This Week’s Gospel Reflection

Scripture

Matthew 21:33-46

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

Reflection

This vivid parable presents the stark contrast of the mercy of God with the mercilessness of those who reject God. It seems significant that God extensively prepares his vineyard. He cares about his Church. He wants it to bear fruit, and he has done the work to make it possible. He intends to protect it by building a “watchtower.”

Then, strangely, He suddenly runs off to “another country”. This detail anticipates the experience of being in relationship with Jesus. He sets everything up for, and then when you most need Him, He seems mysteriously absent. I don't think this is the time to insert an additional parable that Jesus carries you along the beach and leaves only His footprints behind. That is not a biblical parable. Instead, the message is that God trusts you enough to walk with his Spirit inside of you. He wants you to grow up; he wants you to bear fruit in faithfulness and trust.

It is also worth remembering that being a slave or servant in a wealthy person's house was a great gift for someone in the ancient world. Entering into this service meant you shared in the privileges of the wealthy family. You were no longer subject to the same contingencies of those who were born into and remained in poverty. Those who are the slaves of God are citizens of the eternal Kingdom and share in its privileges.

Those who take this invitation for granted or enter only to serve themselves are trying to kill the son of God. This is a warning to us. If we think we can act with selfishness and refer everything in the spiritual life to ourselves, then we are killing God inside of us. God who has so much mercy must act out of justice to stop us. For what mercy would it be to allow us to continue to murder the source of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty? It is shocking for us to read verse 41 where it says that God will “put those wretches to a miserable death.” But shall He allow terror to reign? We do not cover ourselves by saying we are excused because we are Christians; we must live as Christians not merely rhetorically or in song, but in will and action.

Jesus then transitions and reminds us that the vineyard He has depicted is in fact the Church, and He is the cornerstone of the Church. The apparently disparate metaphors connect. The vineyard is Church, the Kingdom of God, which is in its essence is the relationship of Love within the Trinity. And God chooses to communicate His Mercy and Trinitarian Love through the Church. To be invited is a great privilege that we must receive on God’s terms.

Prayer

Lord, Jesus Christ

Thank you for inviting us into your Kingdom, into relationship with You.  Help us to know our poverty, that outside of You “we can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Forgive us for when we have attacked You for acting in ways that displease us. Have Mercy on us, and help us make restitution. We place the past in your Merciful hands.

We quiet our souls before you. We look to You for direction. We trust in Your Providence. And we thank you for your invitation to be citizens in the Kingdom of Love.

 

Past Reflections