“FIRST IMPRESSIONS”

27th SUNDAY (A)

October 4, 2026

Isaiah 5: 1-7; 
Psalm 80;
Philippians 4: 6-9;
Matthew 21: 33-43

 

Dear Preachers:

 

Have you ever seen a community garden? They pop up in poor neighborhoods. People with homes have backyards or can afford to buy what they need; but poor people don’t have backyards, nor can they always afford the nutritious food they need.

 

I have preached in a Harlem parish five times. Harlem is a very dense neighborhood and, for the most part, still poor. There is a garden plot in Harlem that was a vegetable co-op – a community garden.  For community gardens neighbors get together and clear the land of rubble and debris. They plant vegetables and flowers and take responsibility for attending the garden. Everyone gets to share whatever they agreed to plant.

 

If every member is consistent and committed in their efforts, they all benefit and enjoy a shared harvest. If each does not perform their duties regularly and conscientiously the crops fail and it becomes just another weed-choked lot in the city.

 

Community gardens: Scriptures use a similar image to communicate God’s truth to biblical people and to us. The “community garden” most mentioned in the Bible is a Vineyard –  in both old/Hebrew and New Testaments.

 

The prophet Isaiah speaks of God planting, caring for and protecting a vineyard. It is clear that the Vineyard is a symbol for the people of Israel. The Vineyard symbolizes God’s loving care for them. The people – the Vineyard – come to know God as: the Creator of all; the one who delivers them from slavery; their guide and protector in the desert –  whether a  real desert, or a time of spiritual testing.

 

People also came to know God as Israel’s partner in a community garden the people came to call – “the promise land.” Israel is to cooperate with God’s graces and produce the fruits of faithfulness, justice, integrity and holiness. When the people don’t keep up their end of the bargain God sends them prophets, like Isaiah, guardians of the Vineyard,  to remind them of what God has done; and what they should do in response to God’s gracious actions on their behalf.

 

Today’s gospel picks up the familiar Old Testament theme of the Vineyard. The parable we hear today is an invitation to us to think about the quality of our efforts in the Vineyard. Initially, Jesus is challenging the religious leaders of his day for their failures as caretakers of the Vineyard –  God’s people. The servants in the story were given much, a carefully planted and protected Vineyard. But the servants over reached in their desire to have it all.

 

The owner provided all that was needed for a successful harvest: a protective hedge, a wine press, a tower for surveillance/security... And, as partner, asked for a share in the Vineyard. In their greed and laziness, the servants sought to make a claim on what was not theirs.

 

Couldn’t the gospel story be applied now to our care of the planet? All creation is a gift from God, a gift God loves, has made beautiful for us. We are the privileged tenants. It’s not ours, we don’t own the planet. It has been entrusted to us, and we are privileged to use it and are to be responsible to take care of it. But our care of the planet has faltered. Resources are polluted and overused. For example, in Texas, over 700 chemicals are used in the fracking process to pump oil out of the ground, polluting underground streams in the process.  Locals have had to buy bottled water. The Sunday Dallas Morning News attributed earthquake increases to fracking..  Imagine earthquakes in Texas!