13 March 2020 - fruit in due season

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Whose is the vineyard in which we work? To whom does the produce belong? The answer is that the vineyard belongs to the LORD and his is the produce. But do we actually realize this? Most of us act like our vineyard is our own and our produce is our own. We occasionally tithe some of our produce to the true landowner. In doing so we imagine we are gaining favor, giving something of our own that can earn blessing from the landowner. Seldom do we realize that everything which we have to offer is already itself a gift. All of the contingent circumstances that make any sort of offering possible are governed by the providence of the landowner.

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.

We are called to remember that everything we have is a gift from God.

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (see First Corinthians 4:7).

When we remember this we don't become jealous when we see Joseph gifted with an amazing coat of many colors. We don't envy the dramatic conversion stories, the people with great and miraculous gifts of healing and mighty deeds.

Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons,
for he was the child of his old age;
and he had made him a long tunic.

When we remember that everything is a gift from God we feel less need to be so protective of what we receive. We don't need to resort to violence to keep them to ourselves. In fact, we become free to use our gifts for the Kingdom. We realize that there is actually enough, because the landowner planned everything for our benefit. There are additional gifts we discover that our self-protective insulation didn't allow us to discover.

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.

This vineyard is more than capable of producing enough fruit to feed the whole world. It has far more than enough to provide our daily bread. When we allow the LORD to direct us and our usage of the vineyard we find baskets of abundance left over.

The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions.