Sep 28, 2026 Written by 
Art'working

27th Sunday in O.T.

27th Sunday in O.T.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

(Isaiah 5:1–7)

 

1I will sing for my beloved a love song about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
2He cleared it of stones and dug it up, then planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the middle of it and also dug a winepress. He expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded only sour grapes.
3Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, be you the judges between me and my vineyard.
4What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done? Why, whilst I was expecting it to yield grapes, did it yield sour grapes?
5Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be turned into pasture; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled underfoot.
6I will make it a wasteland; it will not be pruned or hoed, and brambles and thorns will grow there; and I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it.
7Now the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel; the people of Judah are the plants he cherished. He expected justice, but behold, bloodshed; he expected righteousness, but behold, cries of the oppressed.

----------------------- ---------------------

 

This is a famous passage from Isaiah. ‘My beloved’ refers to God. The vineyard represents Israel. Jesus himself used this simile and enshrined it in the parable in Matthew 21:33–43, which echoes precisely this passage from Isaiah. God examines Himself, judges Himself, and asks: how great was my love for the vineyard? Did I do everything that needed to be done? Did I overlook anything? If the answer is affirmative and comprehensive, He may proceed to render a just judgement; otherwise, He must postpone it. Only after having examined the full depth of His love can He deliver His just judgement. Where there is no fullness of love, there can never be a just judgement. No one can accuse God of having been remiss.

‘My Beloved’ possessed a vineyard on a fertile hill. God, the Beloved of Israel, had planted his vineyard well. The location was perfect. The hill was fertile. God had not chosen the wrong place for the vineyard. Choosing the wrong spot means condemning the vineyard to bear no fruit. God planted his vineyard in the ideal spot.

In verse 2, the Lord assesses his own expertise in cultivation. The spot is perfect; it is fertile. The soil shows great promise. He had tilled it and cleared it of stones—that is, he had prepared it by giving it the Torah. ‘Cleared of stones’. … these stones symbolise the various peoples who inhabited the land of Canaan before Israel. The Lord had planted fine vines there; He had not merely taken just any vines. In the midst of it, He had built a tower and also dug a winepress. The tower standing in the middle of the vineyard is evidently the temple that stood in Jerusalem, at the heart of the country. Everything is perfect. Now all that remains is to wait to reap the harvest. He waited, but instead of producing grapes, it produced unripe berries. What a disappointment! What bitterness!

In verse 3, the Lord asks the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah to act as arbiters between Him and the vineyard. He asks His people to help Him in the search for truth. The Lord wants his people to speak their minds about him too. No one should be able to accuse him of being an unjust judge. God calls upon the very guilty parties themselves to act as judges and arbiters.

The Lord asks for a judgement on his work (v. 4). God has done everything he could for the salvation of sinners. What more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not already done? Can anyone tell me anything? This examination of conscience ought to be undertaken by every pope, bishop, priest and disciple of Jesus. Only when we have exhausted every reserve of our love might we say that we are innocent before those who are lost. God has done everything. Why then, whilst He was waiting for it to produce grapes, did it yield unripe berries? Now it is the vineyard that must answer. God has done everything. The vineyard has produced nothing. There is no point in tending it any longer. It would be a waste of time. If there is nothing else the Lord can do, what hope remains?

Here, then, is the Lord’s decision (v. 5): he announces the coming punishments he will send upon them. Without a hedge, there will be no protection; wild animals will enter freely and devour the vines. In other words, God will withdraw his protection from the Israelites, and once he no longer defends their land, their enemies will enter and plunder everything. He will tear down its boundary wall, and it will be trampled underfoot. Anyone can enter it. The vineyard is without any protection. Anyone can trample it, and whatever is not trampled runs wild. If the Lord does not tend his vineyard, there is no life in it. God withdraws his grace from those who have made themselves unworthy of it, so that, having refused to acknowledge his goodness, they may experience the severity of his justice.

Israel, a privileged people, has shown itself so ungrateful that God, now weary, decides to abandon it and brings about its ruin: ‘I will command the clouds not to send you rain.’ Without rain, the vineyard is doomed. The Lord has poured out all his love upon it. He has nothing else to give. In the Old Testament, he gave everything. In the New Testament, he gives his Only-Begotten Son on the Cross. Has the Lord finished giving? No. Now, in Christ, he wishes to give every other child of his. As long as there is a single Christian on earth, God will wish to make an act of love for his vineyard.

In verse 7, the Lord moves away from the allegory and the symbol and enters into reality. He reveals who his vineyard is. His vineyard is the house of Israel. This is the vineyard that God had planted. From his people, God expected righteousness, yet here there is bloodshed. He expected righteousness, but instead there were cries from the oppressed. Instead of his children loving one another as true brothers, they had turned against one another. Since the people had rejected the Lord, they had rejected themselves, and all those who are unjustly oppressed cry out.

‘He expected justice, but instead there was bloodshed; he expected righteousness, but instead there were cries from the oppressed’.

‘Justice’ in Hebrew is mišpāṭ, ‘bloodshed’ is miśpāḥ; the two words look and sound the same. Similarly, ‘righteousness’ is ṣeḏāqāh, and ‘cries of the oppressed’ is ṣe‘āqāh. Outwardly, things seemed to be holding together, but the people were violating the Lord’s law. 

 

 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, in the mystery of the Trinity

Jesus’ prophetic discourse (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

 

(Available on Amazon)

84 Last modified on Monday, 28 September 2026 11:42
Rate this item
(1 Vote)
Argentino Quintavalle

Argentino Quintavalle è studioso biblico ed esperto in Protestantesimo e Giudaismo. Autore del libro “Apocalisse - commento esegetico” (disponibile su Amazon) e specializzato in catechesi per protestanti che desiderano tornare nella Chiesa Cattolica.

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Latest from Argentino Quintavalle

Previous
« 26th Sunday in O.T.
Next
28th Sunday in O.T. »
back to top
The fool in the Bible, the one who does not want to learn from the experience of visible things, that nothing lasts for ever but that all things pass away, youth and physical strength, amenities and important roles. Making one's life depend on such an ephemeral reality is therefore foolishness (Pope Benedict)
L’uomo stolto nella Bibbia è colui che non vuole rendersi conto, dall’esperienza delle cose visibili, che nulla dura per sempre, ma tutto passa: la giovinezza come la forza fisica, le comodità come i ruoli di potere. Far dipendere la propria vita da realtà così passeggere è, dunque, stoltezza (Papa Benedetto)
As sometimes happens in the Gospel, faced with the trap set by his enemies, Jesus, with his response, rises above the contingent controversy and goes far beyond the particular and mutually divergent positions (Pope John Paul II)
Come talora accade nel Vangelo, di fronte al tranello mossogli dai suoi nemici, Gesù, con la sua risposta, s’innalza al di sopra della polemica contingente e va ben oltre le posizioni particolari e tra loro divergenti (Papa Giovanni Paolo II)
And blasphemy, the sin against the Holy Spirit, is the one unforgivable sin — as Jesus said — because it comes from closing the heart to God’s mercy which acts in Jesus (Pope Francis)
E la bestemmia, il peccato contro lo Spirito Santo, è l’unico peccato imperdonabile – così dice Gesù –, perché parte da una chiusura del cuore alla misericordia di Dio che agisce in Gesù (Papa Francesco)
The great thinker Romano Guardini wrote that the Lord “is always close, being at the root of our being. Yet we must experience our relationship with God between the poles of distance and closeness. By closeness we are strengthened, by distance we are put to the test” (Pope Benedict)
Il grande pensatore Romano Guardini scrive che il Signore “è sempre vicino, essendo alla radice del nostro essere. Tuttavia, dobbiamo sperimentare il nostro rapporto con Dio tra i poli della lontananza e della vicinanza. Dalla vicinanza siamo fortificati, dalla lontananza messi alla prova” (Papa Benedetto)
The present-day mentality, more perhaps than that of people in the past, seems opposed to a God of mercy, and in fact tends to exclude from life and to remove from the human heart the very idea of mercy (Pope John Paul II)
La mentalità contemporanea, forse più di quella dell'uomo del passato, sembra opporsi al Dio di misericordia e tende altresì ad emarginare dalla vita e a distogliere dal cuore umano l'idea stessa della misericordia (Papa Giovanni Paolo II)
«Religion of appearance» or «road of humility»? (Pope Francis)
«Religione dell’apparire» o «strada dell’umiltà»? (Papa Francesco)
In the crucified Jesus a kind of transformation and concentration of the signs occurs: he himself is the “sign of God”, especially in the mystery of his Death and Resurrection (Pope John Paul II)
In Gesù crocifisso avviene come una trasformazione e concentrazione dei segni: è Lui stesso il "segno di Dio", soprattutto nel mistero della sua morte e resurrezione (Papa Giovanni Paolo II)
However, the king was not discouraged and sent his servants out to seek other guests to fill his banquet hall. Thus the aspect of the refusal of those initially invited caused the invitation to be extended to all [Pope Benedict]
Il re però non si scoraggia e invia i suoi servi a cercare altri commensali per riempire la sala del suo banchetto. Così il rifiuto dei primi ha come effetto l’estensione dell’invito a tutti [Papa Benedetto]

duevie.art

don Giuseppe Nespeca

Tel. 333-1329741


Disclaimer

Questo blog non rappresenta una testata giornalistica in quanto viene aggiornato senza alcuna periodicità. Non può pertanto considerarsi un prodotto editoriale ai sensi della legge N°62 del 07/03/2001.
Le immagini sono tratte da internet, ma se il loro uso violasse diritti d'autore, lo si comunichi all'autore del blog che provvederà alla loro pronta rimozione.
L'autore dichiara di non essere responsabile dei commenti lasciati nei post. Eventuali commenti dei lettori, lesivi dell'immagine o dell'onorabilità di persone terze, il cui contenuto fosse ritenuto non idoneo alla pubblicazione verranno insindacabilmente rimossi.