Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

And God is still looking for fruit.

There is a question running through all three of our readings today: What is growing in us?

Isaiah gives us the image of a vineyard. God prepares the soil. He clears away the stones, plants the best vines, builds a watchtower, and even prepares the winepress. He does everything necessary for that vineyard to produce good fruit. And then Isaiah tells us that God looked for a crop of good grapes, but what he got were wild grapes. There is almost a sadness in the question God asks: “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done?”

Then Jesus picks up that same image in the Gospel. The owner sends his servants to collect what belongs to him, and they reject them. He sends others, and they reject them too. Finally he says, “I will send my son.”

Of course, Jesus is talking about himself. God had sent the prophets. Again and again, God had called his people back. And finally, he sent his Son. What strikes me about that is the patience of God. Even when people turn away from him, God keeps reaching out.

I think there is something very comforting in that for us. Because if we are honest, there are probably areas in every one of our lives that haven’t produced the fruit God intended. Maybe there is a relationship that needs healing. Maybe there is someone we haven’t forgiven. Maybe our prayer life isn’t what it once was. Maybe we’ve been carrying worries that we need to give to God.

That’s where our second reading becomes so practical. Saint Paul says, “Have no anxiety at all.” That’s easier said than done. We all worry. We worry about our families. We worry about our health. We worry about things that haven’t even happened yet. And sometimes we lie awake at night trying to solve things that we simply cannot solve.

But Paul doesn’t simply say, “Stop worrying.” He tells us what to do with the worry: bring it to God. “In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” In other words, don’t carry by yourself what you can bring to God.

That doesn’t mean the problem suddenly disappears. It doesn’t mean everything works out exactly the way we want. But Paul says something happens within us: “The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Paul then tells us to pay attention to what we allow into our minds: whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and gracious. Think about these things. Because what we focus on begins to shape us. If we constantly dwell on anger, it begins to affect us. If we hold on to resentment, it begins to change us. If we constantly focus on everything that could go wrong, fear begins to take over.

But if we continually turn toward God—if we pray, if we give thanks, if we fill our minds with what is good and true—something else begins to happen. Peace begins to grow.

And maybe that brings us back to the vineyard. God has given us so much: our lives, our faith, the people around us, and opportunities to love, to forgive, to serve, and to begin again. And God looks for fruit.

Not perfection. Fruit. Signs that his grace is actually doing something in us.

In a few moments, we will come forward to receive the Eucharist. We receive the Son whom the Father sent into the vineyard. And Jesus comes to us not simply to remain with us here in church. He comes to strengthen us so that when we leave here, our lives can bear fruit.

So maybe the question for us this week is simply this: What is growing in me?

And perhaps an even better question is: What do I want God to grow in me? More faith? More forgiveness? More gratitude? More peace?