STEWARDS OF GOD’S LOVE.

October 4, 2020 
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - A

Readings: IS 5:1-7; PS 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20; PHIL 4:6-9; MT 21:33-43.

A Senegalese proverb says, “What you give to others bears fruit for yourself.” And a Samoan proverb adds, “You shake in vain the branch that bears no fruit. You would better cut it off at the base.”

The Lord God created us out of love. He created us as a marvelous and beautiful masterpiece of his creation. What he expects from us it that we bear fruits of justice, love, and righteousness. We are his personal possession. We are God’s vineyard and at the same time, he made of us tenants of the wider vineyard that is the whole creation. We are stewards of God’s love. Any failure on our side to give feedback on the love we receive from the Lord is an insult to his kindness and a crime against his love. And that failure won’t be forgiven to us.

It is obvious, from listening to today’s readings, mostly, the first reading, the psalm, and the Gospel, that the theme of the liturgy is about the Vineyard of the Lord and its need to bear fruits. In the first reading, through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord sing of Israel his chosen possession, his predilected people. The Lord, under the allegory of the vineyard and its relation with the owner, lists what he did for his people. We can read through these lines the beautiful but at the same time contrasting history of Israel; how the Lord took them out of Egypt, the land of their slavery led them into the desert, gave them possession over fertile land, the land of Canaan, and cared for them. The contrasting and at some point, the deceiving side of the story is what the people gave back as an answer to that love of God. While he did all out of love for them, the people instead departed from him and fell into idolatry. What then must we expect from the Lord after such a deception? Is his wrath not legitimate? Thus, the words of his verdict: “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done?” When love is betrayed, anger is merciless.

When the Lord was expecting righteousness from Israel, they served him instead idolatry. Therefore, God decided, “take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin.” In one word, to abandon them to their sad fate. For, it is heartbreaking and cheating when you give all your effort and love and care to some people and in return, you harvest dishonesty and betrayal. The psalmist reechoes this song of the Lord to his vineyard, but then he ends it with a note of hope. The Lord’s wrath will have an end when his people will decide to repent and return to him.

This story of the vineyard of the Lord teaches us how God relates to us. He is always kind and eager to take care of us. But then, what he expects from us is a return of love. We spoke last Sunday of freedom and responsibility. It is our freedom and responsibility to respond to the love God has for us. But when we fail in our task to retort to that love, we reap his anger.

In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus emphasizes that fact. The conclusion of the parable says all about our relationship with the Lord: “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” God entrusted us with his love and his creation. He is awaiting that we make it bear fruit. As we heard it in the acclamation, “I have chosen you from the world, says the Lord, to go and bear fruit that will remain.” But if we fail to do so, we are betraying his love and his election. And consequently, the Lord has no other option than to take away his love from us. His kingdom is the actuation of that love.

How then, will we be able to correspond to God’s love and respond to his election? St. Paul, in the second reading, shows us the way. He says, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” Prayer and actions, these are the way for us to respond favorably to the love God gives us. It is not enough to pray. We must also add actions to our spirituality and devotion.

For, love for God is well expressed, not only through devotions and novenas or hours and hours of adoration, but also and mostly through acts of charities. It that sense, the words of St. James will always resound as a challenge to you and me. It is all about faith and action. And the Apostle tells us in substance that, for sure, genuine faith is essential to salvation. Nevertheless, it is clear that having faith or being a good Christian will only be the beginning of salvation. Because faith is the precursor to action.

Our belief in the Lord must cause us to change our life and relation with others. The world will believe based on what you do, and not only on what you say. Your faith bears fruits through your actions. And as we heard from the first reading and the Gospel, God rejects or abandons those who are fruitless. Your faith is truly living when it is shown active and not passive. Thus, St. James can say, “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14-26). Give your faith to bear fruit. Make it an active belief. Pray and pray more, but then act and act the more for the good of all.