October 2, 2011 TWENTY SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A Matthew 21: 33-43 ARE WE DISAPPOINTING GOD?
September 30, 2011
http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/21/
Matthew 21: 33-43
The Parable of the Tenants
33 “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
34 When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
35 But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned.
36 Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way.
37 Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’
39 They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”
41 They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the scriptures:‘The stone that the builders rejectedhas become the cornerstone;by the Lord has this been done,and it is wonderful in our eyes’?
43 Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.
ARE WE DISAPPOINTING GOD?
Matthew 21, 33-43
Jesus finds himself in the precincts of the Temple surrounded by a group of elder religious leaders. He has never met them at such close quarters. That is why, with unbelievable courage, he is going to tell them a parable directed at them. Without a doubt it is the severest to have left his lips.
When Jesus begins to speak to them of an owner who planted a vineyard and took care of it with special affection, an atmosphere of expectation is built up. The “vineyard” is the people of Israel. Everyone knows the song of the prophet Isaiah which speaks of the love of God for his people in that beautiful image. They are the ones in charge of the “vineyard” so loved by God.
What no one expects is the serious accusation that Jesus casts at them: God is disappointed. Centuries have passed and he has not managed to harvest from that beloved people the fruits of justice, solidarity and peace he expected.
Time and again he has been sending his servants, the prophets, but those in charge of the vineyard have mercilessly ill-treated them, even killed them. What more can God do for his vineyard? According to the story, the owner of the vineyard sends them his own son thinking: “They will respect my son”. But the tenants of the vineyard kill him to keep his inheritance.
The meaning of the parable is very clear. The leaders of the Temple are forced to admit that the owner has to entrust his vineyard to other more faithful tenants. Jesus quickly applies the parable to them:
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”
Overwhelmed by a crisis to which it is no longer possible to respond with minor reforms, distracted by discussions which prevent us from seeing what’s essential, without the courage to listen to the call of God to a radical conversion to the Gospel, the parable obliges us to ask serious questions:
- Are we the new people Jesus wants, committed to producing the fruits of the kingdom, or are we disappointing God?
- Are we working for a more humane world?
- What are we doing in response to the project of God for the victims of the economic crisis, for those who are dying of hunger and malnutrition in Africa?
- Do we respect the Son, God has sent us, or do we in different ways throw him “out of the vineyard”?
- Do we welcome the task Jesus has entrusted to us to humanize life, or are we being distracted by other more secondary religious concerns?
- What do we do with the men and women God sends us even today to remind us of his love and his justice?
- Do we no longer have among us prophets of God and witnesses of Jesus? Do we no longer recognize them?
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Spread abroad the call of Jesus
Spanish Original: Jose Antonio Pagola, vgentza@euskalnet.net
Instituto de Teología y Pastoral
Villa Gentza-Martutene,20080 San Sebastián (GUIPUZCOA). Spain.
English Translation by Vally (Valentine) de Souza S.J. vallydesouza@jesuits.net Mandal, Gujarat , India
