Sunday Reflectio
27 Sunday year A
What does the Lord want from you?
✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 21:33-43
1. 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
that 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.’
2. Today’s reading focus on fidelity of God and the infidelity of his beloved ones. The prophet Isaiah (5:1-7) used the image of the unproductive vine to convey God’s disappointment with Israel. In the Old Testament scriptures, the relationship between God and the Israelites is compared to that between a vine owner and the vine. A fruitful vine is a symbolizes fidelity to God while sour one stands for infidelity. In our first reading, God went extra mile to plant a choice vine on a fertile soil only to get a poor harvest. In this is manifested the caring love of God that was not returned.
3. The infidelity of the chosen race will again be portrayed by Jesus in the gospel using the same analogy of the vine. This time around his attention shifted from the people to their leaders. The parable was addressed to the Chief priests and elders. Using a simple parable of the wicked tenants who not only refused to be accountable but also committed murder in order to keep for themselves a property that does not belong to them, Jesus teaches them that they are not the owners of God and his kingdom. The keys of heaven are not with them. They are merely servants who abuse their privileged position. They have used their position for evil and even against the God who chose them to be in his service as tenants.
4. After the parable, Jesus indirectly allowed the religious leaders to pass judgement on themselves by asking them what should be done to the wicked tenants in the parable. The were unanimous. The tenants should be destroyed and the vineyard given to those who will be accountable to the master of the vineyard. Jesus then informed them that they were the protagonists of the parable. The kingdom of God will be taken away from them and given to a people who can reciprocate God’s love.
5. Jesus had to give this message because the religious leaders rejected him and tried to influence the people not to follow his teachings and even planned to kill him, who himself is the son of God, as if to say that they are the ones who own the kingdom of God. This parable says a lot to those who are religious leaders today. God has chosen them to minister to his people. He has endowed them with honours and privileges as the spiritual leaders of his people. Now, what does God get in return for his blessings? Some of them speak like God, act arrogantly and even sinfully. Some even try to declare who will go to heaven or hell. But they are mere mortals with little knowledge of who God truly is. The kingdom of God does not belong to religious leaders. God warns them to reciprocate his love or be ready to lose their position to others. As with religious leaders so also with the people. Like a vine planted on a fertile land, all believers are called, in the words of St. Paul in today’s second reading to fill their “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.”(Phil 4:8). This is what God wants from us.
6. Take time to measure God’s goodness in your life and see if your life corresponds with the graces that you have received. Be prudent in the way you make decisions for others. Remember that the master will not fail to ask you to account for all that you have received. ©Vitalis Anaehobi
08/10/23
