"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?
Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes,
did it bring forth wild grapes?" -Is. 5:3-4
10/05/2014 Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Old Testament reading and Gospel reading are almost the same. Perhaps Jesus was trying to draw the parallel between the prophecy of Isaiah and what was actually happening in the nation of Israel at in Jesus' time. Essentially God is telling the Jews of the time,, "Hey, I put everything in place for you and I hoped it would make you into a people who wanted to come back to me!"
In the end, it didn't work. If you read on from the passage I quoted above, God essentially says that this is the final straw and then talks about his plans to remove the protection he has put in place, and in the gospel reading, he makes clear that he will make salvation available to everyone (the 'new tenants').
In some ways, I feel that mirrors our own nation. We were founded on some pretty hefty principles, and good principles, and I believe in the beginning, this great experiment was blessed because we had founders who took God's word into account in guiding the country toward our goals of liberty, justice and equality. Today, however, we are a nation moving away from God. God and people of faith are being pushed out to the periphery and told to be quiet and not to bring our faith into the public square or the voting booth. But if you're a person of faith, it's impossible to do that. Your faith is going to affect and inform every decision you make. And one of the first rights enumerated to us, is our right to express that faith.
I just wonder if we need to worry what will happen if we continue to move away from Him, or if it's already too late.
God Bless,
P.D.O.
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