27th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
Matthew 21: 33-43
- First reading Isaiah 5:1-7
Let me sing to my friend
the song of his love for his vineyard. - Second reading Philippians 4:6-9
Brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. - Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
It was the stone rejected by the builders
hat became the keystone.
This was the Lord’s doing
and it is wonderful to see?
‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’
The new wine of God’s vineyard
Pope Francis
This narrative allegorically illustrates the reproaches of the prophets in the story of Israel. It is a history that belongs to us. It is about the Covenant which God wished to establish with mankind and in which he also called us to participate. Like any other love story, this story of the Covenant has its positive moments too, but it is also marked by betrayal and rejection. In order to make us understand how God the Father responds to the rejection of his love and his proposal of an alliance, the Gospel passage puts a question on the lips of the owner of the vineyard: “When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (v. 40). This question emphasizes that God’s disappointment at the wicked behaviour of mankind is not the last word! This is the great novelty of Christianity: a God who, even though disappointed by our mistakes and our sins, does not fail to keep his Word, does not give up and, most of all, does not seek vengeance!
My brothers and sisters, God does not avenge himself. God loves, he does not avenge himself. He waits for us to forgive us, to embrace us. Through the “rejected stones” — and Christ is the first stone that the builders rejected — through situations of weakness and sin, God continues to circulate “the new wine” of his vineyard, namely mercy. This is the new wine of the Lord’s vineyard: mercy. There is only one obstacle to the tenacious and tender will of God: our arrogance and our conceit which, at times also becomes violence! Faced with these attitudes where no fruit is produced, the Word of God retains all its power to reprimand and reproach: “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it” (v. 43).
The urgency of replying with good fruits to the call of the Lord, who asks us to become his vineyard, helps us understand what is new and original about the Christian faith. It is not so much the sum of precepts and moral norms but rather, it is first and foremost a proposal of love which God makes through Jesus and continues to make with mankind. It is an invitation to enter into this love story, by becoming a lively and open vine, rich in fruits and hope for everyone. A closed vineyard can become wild and produce wild grapes. We are called to leave this vineyard to put ourselves at the service of our brothers and sisters who are not with us, in order to shake each other and encourage each other, to remind ourselves that we must be the Lord’s vineyard in every environment, even the more distant and challenging ones.
Angelus 8/10/2023
GOSPEL REFLECTION
As the prophet Isaiah, Jesus also uses the image of the vineyard to describe the work of God and person’s response. However, the scene is quite different. The personages change: in the foreground, God and the vineyard that produces bitter and inedible grapes are not there but there is the owner, God, and his dependents, identified as the high priests and the spiritual guides of the people to whom the parable is directed (Mt 21:23). Then the vineyard is not sterile; it seems to bear fruit, but these are not delivered. Finally, the conclusion is different: there is no abandonment, devastation of the vineyard, but a new beginning, an intervention of salvation, a replacement of the inept workers.
We come to the parable. A master plants a vineyard, with a hedge around it, digs a mill there, builds a tower, entrusts it to tenants and goes.
When the time of harvest arrived, he sent his servants to collect the produce, but here’s the surprise: the farmers do not want to deliver the benefits. The first hypothesis one thinks is that they want to keep the produce for themselves. There is another possibility, perhaps more likely, they have no fruit to present. They may not have worked. They may have spent time in carousing and drunkenness or have worked badly.
Some of them began to make fun of the master’s envoys, then the insults, beatings and finally the killing of some servants. The landlord does not give up; he loves his vineyard too much. Then he sends other servants more numerous than the first, but even these have no luck. As a final attempt, he sends his son, but the workers in the vineyard hunt him out and kill him. They are convinced of being able to be masters of the field that has been entrusted to them.
As in the First Reading, all the details of the Gospel story have a symbolic meaning.
The master is the Lord who has lavished so much care and expressed an immense love for his people (v. 33). The hedge is the Torah, the law that God has revealed to his people, to protect it from enemies, that is, from the proposals of senseless life that would lead it to ruin. The tenants are the chiefs, religious and political leaders, whose task is to place the people in ideal conditions to produce the fruits that the owner expects. The fruits are identified by the First Reading. They are the works of love for the neighbor and social justice.
The two groups of envoys are the prophets who, before and after the exile, were sent, always more numerous, to warn Israel to be faithful to the covenant. That’s how God expresses himself by the mouth of Jeremiah: “From the time I brought their forebears out of Egypt until this day I have continually sent them my servants, the prophets, but this stiff-necked people did not listen. They paid no attention and were worse than their forebears” (Jer 7:25-26). The fate of these men was dramatic: beatings, stoning (2 Chr 24:21), fetters and chains (Jer 20:2), death by the sword (Jer 26:23). They should not expect anything else: they were the mouthpiece of God and of his wisdom, too far from the absurd and unacceptable thoughts of men. That is why the tenants want to take possession of the field, claim to manage the “vineyard” by themselves. They represent those who want to do without God and consider His gifts good to be appropriated.
The son is Jesus.
The time of harvest is the time of God’s judgment that—this must be kept in mind—should not be understood as the “day of reckoning,” but as an intervention of salvation. Let me explain. At the end of the parable, Jesus involves his audience and asks their opinion on what behavior to suggest to the owner. They convincingly respond: “The master will bring those evil men to an evil end” (v. 41).
This severe image is the result of the effervescent oriental fantasy that—as we have repeatedly pointed out—is pleased to paint pictures with strong colors.
But Jesus follows a different logic. Instead of approving the words of threat and destruction handed down by his hearers (v. 41), he suggests the action of God. The Lord will not react by destroying evil and not even pretending that evil was not committed. This remains, it cannot be reset. God intervenes to make it serve the good, making it yield a masterpiece of salvation. You may remember what Joseph said to his brothers who had sold him to the Egyptians: “You intended to do me harm but God intended to turn it to good to bring about what is happening today—the survival of many people” (Gen 50:20).
The verses 39, 42-43 form the central part of the parable describing the death and resurrection of Jesus. The leaders of the people take the Son and throw him out of the vineyard. This is what happened to Jesus. He was deemed a blasphemer, impure and for this, he was brought out of the city walls and was executed. But God, in raising him, glorified him and made him Lord, the cornerstone of a new building.
The end result of the intervention of the master is the delivery of the vineyard to other workers who will make it produce fruits. This is not about the master’s annoyed reaction, but his gesture of love and salvation. Not even the rejection and murder of his son can make him an enemy of humanity.
In narrating this parable, the evangelist Matthew certainly thought of the infidelity of the leaders of his people and their rejection of the Messiah of God. But not only to them; he also thought of his community and the entire world: every person is a vine-grower from which the Lord expects delivery of the fruits.
The happy news which concludes the Gospel (v. 43) is that, despite all the refusals of people, in the end, God always finds the way to achieve his purpose and to obtain the good fruit he wants.
Fernando Armellini
Italian missionary and biblical scholar
https://sundaycommentaries.wordpress.com
To reinvigorate the faith and promote the fruits of the Mission
Romeo Ballan mccj
The vineyard has its poet. The prophet Isaiah, called “the Shakespeare of the Bible”, dedicates one of his most passionate poetical canticles to the vineyard of his friend (1st Reading). It is a vineyard planted with love, tended and cared for with joy and hope. The vineyard of the Lord is His people (see v.7 and the Responsorial Psalm). Sadly, the vineyard – the people – proved unfaithful when the time came to gather the crop, and expectations are turned into delusion and bitterness: sour grapes instead of grapes. Instead of the fruits of justice and integrity, the people have produced blood and oppression (v.7). In fact, the calamity of that vineyard turns into tragedy in Jesus’ parable (Gospel). The tenants, besides taking the crop for themselves, become murderers: they beat, stone and kill not only the servants sent by the owner, but even his Son (v. 35-39). The application to the events of the death of Jesus is direct (v.39). But God’s love for his people overcomes any wickedness. God, who has embedded himself in history, gives a new meaning to the human events: recuperates the stone – Jesus – rejected by the builders, and makes it the keystone (v.42) of salvation, for all nations. Now is clear: those who refuse God condemn themselves to fruitlessness; only those who accept and remain in Him bear much fruit, because apart from Him we can do nothing (cf. Jn.15:5). And so God obstinately wants our good and, therefore, does not give up, does not give way to delusion, tries again after every rebuff, does not renounce the crop. He tries again every time people turn away and offers the same Saviour to other peoples so that, united with Him, they may bear fruits of salvation (vv. 31, 41, 43).
The history of the Missions records the succession of events and of the peoples who, in successive ages, welcome or refuse the proclamation of the Gospel with the relative consequences of good or evil. Certainly, no people can define itself as better than the others or evangelised once and for all. The fact that many Christian communities were born, flourished and then disappeared in various parts of the world calls for serious missionary reflection. Of numerous and thriving Christian communities in North Africa and in Asia Minor, though founded by the Apostles and guided by the Fathers of the Church, now remain only the names, a few archaeological ruins or very little else. In the meantime, other nations and continents have opened up to the Gospel and are still bearing fruit (in Africa, America, Oceania…); yet other populations of the Christian West, which once were strong in their faith, are now experiencing weariness and decline, with little to show. I the heart of individuals and in the culture of people there are areas that remain shrouded in mystery. How can freshness and vigour of faith be recuperated? This is the great challenge to an effective missionary pastoral approach.
In the letter to the Philippians (2nd Reading) Paul writes to a community that once produced good fruits. He enumerates eight fruits to be cultivated and sought: whatever is true, noble, good and pure, loveable, honoured, virtuous, praiseworthy (v.8), as the guarantee of peace with God and with others (v.8-9). They are values that encourage positive thoughts and form the basis for the directions the Mission must take in the world: dialogue with other religions, inculturation, ecumenical dialogue, fostering of justice, integrity of creation, etc.
Paul recommends these fruits and values to the Christians of Philippi, the first Christian community that he founded in Europe during his second Missionary Journey (AD 49-50); a community with which he had a particularly affectionate relationship. The origins of this community give us some interesting missionary considerations. Following the Council in Jerusalem, Paul had revisited the communities in Asia Minor, leaving people in charge and looking for more areas to evangelise (Acts 16:6-7). While he was in Troas, one night the vision of a Macedonian opened to him the way to a new world: “Come across to Macedonia and help us!” (Acts 16:9-10). The stretch of sea to be crossed was quite narrow, but that step was really significant: for Paul and his companions it was the entrance into Europe. Paul’s gaze was already turning towards Rome, capital of the Roman Empire. The beginnings of the community in Philippi and the call of the Macedonian (Come across… help us) are like an emblem and a missionary reminder to all Church communities of every time and place to be attentive to the call, whether loud or silent, of the countless Macedonians of their “today” (persons, nations, events, situations…), especially on the occasion of World Mission Sunday.
