Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 6 , 2002


Have you ever been hopelessly in love? (Or maybe when was the last time…?)

I remember the moment I first laid eyes on her in that downstairs room. The lighting was a little dim, a little romantic. The sounds of footsteps on the hardwood floor above seductively muted. And there she was, over in the corner. Standing there in her radiant beauty. Before I even touched her, I was in love. And then I heard her voice. Ahh… And I was hopelessly, helplessly in love. And I knew that there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Nothing I would hold back in caring for her. Thus began a relationship that has lasted these past 17 years. (bring out guitar…strum a few chords… ahh, isn’t she beautiful?..)

Have you ever been hopelessly in love? It’s an amazing experience. The rush, the desire, the longing for the other, the willingness to do whatever it takes to capture the heart of the beloved. You go to bed at night thinking of the other. You wake up in the morning thinking of them. There is hardly a moment without a palpable sense of the other. In that romantic stage of infatuation, you’d give up everything. And when romantic love gives way to true love, when the experience honors the freedom of the beloved in a way that respects that freedom and waits (not demands) for a response – true love flowers.

“Let me sing you a song of my love for my vineyard.” It’s a wonderful image of God in Isaiah. God, hopelessly smitten. God, head over heels in love with Israel [the vine]. God, doing everything he can think of for the good of his vineyard Israel. Then, comes the poignant moment. “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done?” They’ve gotten the best I could give, and it seems not enough. Because there is no response on the part of the people. They have not born fruit. God, helplessly in love, waits for the response from the people. And you can hear the sadness. What more was there for me to do…”

And then the question rolls down the ages, travels down human history for a few centuries till it gets to Jesus. That question, spoken to the people of Israel, finally finds answer in this story of Jesus, when he makes use of this image from Isaiah. The answer to God’s question ‘What more is there that I could have done that I did not do?’ – is Jesus himself. In this parable turned allegory, directed to the leaders who had not born fruit, we hear the answer of God. I will send my son. Surely that will convince them. Surely then, there will be that free movement of response. Surely they’ll get it. Surely they’ll know the grace that comes when you realize how deeply you are loved by another…

But, Jesus doesn’t finish the story. Even here, in the retelling, in the re-inviting the readers of every generation to enter the story, he leaves us free. What will God do to those folks? Because those folks are us, those folks are the church, those folks are the people with whom we worship this day. You and I have been so loved. How do we respond to that love?

For love is revealed in the doing, not the feeling. I could feel all kinds of warmth for my baby (guitar..) but if I don’t change the strings, if I leave it out in the hot sun, if I don’t polish it, then no matter what the amazing feeling in my heart – it is a lie. Love is revealed in the doing, the bearing of fruit.

So the two fold challenge comes to us – to trust that we are so amazingly loved. Pray with the one scripture line of today, and image it spoken from God to you alone. ‘What more is there for me to do for you that I have not already done…”

Secondly, it is pro-life Sunday. What more is there for you to do for the unborn, for those on death row, for those who lack health insurance? How can you and I produce a harvest of rich grapes in the life issues?

(pick up guitar) I’m in love. Hopelessly, helplessly in love. I will confess it. But it’s not with this guitar – but the one who gives me the gift and ability to play it and make music to my God. Hopelessly in love. Isn’t it wonderful?