27TH SUNDAY HOMILY IN THE ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A

27TH SUNDAY HOMILY IN THE ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A

HOMILY THEME: LESSON FROM THE PARABLE

BY: Fr. Gerald Muoka

Is. 5:1-7; Phil. 4:6-9; Matt. 21:33-43

I had my first farming experience at the age of seven. But it didn’t end well. Inspired by my mom, I asked for a small piece of land to grow my own corn. I cleared the land, prepared the soil, planted my seeds, and eagerly waited. The following day, I woke up early to check if my corn had sprouted. When I saw nothing, I actually dug into the soil to see if something was happening underground! I did the same thing on the second and third days. Fortunately, on the fourth day, the miracle happened—my corn germinated. I was thrilled. From then on, my little farm became my pride and joy. I visited it first before anything else in the morning and immediately after school. I gave it all my time and energy. Soon, everyone started calling me “Uncle Ben,” adapted from the popular Uncle Ben’s Rice. But then things went wrong. Instead of growing tall and healthy like my mom’s corn, my plants became stunted. Finally, they produced ears of corn that barely had any kernels. The few kernels I found were so far apart that it looked like they were practicing social distancing! I was devastated. To make matters worse, my siblings mocked me. My dream of eating my own corn was dashed. It was heartbreaking. I had worked so hard, yet my harvest was almost nothing.

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My dear friends, my frustrating farming experience resonates with Isaiah’s song of the vineyard. His friend did everything needed for the vineyard to flourish: he got fertile soil, spaded it, cleared it, planted the choicest vine, and even provided security and hewed out a winepress; it produced wild grapes instead of grapes. Isaiah’s song of the vineyard tells the story of God’s relationship with the house of Israel, despite plucking them from the land of slavery and planting them in the fertile promised land flowing with milk and honey; they only bore fruits of wickedness and evil.

In the gospel, Jesus expanded Isaiah’s song of the vineyard, using Isaiah’s key terms and applied it to the Israel of his time: the religious leaders, addressed as the tenants, forsook the ways of God and failed to heed Isaiah’s call to bear fruit. They rather intimidated and killed the prophets sent ahead to warn and lead them back to God. Jesus further speaks of his crucifixion when he added that they also killed his only son.

The Parable Today

The vineyard is the church. Jesus plucked and lifted us from slavery to sin and dominion of darkness; transferred and planted us into his own kingdom of light, the church; watered and hedged us with the blood and water that flowed from his side. He also nourishes us through his Church with the word and sacraments. Instead of yielding fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23); St. Paul also speaks of whatever is pure, honorable, and pure in the secondreading; we, instead produce wild grapes of wickedness, hate, envy, pride, wrath, and unforgiveness. Unfortunately, a countless number of priests and preachers have been sent to forewarn us, yet we wouldn’t listen to them.

Lessons From the Parable

1. This world is not our home. Jim Reeves warns that this world is not our home. We are just passing through. St. Boniface called us immigrants who, one day, would lose our immigration status and head back to home sweet home (Kingdom of God). The tenants forgot this reality. God is the only landlord of all that exists. Temporalities should be treated as temporal. We cannot change our status from immigrants to citizens. We are tenants in this world. We are only citizens of heaven.

2. The Landowner is Patient: The good news is that the landowner is patient enough. He relentlessly sent his servants, one after another, to persuade his tenants to do the right thing; even to the point of sending his only son, yet they killed him. God is patient in dealing with us. He still gives us the opportunity to yield good fruit.

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