27th Sunday of Year (A)
(Isaiah 5:1-7; Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew
21:33-43)
In the first reading from the
prophet Isaiah we heard the prophet describe Israel as a vineyard planted by the
Lord which, despite the care He had taken of it, failed to bring forth good
fruit. Therefore the prophet went on to
warn Israel that the Lord would reject her:
Now, I will
let you know what I mean to do to My vineyard: take away its hedge, give it to
grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be
pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds
not to send rain upon it. The vineyard
of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His
cherished plant; He looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! For justice, but
hark, the outcry!
In fulfilment of that prophecy the
kingdom of Israel first of all, and subsequently the kingdom of Judah, were
indeed destroyed: both were no longer kingdoms or political powers of any sort,
just mere tracts of territory ruled by foreign lords, inhabited by
vassals.
Therefore, when Jesus took up again
the prophecy of Isaiah -- when He, in His turn, told a parable about a landowner
who planted a vineyard, prepared for and protected it to the full, and then was
unable to get his share of the fruit --- His hearers, the
religious authorities in Israel and Judah of Jesus’ time, realised the
significance of His words.
Some changes had been made by Jesus
to the picture painted by Isaiah: the vineyard itself was fruitful, as you will
remember Jesus’ other words:
The harvest
truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few.
Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His
harvest. (Mt. 9:37s.)
Yes, the vineyard itself was capable
of producing good fruit. However, those
in charge of the vineyard, the tenants, would not hand over any produce or
profit to the landowner even though, eventually, the owner’s very son came to
claim it for his father.
At this point the Jewish leaders
were not paying attention to the detail about the Son: they were only intent on
what they feared would be the final outcome: their power, their position of
authority, being taken away from them.
Earlier, the prophet Isaiah had
foretold of the destruction of the political kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and
that prophecy had indeed been realized.
In the past, kings and rulers had resisted the prophets’ messages in
order to maintain their own political power -- haven’t kings and potentates been
doing that since the beginning of time?
But now something much more sinister was taking place: Israel’s religious
leaders -- in particular the Pharisees and Scribes -- were fighting against
Jesus for the establishment of God’s spiritual kingdom on earth, claiming their
own teaching and traditions to be the unique authority for the spiritual formation
of God’s Chosen People. Therefore, Jesus now speaks of the end of the
Temple cult with its priests and Levites, and of the spiritual authority of the
Scribes and Pharisees as authentic exponents of the Torah and guides towards the
attainment of God’s ultimate promises.
Indeed, and above all, Jesus is now foreshadowing the end of the nations’
exclusive spiritual privilege as the People of God.
All these privileges, and the
provisional type of divine worship they represented, would now have to make way
for the future Church of Jesus Christ, the new and authentic People of God
worshipping Him in Spirit and in Truth, and embracing not only Israelites, but
all men and women of good-will who would hear and obey the Good News of God’s
own Son authentically proclaimed to all mankind:
Jesus said to
them, “Did you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders
rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is
wonderful in our eyes’? 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.
You can understand why Jesus was
both feared and hated by the proud religious authorities of what had once been
the kingdom of David: it now comprised nothing more than the two small and
insignificant Roman provinces of Judea and Samaria, along with mistrusted
Galilee in the north. Yes, they hated
the humiliation which had befallen their proud and once relatively prestigious
country; and now this Jesus -- coming indeed from Nazareth in Galilee of all
places -- was proclaiming Himself as the Son, yes, the very divine Son of God,
come to harvest the fruit due God from the vineyard of His Law and the Prophets,
promising no Messianic restoration of political power but, on the contrary,
proclaiming that Israel’s hitherto unique privilege would no longer be their
exclusive pride and glory but would be opened to all, including the presently
disdained Gentiles and pagans who knew nothing of God, and even embracing the
hated and despised Romans now ruling their country.
However, some might be thinking, all
this is past history, how is it relevant for us today? We understand that God punishes sin in His
people and we recall that, as punishment for sin in His Chosen People, He once
destroyed their temple at Shilo which the early Israelites had thought
untouchable; and then had likewise brought the Temple of Solomon down to the
ground; before finally, as Jesus foretold, humbling the supremely impressive and
prestigious Temple of Herod. We also
recognise that the once wide-spread Kingdom of David had ultimately, under
punishment for sin, become a political non-entity and a vassal state. But what does all this mean for us? There is no unique Temple today; we are from
all nations not just one religious people: the Kingdom of God’s own Son cannot,
surely, be destroyed as were those ancient indeed, but, nevertheless, temporal
institutions?
Again, let us look at those who
brought about the downfall of the Chosen People. The ones responsible for the
twice-repeated exiling of Israel were predominantly political figures, kings,
with their courtiers and sycophants, their emulators and opponents. They did great harm to God’s People and were
punished accordingly. However, they
opposed, resisted, God’s Kingdom in Israel for predominantly worldly reasons,
being afraid of the political effect of God’s message of holiness proclaimed by
the Prophets. Later however, others,
such as the Pharisees and Scribes, resisted the coming of God’s Kingdom, its
flourishing in Israel, for religious reasons, by attempting to take control of
God’s proclamation itself. The first
opponents were rejected by God and indeed thrown into exile by His instruments,
those mighty powers they so cravenly feared and yet so foolishly sought to
imitate. The latter, however, were so
proud of their own pseudo-holiness and so hungry for the power they presently
held over the people, that they rejected God’s supreme authority and
only-authentic holiness by their presentation and interpretation of His Law and inspired prophecies, to such
an extent that their cancerous influence could not be uprooted, exposed, and
condemned other than by the death and resurrection of God’s own most holy and
only-beloved Son.
People of God we should be supremely
careful of, solicitous for, the purity of our faith.
Today there are so many who set
themselves up as teachers and guides in the ways of God and who, by means of
labels and slogans that disturb and band-wagons that crush -- such as ‘sexist’,
‘racist’, ‘undemocratic’ and ‘out of touch with modern thought and
sensitivities’, ‘rigid and intolerant’ -- seek to denigrate and divide whatever
they oppose because their pride will not tolerate what their minds cannot
subjugate; while themselves ever seeking the limelight of popularity to promote
the proclaimed innocence and inevitability of their own actions with words such
as ‘we had no option, could not avoid’, and the purity and simplicity of their
own intentions with references to ‘the goodness and compassion of God’ and ‘the
happiness and well-being of ordinary Catholics and Christians’.
There are, alas, too many Catholics
and Christians who allow themselves to be wounded by such, at times ludicrous,
but ever pernicious messages and deluded or devilish messengers. Let
us therefore look at the wondrous faith and steadfast love of Jesus our Lord and
Saviour.
You will remember His night of
torment in the Garden of Gethsemane when His human nature shuddered and trembled
at the imminence of His Roman crucifixion.
He prayed three times in that garden, alone; only a stone’s throw away
from His disciples’ help indeed, yet completely alone since such potential human
comfort was, in fact, totally uncomprehending.
He prayed three times before His Father, He prayed intensely, His sweat
being like drops of blood trickling, dropping, down from His forehead and face;
He prayed persistently whilst His hardened disciples could not prevent
themselves from sleeping through exhaustion; He prayed with patient love and
total trust:
Abba, Father,
all things are possible to You. Take this cup away from Me, but not what I will
but what You will. (Mark
14:36)
You know all that very well; but
notice, He heard nothing from His Father. Subsequently He was scourged at the
pillar, publicly mocked, spat upon, and crowned with thorns by surrounding
soldiers; and still, nothing from His Father.
He carried the Cross to His place of execution and had to suffer several
severe falls along the way, which evoked foul curses and coarse jibes from the
soldiers driving Him on; but nothing, again, from His Father other than the
sympathetic tears of a few women standing by!
And yet, He had prayed, so very intensely; so, perseveringly; and with
such loving confidence, commitment, and trust!!
Jesus, however, never doubted His
Father! To calm and confirm His human frailty He had
prayed not just once but three times … He knew, therefore, that His Father heard
Him … as He once expressed it:
Jesus raised
His eyes and said, “Father I thank You for hearing Me. I know that You always hear Me; but because
of the crowd here (at the raising of Lazarus) I have said this, that they may
believe that You sent Me.” (John 11:41-42)
People of God, as most sublimely exemplified by Jesus when His life and mission were climaxing in the degrading sufferings of His death, there is only one true peace, God’s peace,
and it has to be treasured at whatever cost; there is only one true way of
progress and profit towards that peace and the fulfilment it bestows, and it has
to be fought for in a constant struggle against self-seeking and the
encroachments of worldly delights and aspirations; and that most loving
master-class bequeathed to us by our Blessed Lord is today commended to our
gratitude, our loving contemplation and humble imitation, by the Spirit-filled words of
His faithful follower and fellow-sufferer, St. Paul, in our second
reading:
Brothers, have
no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God. Keep on
doing what you have learned and received in (Mother Church). Then the peace of
God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus.
