Reflection for the Week – 29 September 2026

By Clive Conway

Posted Sep 29, 2026 in Faith

What kind of fruit are we growing?

By Clive Conway

 

In the ‘Song of the Vineyard’, the prophet Isaiah tells a story about a vineyard lovingly planted and carefully tended by God (Isaiah 5:1, 2). Everything needed for it to flourish had been provided, but when the harvest comes, the vineyard produces only wild grapes. Why? Because, as explained in Verse 7, God looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; looked for righteousness, but heard only cries of distress.

Bringing this into our own context, contemporary Australia is a nation blessed with abundance, and yet many people are experiencing housing insecurity, financial stress, loneliness and exclusion. If God were looking at our life today, what fruit would God find?

Isaiah points to the suffering of people whose needs are ignored. God’s attention isn’t drawn to economic indicators or institutional success, but to the cries of those who are struggling.

Also on the theme of vineyards, in Matthew’s ‘Parable of the Wicked Tenants’ the issue is not productivity but responsibility. The tenants entrusted with the vineyard have forgotten that it ultimately doesn’t belong to them but to God (Matthew 21:33–46). And like those tenants, we are not the owners of our vineyard, just its stewards. “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom”.

The Gospel challenges the idea that growth and success are always signs of faithfulness. Similarly, Isaiah’s vineyard might have been productive, but not in ways that reflected God’s hopes for the community.

Throughout scripture, God measures differently. The prophet Micah speaks of doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8). Jesus speaks of feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger and caring for the vulnerable (Matthew 25:35–40). The fruit God seeks is not prestige, power or achievement, but compassion, generosity and justice.

In Philippians 3:13–14, Paul reflects on his CV. He has plenty of accomplishments and credentials but decides that none of them ultimately define his life. Instead, he writes, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal”.

For us as Church, this is an invitation to active hope. Rather than just indulging in nostalgia for the past, or despair about the present, we are called to strain for what lies ahead, and participate in creating God’s future.

Success won’t be measured by us solving every problem but whether our lives and communities are bearing the fruit that God seeks – justice, mercy, inclusion and hope.

God is still tending the vineyard. The harvest is still coming. What kind of country, what kind of Church, and what kind of community are we helping to grow?

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