In our Gospel this week, Jesus tells the parable of the tenants in the vineyard. The landowner carefully prepares the vineyard and entrusts it to others, expecting that, in time, it will produce good fruit. The vineyard is a powerful image of God’s love and generosity. God gives us what we need to grow, flourish and bear fruit in our lives.
Jesus concludes by speaking of the “Kingdom of God” and the fruit that it should produce. That fruit is evident in all our lives, at least to some extent. We have all experienced kindness, generosity, forgiveness and compassion from others. We have also, at different times, been able to offer those same gifts to others. These are signs of the Kingdom of God already present among us.
Yet, if we are honest, we also recognise that our lives could bear much more of this fruit. There are times when we are impatient rather than patient, self-centred rather than generous, resentful rather than forgiving, or indifferent when another person needs our care. The vineyard of our lives does not always produce the harvest that God hopes for.
The good news is that God does not simply plant the vineyard and then abandon it. God continues to work within us. God keeps investing in us through grace, through other people, through Scripture, through the Eucharist and through the experiences of everyday life. Even our failures can become opportunities for growth when we allow God to work within us.
Without God’s ongoing investment in us, our lives cannot become all that God desires them to be. The question is not whether we have failed to bear perfect fruit, but whether we are willing to allow God to continue cultivating our lives.
May we open ourselves to God’s grace so that the fruit of the Kingdom—love, kindness, generosity, forgiveness and compassion—may become increasingly evident in us and through us.
Fr Stephen Berecz