Both Isaiah’s poem in the first reading and Matthew’s Gospel use the image of a vineyard to convey the value of faith and the resulting damage when faith is abandoned through sin. Isaiah’s “friend” creates a luscious vineyard in hopes that it will yield a rich harvest of fruitful grapes. Instead, only rotten, wild grapes are produced. The friend Isaiah speaks of is God and the vineyard represents the Israelites and their failure to remain faithful to the covenant that God had established with His chosen people. They turned away from God and Isaiah warns of a coming judgement against them by foreign invasion. The “wild grapes” are the consequences of turning away from God. The Gospel uses the same symbol of God’s vineyard. But it adds another act to the drama. The landowner prepared his vineyard for a fine harvest. Yet while he was away, the tenants began to kill his servants. Finally, the landowner sent his own son thinking he would be respected. But no, the tenants even kill the son. God is of course the landowner in this parable. The tenants were the Jewish leaders who eventually killed His only Son, Jesus. And yet, God uses this tragedy to create the salvation of the world and triumph over the evil of sin. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes.” The death and resurrection of God’s Son redeemed all sinners for all time including us, 2000 years later. We are meant to see that even today we too are tenants and servants in God’s vineyard. How are we tending to the fruits of the vineyard? Will we help produce fruits of goodness as models of Christ? We will all be called to make an accounting of our care of God’s kingdom here on earth.