<p><em>It is tempting to read todays Scriptures as a call for vengeance and a justification of ones righteous anger. However todays reflection points us in a different direction and instead asks if our disappointments might lead us to discern as opposed to demolish.</em></p><p><strong>October 8 2023: Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A</strong></p><p>Isaiah 5:1-7</p><p>Psalm 80:9 12-16 19-20</p><p>Philippians 4:6-9</p><p>Matthew 21:33-43</p><h3><strong>Disappointment Demolition and Discernment<br></strong></h3><p><em>A reflection by Jeff Vomund<br></em></p><p>Historically todays gospel parablein which a landowner continually tries to collect his share of the produce from unruly tenant farmers until they ultimately kill his son and he presumably will move in to put those wretched men to a wretched deathprobably served a number of functions in the early Church. One it uses Psalm 118:22 the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone to explain that even though their leader Jesus died in disgrace it was all part of Gods plan to reveal a different kind of messiah. Two it uses the image of unruly tenant farmers in a vineyard (also echoing back to the Hebrew Scriptures which images Israel as Gods vineyard see todays first reading Isaiah 5:1-7) to explain how what started as an ethnic religionYahweh called Abraham and his descendantstransformed into a community that welcomed Gentiles. In fact under Paul this small Jewish sect became a worldwide proselytizing community. That indeed required some explaining.</p><p>As an historically minoritized and persecuted people LGBTQIA+ folks have often taken solace in the citation from Psalm 118. Like Jesus we were stones rejected by the builder which actually have worth and value. How many sexual minorities (or other oppressed communities) have realized the Divine delight in them put their faith in being a cornerstone in the Gods church and it has been wonderful in [their] eyes! I can still remember when I realized that this passage could apply to me. As a young gay person the world and the Church constantly fed me messages of my unworthiness and my non-humanity. To hear in this passage that God did not feel that way about meand in fact the worlds rejection was evidence that I was especially loved extra special in Gods eyesfilled me with gratitude and awe. I couldnt believe anyone could simply love me as I was and the insight that God did (it was right there in the gospel the one rejected has become most important) was overwhelming and a source of real joy and peace.</p><p>If you need to hear that message today from these readings then by all means let it soak in: you are a delight to the Divine wonderful in Loves eyes! You are not a mistake or a problem that anyone needs to fix. Suffering is neither evidence that you are special nor is it evidence that you are somehow less. It simply attests to the limited material world and the potential each of us has to fall short of loving our neighbors as ourselves.</p><p>You are the cornerstone of Loves edifice! But thenand heres the rubso is everyone else. The Scriptures are not a puzzle which if put together properly reveals the real chosen people. It is not our job to use Gods Word as a weapon or evidence to discern who is truly a member of the Divine community! Especially when Jesus has been so clear with us: Gods sun shines equally on the just and the unjust Gods rain waters the land of the good and bad alike (Matt 5:43-48). With that in mind I would like to take another approach to todays Scriptures. We are tempted to see the owner of the vineyard as an image for Godbut look again in those passages the owner is filled with vengeance and vitriol destroying those who have harmed him. Isaiah reports of the owner who promises not to care for his unyielding vines I will take away its hedge (protection) break through its wall let it be trampled! Yes I will make it a ruin. Not to mention again the chief priests and elders who predict the landowner will put those wretched men to a wretched death. Does that sound like Love to you? Me neither.</p><p>To me the question which these Scriptures bring up is What does Love look like when it has been disappointed? Or more personally What is a loving response when someone has disappointed me? On their face the stories in todays readings remind us that one tempting answer is to demolish the disappointers so we never have to experience that pain again. And if we use the Scriptures cleverly enough we can even do that demolishing with Divine dispensation. However I would like to offer two alternative approaches that I also believe are nascent in todays Scriptures. First if someone is hurting us or toxic to us it is a loving act to not let that keep happening. In both Isaiah and Matthew the landowner acts to stop the abuse. Yes. Love stops allowing people or things to be abusedeven and especially if that abuse is happening to us! Perhaps this is a limitation we see from an historically patriarchal society worshipping a male deity it feels like such a boyish response to simply address the bully and beat them up. Problem solved. However real life and real love is both more complicated and more caring. We do have a right to protect ourselves from abuse but that need not necessitate more abuse in response. Second todays Psalm posits a similar situation as Isaiah and Matthew but comes to a very different solution. In this case the disappointment does not lead to a demolishing but a recommitment to the relationship. The Psalmist acknowledges the beauty of the past relationship as well as the difficulty of the present moment and asks for a loving recommitment from God even as it promises its own change of behavior: take care of this vine protect what your right hand has planted then we will no more withdraw from you (Psalm 80: 14-19). In other words for the Psalmist the disappointments of the present invite both parties to a change of behavior and a recommitment to what has been a loving and generative relationship. There seems to be a trust that despite the disappointment healing and beauty can again be found.</p><p>All of this makes me wonder how I have reacted recently when Ive been disappointed by a loved one. Have I moved quickly to get revenge to make sure that they felt some pain in response to my pain? Or has it led me to deeper questions: Were my expectations off? Did I communicate clearly? Am I asking more than that person can give? And again perhaps some of those deeper questions might lead to good boundaries: Am I putting more into this relationship than the other person is willing to give? Are they capable of the love that I am seeking? Do I need to shore up my own hedges as opposed to tearing down walls?</p><p>You are in fact wonderful in Gods eyes and so is the person with whom you are disappointed. (Darn it!) How can disappointment lead us to discernment and rededication as opposed to a determination to demolish? Which is just to ask the question can disappointment lead me to deeper Love? On that answer I believe the Scriptures are quite clear. As Paul confidently announces in the Letter to the Philippians the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard [our] hearts (4:7).'</p><p></p><p><img src='https://www.dignityusa.org/sites/default/files/jeff_0.png'></p><p><strong><i>Jeff Vomund</i></strong><i>&nbsp;</i><em>is a member of Dignity/Washington and currently lives in Knoxville Tennessee. After 15+ years of full-time parish ministry and 7 years of teaching students with particular learning needs Jeff now works at the University of Tennessee's Social Work Office of Research and Public Service (SWORPS) where he is a Senior Researcher examining issues related to the accessibility affordability and quality of early childhood education and care. Jeff is also a Ph.D. candidate in&nbsp;Educational Psychology at&nbsp;George Mason University. <br></em></p><p style=text-align: center;><a class=btn btn-primary href=https://dignityusa.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/dignityusa/subscribe.jsp?subscription=8>Subscribe to Breath of the Spirit</a></p>