There was a entrepreneur who deeded some land, brought in a railroad company, built a park and started a racially diverse community. It had its ups and downs, like most towns. But then, THE EVENT happened. So the new owners were forced to send servants to protect the town. It did not go well. They drove one into exile, toward others they threw rocks and bottles and at others they shouted racial epithets. So they brought in the National Guard. Those, they treated the same way. Then they sent one of their own, saying, they will respect him. And they did for a short time. But eventually they treated him the same way. What will the owners of the town do to those protestors?
Perhaps it was just me, but the second part of today’s gospel story was eerily parallel to the experience of the people of Ferguson. It did not take me long to ‘rewrite today’s gospel story.’ And though I am not nearly as good a story teller as Jesus was, like many of Jesus’ stories, where he lets the people draw their own conclusions, we, the people of North County are left to create our own ending. What will “the owners of the town or the people who are protesting, or those caught in the crossfire do?” And the ending we create, says as much about us as it says about the community of Ferguson.
In the gospel, Jesus asks his listeners to answer the question. One interpretation of Jesus’ conclusion to their choice of how to respond was that they got the answer wrong. They wanted to call down vengeance, ‘bring that bad crowd to a bad end.’ To which Jesus says: “THAT IS WHY the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” Violence is never the answer in the kingdom. And whether that is the institutional violence of the powers that be, the response of those oppressed, and the resultant next round of violence in response to the response – Jesus says: Wrong answer. Try again. Please. All who think the Kingdom of God is going to be a matter of violence and putting those bad people to a bad end – please reread the story. Reread not just any story, but Isaiah’s story of the vineyard.
Let me sing my friend’s song concerning his vineyard. Every Jew would know Isaiah’s story. Jesus certainly knew it, and he would have known its poignant plea about the vineyard from the heart of its owner: What more was there to do that I had not done? That is the answer that Jesus was hoping for from those listening, and from us. That somehow our hearts would be filled with that same yearning, that same longing at the heart of the Father for each unarmed, black male, each police officer walking that thin blue line, each resident and shop-owner trying to make their imperfect way in imperfect times through an imperfect city here in North County. He would have them know the yearning love from a God who wants not vengeance and violence, but for them to produce the fruits of love and patience and peace.
St. Paul gives practical advice on how to get there. “Whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent and worthy of praise – think of these things.” These are the things that bond communities and individuals together.
Concretely, we can continue to sing the song of God’s vineyard, in the way he wants us to sing that song; in the way that he would write this story in our days. Come and join the Archbishop at January Wabash park this coming Thursday at 4:30 pm – Oct 9th – to pray the rosary, say the Divine Mercy chaplet and pray to Mary, the ‘undoer of knots.” Or find a way to pray those prayers in your own home daily. Pray that Jesus, the cornerstone of peace, might continue to be the cornerstone, not just of Ferguson, MO, but our parish neighborhoods, our families, our homes and our lives.