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March 22, 2019
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes?
The twenty-first chapter of the Gospel of Mathew presents a series of parables that Jesus proclaims in response to the hostility of the chief priests and Pharisees. Jesus declares a major change in the perception of who is truly part of the people of God. In today’s gospel, the owner of a vineyard trusted his farm to tenants who were mostly interested in taking the produce for themselves and not to pay the owner the sum that was convened as their rent. When the owner wanted to bill them, the tenants killed the owners’ messengers, including his son. The religious authorities immediately recognized in the parable the reference to Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard (Isaiah 5: 1-7) and its message of their intention of killing Jesus as a refusal of the prophetic tradition of Israel.
In the Gospel of Matthew, the passion and death of Jesus is presented as a systematic action conducted by the Jewish authorities, who had no scruples regarding means and who had no qualms in assuming responsibility for a clearly criminal act. Even when they are initially apprehensive of doing anything for fear of the reaction of the crowds, they finally succeeded in turning the people against Jesus.
There is an incompatibility of the Christian faith with entitlement, not honoring one’s commitments and evading those commitments using violence. However, how are these counter values present in our own daily lives, especially when dealing with the mission that God has given each one of us? Are we asking God for the gift of discerning His presence in our actions and words? In what ways are we killing and hindering the message of Jesus for ourselves and others?
Help us, Lord, to make every step we take an act of love humbly searching for your mission in our lives. May your face shine, Lord, not ours.