Daily Archives: September 30, 2026

Eyes Front

Posted on by
Reply

“Eyes front” was something heard quite often during my naval career. As a plebe at the US Naval Academy the expression was “keep your eyes in the boat” an expression that originates from traditional maritime and rowing culture, where a coxswain or crew leader would instruct rowers or whaler crews to focus on their own oarsmanship. It was a reminder that you are part of a team and have a specific role that requires your full attention and commitment. While serving in the nuclear control room of submarines, it was a simple admonishment for the control room operators to keep their eyes on their panel and indications. I am reminded of all that when I read the gospel verse, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:62)

Perhaps to your ears Jesus’ words sound harsh. But imagine trying to plow a field while constantly turning around. With the light plows of the ancient world, the farmer needed considerable attention to keep the furrow straight. There was no GPS, no machinery holding the line. The plowman had to guide the animal, control the plow and keep his eyes directed toward where he was going. If he continually turned around, the furrow wandered. The work of the plowman was always in front of him. And maybe that is what Jesus is reminding us about.

All of us have something behind us. Things we wish we had done differently. People we miss. Hurts we haven’t completely forgotten. Opportunities we lost. Wonderful times we wish we could recover. Perhaps even versions of ourselves we wish we could become again. Jesus doesn’t tell us to pretend those things never happened. They are part of you and who you have become. We all have a past but the spiritual question is: “Is something in my past keeping me from seeing where Christ is leading me now?”

So often in the Sacrament of Confession people are burdened with regret. Sometimes we keep looking backward at a sin God has already forgiven, as though our failure gets the final word rather than God’s mercy. For others, resentment is the burden, allowing something someone did years ago to determine who they are today.

But it is not all a burden. It could even be nostalgia. Sometimes we become so attached to the way God worked in our lives yesterday that we fail to notice what God is doing today. Following Jesus doesn’t have a retirement age. We can easily think in terms of what has already been accomplished: I raised the family. I served the parish. I had my career. I did my part. All of that ground has been plowed.

Perhaps the furrow is shorter than it once was. Perhaps we cannot do what we once did. But there is still someone to love, to forgive, to encourage, to pray for and more. Some part of ourselves we still need to surrender to God.

Your past can be a source of wisdom, strength, and more, but your past cannot be where you are headed.

And so we put our hand to the plow and thank God for the ground already traveled. We learn from the crooked furrows and are grateful for the straight ones. But we keep our eyes on Christ. Whatever lies behind us is just that behind us. The Kingdom of God is always in front of us.

But if we’re still here, there is still some field in front of us. 

Image credit: WordPress AI generated using the text of the post.

Bearing Fruit

Posted on by
Reply

This coming Sunday is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In today’s parable, four times the word karpos (“fruit”) appears in the text, although not always translated that way [v. 34 literally “time of the fruits” = NAB’s “vintage time;” 34 and 41 literally “fruits” = NAB’s “produce;” and in v.43 translated as “fruits”]. By comparison the word karpos occurs once in Mark’s version (12:2) of this parable. Matthew’s use of this theme/image is consistent across his gospel (see also: 3:8, 10; 7:16-20; 12:33; 13:8, 23). It is central to this parable.

There are some significant differences between Mk 12:2 (At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard) and Mt 21:34 (When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce). In Mark the servant is sent “at the proper time” (kairos); the implication is that the fruit was ripe and thus the time to harvest the fruit was here. Yet in Matthew vintage time (kairos) of the fruits “drew near.” In other words, the fruit was almost ripe, but not quite. The expression is the way in which Matthew speaks of the in-breaking of the kingdom (3:2; 4:17; 10:7) and of Jesus’ hour (26:45) pointing to the coming (here, but not fully here) sense of God’s kingdom breaking into our time (chronos).

It is perhaps noteworthy that in Mark the landowner seeks to receive “some of the produce,” literally, “a share” of the fruit of the vineyard. Presumably the workers get to keep their share. But in Matthew the landowner seeks to receive “his produce,” possibly implying “all,” since he owned the entire vineyard. This may well be the meaning when one considers v.41:” give him the produce at the proper times.”

In the parable of “The Two Sons,” when the chief priests and elders remain silent in the face of Jesus’ question, in v.41 the leaders of Jerusalem have no problem in answering when Jesus asks: “What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”. They do so immediately and with some vehemence: “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death.” The tone and tenor of the response indicated that this parable has hit close to home. The story of an absentee landowner reflects a familiar economic situation at the time; some of the chief priests and elders to whom Jesus is speaking would probably have owned land away from Jerusalem. The landowner must be a wealthy man, because a newly planted vineyard could not be expected to produce fruit for at least four years, during which he would have no return on his capital outlay. Once the vines began to bear fruit there would be an agreed proportion of the crop due to the owner, leaving the tenants to derive their living from the rest. The fault of the tenants in withholding the due produce is compounded by the violence upon the servants. This fault is massively compounded by their decision to murder the owner’s son and so to attempt to take over the property.

Image credit The Parable of the Wicked Tenants, Maarten Van Valckenborch, c. 1585, Kunsthistorisches Museum | Public Domain PD-US