The Abbey church was filled. There was a silent excitement as we waited for the concert to start. Then exquisite music resonated for over an hour as people who could really sing sang chant written across the centuries for people to pour out their love of God. We, who listened, let our hearts sing in union with thousands of monks and nuns who gave their lives to God through the ages.
I sat in the audience, spellbound. It was so beautiful that tears welled up from time to time as the melodies played in my soul. How beautiful and glorious was the privilege of knowing and loving God! How beautiful and glorious was this expression of that love.
The occasion was the inaugural concert of the new Institute of Sacred Music at St. Meinrad Archabbey. It was a perfect example of St. Paul’s advice to the church at Philippi,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,
if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Keep on doing what you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me.
Then the God of peace will be with you.
This epistle selection stands in contrast today to the first reading and the Gospel. It will be the center of this week reflection. First, let’s take a brief look at the other readings and their contexts.
Isaiah 5:1-7
This selection is taken from First Isaiah—the part of Isaiah written before the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile. It is a parable—which is very similar to the parable Jesus tells. As this parable is told, it’s meaning is that God gave the people of Israel what he intended to be a fertile land and lifestyle—a productive vineyard. But it has not produced good fruit. Instead, it has yielded wild grapes. In Kentucky wild grapevines grow all over. Cut their branches and strip them—they make attractive wreath frames, but they don’t bear fruit you can eat. They are all vine growth and no harvest.
God through Isaiah is saying, “I planted and cared for you, but you’ve gone wild. You are not the people whom I intended to be a model for other nations—living by my law, doing justice, and trusting in my care.”
Then, Isaiah predicts the fall of Jerusalem.
Matthew 21: 33-43
Altogether, Jesus told about 40 parables. Seven of them are in the Gospel of Matthew spoken by Jesus during Holy Week. Those parables are in two sets. The first set of three parables in Matthew 21-22 is spoken to the scribes and Pharisees; the second set is spoken to the disciples.
Let’s look at the first set. We had the first of those parables last week: the parable of the two sons. Today’s parable of the wicked tenants is the second one. We will have the third of those parables as our Gospel next week.
As we read and pray with this parable, it is important to remember the audience and the context: Jesus is speaking to the people who will have him put to death in a few days. They are hard on him because as soon as he got to Jerusalem (on Palm Sunday) he went to the temple and threw out the money changers, saying “It is written, ‘my house will be a house of prayer;’ but you have made it a bandits’ den.” Then he went to Bethany to spend the night with friends.
This is Monday morning. He goes back to the temple and begins to teach. The scribes and Pharisees seek him out, asking him by what authority he is teaching. Then he tells these three parables and directly “lays into” the religious leaders about their lack of leadership, virtue, and understanding of what God the Father has said for centuries. You might want to read Matthew 21-23 all in a sitting—then imagine you are a disciple watching and listening. Jesus does not mince words. He spits them out directly to name what is wrong. His meaning is clear in the final lines: “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”
I think it is important to remember all this—even as now we return to Philippians.
Philippians 4:6-9
Philippians is a short letter, and the selection today is from the final chapter. Philippi was the first city in Europe that Paul visited. He planted a Christian colony in that town originally created as a retirement community for Roman army veterans. He maintained close relations with them and returned to visit them again on his third missionary journey.
The language and emotion in today’s reading is personal and warm. Paul is like a father addressing his “obedient sons and daughters.” BECAUSE they are good, Paul encourages them to have NO ANXIETY. That doesn’t mean just go with the flow of the culture around them, but rather “in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.”
Pray. Be happy. Don’t worry. But PRAY. Trust in God. He is saying, in effect, “you are the new vineyard that has replaced the one with wild grapes.” You are the “new tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
The Philippians are on the right path. Paul is telling them how to STAY on the right path: look for a deep peace as a sign of God’s presence and favor. Then focus on what is TRUE, HONORABLE, JUST, PURE, LOVELY, GRACIOUS, EXCELLENT, and/or WORTHY OF PRAISE.
They are to focus on those positive things.
Paul thus proves himself an excellent 21st century psychologist. For, indeed, many studies show that the people who manage life well—even in the face of great difficulties—deliberately focus on what is good, beautiful, and true.
Applications
I am not a musician, but the beauty in good music well performed touches me—as does good art, literature, cooking, housekeeping, carpentry, hospitality, construction, or business. There is something of GOD in all that is good, all that is beautiful, and that is true.
Where do you find the good? The true? The beautiful? On this Sabbath, spend some time immersed in it.
Prayer:
O God of the good, the beautiful, and the true, speak to me today. Fill me with your goodness. Fill me to heal me, to call me closer to Yourself, and to be a means of guidance for others. This poem, Lord, by Sara Teasdale speaks my heart to you today: “Spend all you have for loveliness/Spend, and never count the cost!/For one white singing hour of peace/Count many a year of strife well lost/And for a breath of ecstacy/Give all you ever have been or could be.”
Lead me, guide me, Lord.
