Dear Parish Family,
The common theme of today’s readings is the necessity of bearing fruit in the Christian life and the consequent punishment for spiritual sterility, ingratitude and wickedness. In today’s first reading, called Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard, the prophet describes God’s care of, and expectations for, His Chosen People. From the call of Abraham (about 1800 B.C.), and especially after the Exodus (1300 B.C.), the history of God’s chosen people was one continuous reminder of God’s benevolence towards them. But Israel — God’s Vineyard – failed Him miserably, producing wild and bitter grapes. Israel disobeyed God by perpetuating injustice and shedding the blood of the innocent. We are reminded that the same God of love and benevolence has shown even more love and benevolence to His new ‘chosen people’– the Church.
Paul’s words of instruction in the second reading, as to how the Philippians should be fruit-bearing vines are equally applicable to us. We, too, must grow in our relationship to God through prayers of adoration and thanksgiving. These should be followed by prayers of contrition for our failings, and of petition in which we ask for spiritual and temporal favors. Paul assures us, too, that such prayers will bring peace of mind in this life and eternal peace and happiness in the life to come.
The parable of the wicked tenants is an allegory told by Jesus during Passover week in the Temple precincts of Jerusalem. A parable normally presents one lesson and the details are not relevant. In an allegory, on the other hand, each detail has a symbolic meaning. This story is one of the three “parables of judgment” which Jesus told in response to the question put forward by the Scribes and the Pharisees about his authority to teach in the Temple. It was intended to be a strong warning to the Jews in general — and to the Scribes and the Pharisees in particular, as they were planning to kill Jesus, the Messiah for whom Israel had waited for centuries. Thus, this parable of the wicked tenants is a theological summary of the entire history of the ingratitude, infidelity, and hard-heartedness of the Chosen People. Its importance is shown by its appearance in all the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke).
A practical application in imagery of Psalm 118:22-23 is introduced at the end of the parable: The Church, the interim expression of the final-age Kingdom, as a building made of stone whose cornerstone is Jesus. This image has its Old Testament roots in Is 8:14-15 and Dn 2:34, 44-45. That Jesus is “head of the corner” affirms his essential role in the salvation of God’s people. He is the cornerstone, placed at the corner of the foundation where two rows of stones come together, and also the keystone or capstone completing the arch and supporting the entire structure. Verse 44 is reminiscent of the comment, “You can’t break God’s laws; you can only break yourself on them,” which is rather like saying, “You can’t break the law of gravity; you can only break yourself by ignoring it.” People in every age have the option of accepting or rejecting Jesus. If we accept Jesus and his Church as the cornerstone of our lives, He becomes a sure foundation. If we reject him, we are the losers. Hence, let us build our lives on Jesus Christ, the cornerstone. In embracing different ideologies that are popular in our present secularistic socio-political ‘world-view’ there lurks a great danger of rejecting the creator and the redeemer to the danger of our eternal abode for some momentary power and bravado.
Fr. Tom Kunnel C.O.