What kind of fruit are we producing?

The prophet Isaiah uses the image of a vineyard to explain God’s care for his people.

The owner does everything for his vineyard. He clears away the stones, plants the choicest vines, builds a watchtower, and hews out a winepress. Nothing is lacking in his care.

Yet, despite all of this, the vineyard produces wild grapes.

What went wrong?

Isaiah makes clear that the failure is not on God’s part. God had cared for his people and given them everything they needed to flourish, yet they did not respond. Instead of justice, the vineyard produced bloodshed. Instead of righteousness, there was distress.

Jesus takes up this image of the vineyard and makes it even more striking.

The owner entrusts his vineyard to tenants. When harvest time comes, he sends servants to collect what is due to him. But the tenants refuse. They beat one servant, kill another, and stone another.

Finally, the owner sends his son, thinking, “They will respect my son.”

Instead, the tenants see the son and decide to kill him so that they can seize his inheritance for themselves.

Jesus is making a very important point.

God continually reaches out to his people. He sends prophets. He gives his law. Finally, he sends his own Son. Yet again and again, people refuse his invitations.

The problem is not that God has failed to care for his vineyard. The problem is that his gifts require a response.

And the tenants reveal something that can also happen in us. They want the vineyard, but they do not want to answer to its owner.

We can fall into the same temptation.

We want God’s blessings, but not always his direction. We want his forgiveness, but we can be reluctant to forgive. We want a place in his kingdom, while still wanting to decide for ourselves how we will live.

So it is with us.

The psalm tells us that God pours out his gifts upon his beloved even while they slumber. His grace is freely given. We do not earn God’s love.

But love calls for a response.

Love should be met with love.

That does not mean that we should live anxiously, constantly wondering whether we have done enough. Saint Paul tells us something very different. He tells us to bring our needs to God in prayer and thanksgiving, trusting that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Then he tells us where to direct our attention:

Whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy of praise, we should keep these things before us.

And Paul does not stop with what we should think about. He tells us to put these things into practice.

That is how a good vineyard bears good fruit.

Through baptism, we have been brought into the life of Christ and made heirs to the kingdom of God. But this tremendous gift is not permission to live however we please. Grace calls us to conversion. Love calls us to love.

Jesus’ warning, then, is not something we should use to congratulate ourselves for belonging to the right group. It is something we should use to examine our own lives.

Are we producing the fruit God desires?

Are we becoming more truthful, more just, more forgiving, more generous, more loving?

God has planted the vineyard. He has cared for it. He has given us his grace. He has even sent us his Son.

The question is not whether God has given us enough.

The question is: What kind of fruit are we producing?