Of Wild Grapes and Good Fruit

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

Today's Gospel parable is the second which St. Matthew directs to the chief priests and elders of Judaism. It contains several of the themes that run throughout his Gospel including the bearing of good fruit and the replacement of the Sinai covenant with a new covenant. The fact that Matthew directs the parable at the leaders of Israel makes it clear that they bear the burden of guilt for the rejection of the Sinai covenant.

Unlike the parables of the past two Sundays, this parable is not peculiar to Matthew. However, he reworks the material from St. Mark's Gospel to such an extent that it bears his particular bias. He uses an image that is common in the Hebrew Scriptures; namely, the depiction of Israel as a vineyard. He also quotes directly from the Hebrew Scriptures from the Book of Psalms.

The image of Israel as an vineyard is common to Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Psalm 80, the responsorial psalm for today's liturgy, also uses this imagery. The Prophet Isaiah is used for the first reading of the liturgy. Using language that is reminiscent of the Song of Songs, Isaiah portrays the care of the vinedresser as a love relationship between God and Israel. Although the translation used in the lectionary uses the word "friend" to portray the vinedresser, the same word is often translated as "beloved" in the Hebrew Scriptures. The vinedresser does everything that is expected to produce a fruitful crop; yet, not only does the vineyard not produce good fruit, it also produces wild grapes, totally unsuited for human consumption. As a result the love song turns into an accusation and then verses of condemnation. The vineyard is destroyed.

The Gospel parable closely follows the first reading. Once again the vinedresser does everything that is necessary, following the exact same wording of Isaiah. However, the parable veers from the oracle of Isaiah by maintaining that the vineyard will not be destroyed. Rather it will be handed over to others who will care for it as it should be cared for. Herein lies St. Matthews "replacement" theme.

God's vineyard is now in the care of others. However, the parable is a warning that we are now responsible for that vineyard. It is now our responsibility to see to it that it bears good fruit. If we fail, we too will lose the vineyard.