Our Liturgical Setting: In today’s gospel (Matthew 21:28-32) Jesus speaks of obedience to God and of disobedience, of repentance and of obstinacy, and of the “last” taking the honors reserved for the “first.” Jesus might just as well have proclaimed this passage from Ezekiel. To see why, read the gospel. Then come back to this passage. The Historical Situation: In the late eighth century B.C.E., God’s people in the promised land had become divided into a northern kingdom, Israel, and a southern kingdom, Judah (where Jerusalem was the capital). Assyria was the dominant power in the region, and lay especially heavily on the northern kingdom. Concerned about both kingdoms, Isaiah prophesies relief for both in this way: A new king will come to the throne in the southern kingdom, Judah, and will see to the reunion of the north and south and the expulsion of the Assyrians from the north. However, in the early chapters of this book, the prophet is not criticizing the foreign oppressors, but his own unfaithful people. A Favorite Literary Devices of the Prophets: A footnote in The New Jerusalem Bible says this of the vineyard image: The theme of Israel as a vine, chosen and then rejected, had been broached by Hosea, 10:1, and was to be taken up by Jeremiah, 2:21; 5:10; 6:9; 12:10, and Ezekiel, 15:1-8; 17:3-10; 19:10-14; cf. Ps 80:8-18; Is 27:2-5. Jesus was later to give it a new twist in the parable of the wicked husbandmen, Mt 21:33-44 and [parallel gospel passages] (see also the barren fig tree, Mt 21:18-19 and [parallels]). In Jn 15:1-2 he unfolds the mystery of the ‘true’ vine. Other aspects of the vine theme appear in Dt 32:32-33 and [Sirach] 24:17. Isaiah’s Plan and Your Proclamation: So the grapevine images in this reading and today’s gospel stand for real people defying their real God. The prophet feels God’s frustration in his own heart, and expresses that emphatically. What you want to convey, as lector, is Isaiah’s feeling, “I’ve got to let these people know the seriousness of their sin.” Follow the prophet’s lead: Isaiah starts by sneaking up on his audience, rhetorically speaking, rather casually telling a story: “My friend” went about the routine task of planting wine grapes. Isaiah routinely describes normal agricultural tasks for several sentences. The lector should sound matter-of-fact. Then, an unexpected twist!: the yield is only wild grapes! Let the lector sound surprised. It becomes a first-person narrative then, with the indignant “What more was there to do for my vineyard?” The lector should practice sounding outraged. There follow three dramatic sentences about “my” utter rejection of the vineyard. As lector, deliver these rapidly. Then pause. Finally comes the personal application, the indictment of unfaithful Israel. A slow, determined speaking of these sentences will be right, like a judge pronouncing sentence on a convict at the end of trial.