates the tenants’ behavior, it’s pretty clear he is referring to the religious leaders of his day, and to his upcoming rejection as God’s messenger and teacher. In fact, it is their rejection that leads to God’s rejection.
So Jesus’ parable follows upon Isaiah’s in the first reading – this very common image of Israel as a vineyard. God lavishes so much upon the vineyard. All God wants are a few grapes. Yet God’s investment doesn’t pay off. We think of what teams lavish on their quarterbacks. But Robert Griffin III still gets injured; Eli Manning doesn’t deliver as New Yorkers want him to; and the Rex Grossmans don’t quite make it to the top. We expected more. What happened?
Of course, God has lavished quite a bit on us. Sure we are never satisfied with ourselves, but the gift of life, of the ability to love, of finding purpose, of bringing joy to others, of not only knowing God but also being in relationship with God – these are nothing to sneeze about. And look at the gifts God has given to his Church: the Scriptures, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all of the sacraments, but especially the Eucharist, our great traditions of charity, of education, of moral vision.
So if we have been gifted by God, what are we doing with them? Are we like underperforming athletes, renters who let the property go down, a stock that underperforms and loses money in the end?
Part of the issue, of course, is that we don’t recognize our gifts, appreciate our gifts, and realize how much we need to be gifted in the first place. We are tenants, renters, because of God’s utter generosity to us. At the deepest level of our being, everything is given, everything is grace. By ourselves we can make no claims – we cannot even demand our own existence. It all comes from the one who decided to plant a vine, and, even more, to cherish it. It’s only arrogance that lets us think that we only need ourselves, and that we can take care of ourselves. We can’t. We totally rely on God’s gifts because we are only products of God’s generosity.
So let’s see the positive side of being a tenant. Let’s see everything the greatest landlord of all has given us. Instead of crabbing, we can appreciate and give part of what’s been given us back to God. That’s what we do every time we come to Mass. We get close to what lies at the heart of the human mystery: knowing that everything is given to us, we say “Thank You,” not with our mere words, but in the very person of Jesus Christ who is our thanksgiving to the Father in the Spirit.
Is God disappointed in us? What disappoints God isn’t that we are imperfect or limited; God made us this way. What disappoints God is when we overlook the gift – and gifts – central to our lives, presume to take God’s place, and will not give God the minimum God expects, that is, being people of praise and thanks.