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Song of the Vineyard
God looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, a cry!
Isaiah 5:7
In the reading from Matthew’s gospel, the evangelist foretells the cosmic disasters which will accompany the coming of the Son of man:
the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will fall from heaven ,
and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Matthew 24:29
This prophecy of future woes belongs to what is called apocalyptic literature, which announces the shattering of the world as it has been, followed by the reconstitution of a new heaven and a new earth.
This type of literature accompanied the beginnings of Christianity; it reappeared with the approach of the second millennium in the year 1000; and it is back with us again in the early years of the third millennium. The title of Mel Gibson’s new film is Apocalypto. Today our anxiety about the future is strengthened by the threat of AIDS, ecological disaster, and terrorism.
W.B. Yeats wrote a poem entitled “The Second Coming,” which concludes with the question:
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Our Old Testament lesson, from Isaiah, reminds us that the threat of disaster and judgment confronts us here and now, and not just at the end of the world. Isaiah’s famous poem, “A Love Song concerning the Vineyard of my Beloved,” is a parable of God’s fierce love, a love which tolerates no rival and demands justice and righteousness.
Contemporary concern for social issues, such as the plight of the homeless, is rooted in the insistent message of the Old Testament prophets, that the worship of God is an abomination if it is not joined with effective advocacy of the poor and vulnerable in society.
As we see here in Toronto the erection of ever more palatial mansions, the words of Isaiah take on a very contemporary significance:
Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room.
Isaiah 5:8
Since this parable is directed explicitly against the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:7), the doom it foretells was understood by the Christian church to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 A.D. and the dispersal of the Jewish people.
But for the evangelists, especially Luke, the judgment against Israel served as a warning to the Christian church that what was meted out against God’s chosen people would surely also befall the new people of God, if they failed to bring forth the fruit of righteousness.
This is a somber message, coming so soon before Christmas. But if the new reality, represented by the birth of the babe in the manger, is to come into being, the old order, with its injustice and oppression, must give way.
The wicked servant in the gospel, who says to himself, “My master is delayed,” and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken (Matthew 24:48-49), will be severely dealt with.
We must all watch, therefore, since we do not know on what day the Lord is coming (Matthew 24:42).
December 10, 2006
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