The First Reading from the Old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel reading present us with examples of one of the commonest images, in all of Scripture, that of the vineyard and the one who cares for it.

And the point of the image is fairly clear.  It is to illustrate the care, the concern, that the Father lavishes on us, his people.  We have not been called together to be left on our own.  Rather we have been called together to benefit from the direction, the purpose, the meaning that the Father can and will give to our lives.

It is simply true that part at least of the frustration that seems to characterise the lives of a great many people today is really a kind of a sense of being set adrift in a world in which we are faced with far greater demands, challenges than any of us are capable of meeting.

Whether the task be making a living, making peace, finding justice, raising a family, finding a friend, or simply doing one’s job, an awful lot of people experience themselves as facing it alone, as more than they can handle.

Well, the scriptural response to this is very clear.  It is not so.  There is no challenge, no task, no life that any of God’s people are asked to face entirely alone.  Our concerns are the Father’s concerns.  Our efforts to grow are under his care, his direction.

It is simply his understanding of this that enables St Paul in the Second Reading to say, “Dismiss all anxiety from your minds.  Present your needs to the Father, and his own peace will stand guard over you.”

But we must remember that the image of the vineyard is just that, an image.  It tells part of the story, not all of it.

And the rest of the story is that we, the Church, are not plants, we are people.  And that means that our role, our responsibility, can never be to simply sit back and let someone else, even the owner, do all the work, take care of us.  Plants don’t need to become personally involved in the gardener’s mission in order to grow.  People do.  St Paul tells us, “Don’t be anxious.  Don’t despair.”  He does not tell us, “Don’t be concerned, don’t be involved in your own growth.”

We must come to see God’s presence, his care, his direction as an invitation, an opportunity, for our own active, responsible involvement in our own personal growth, not as a substitute for it.  The image of the vineyard is a valuable one.  It offers us a valuable confidence, a real freedom from anxiety.  But let us remember that in this image we are not only the vine, we are the caretakers as well.