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DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Isaiah 5,1-7; Philippians 4,6-9; Matt 21,33-43: 27th Sunday of the Year A, 4th October 2020)
This Sunday's liturgy offers us a parable that refers to the Lord’s passion. Jesus foresees his passion and tells this parable to warn the authorities of his people who are about to take a wrong path. The content of this parable has as its background the first reading, a hymn of the Prophet Isaiah on the Lord’s vineyard. Thus, both the Gospel and the First readings speak to us of a vineyard, but with a difference: in the parable, God admonished the authorities of the people; in the song of Isaiah, God admonished all the people of Israel.
The song of Isaiah expresses God’s sadness. He is presented as the owner of a vineyard: My beloved owned a vineyard on a fertile hill. The owner gives full attention to his vineyard: he dug it, cleared it of stones and planted selected vines; he built a tower in the middle of the vineyard for proper surveillance, and he also dug a vat. Everything has been done with care; therefore, the vineyard should produce excellent grapes. But in reality, it produces inedible grapes, unripe grapes. The prophet then addresses his word to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all the Jews, to ask, in the name of God: What else was I to do to my vineyard that I did not do? He really did everything possible, he didn't leave out anything. For this reason, the negative reaction of the people of Israel deserves punishment, which God threatens to inflict: Here I want to let you know what I am about to do in my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be transformed into pasture; I will demolish its wall and it will be trampled. I will make it a desert, it will not be pruned, nor be duged and brambles and thorns will grow; I commanded the clouds not to send rain. Thus, the vineyard will remain, completely, desolate. These threats were made to bring about a conversion, and therefore to avoid the punishment itself. The conversion, however, did not happen, and, therefore, the threats took place, as the responsorial Psalm says. In it, the psalmist complains to the Lord not only because he has abandoned his vineyard, but he has also caused it to be devastated (cf. Psalm 79). This was the situation of the Chosen People in the Old Testament: a situation that resulted in the capture of Jerusalem and exiling of the people. When the people are not docile to God, and do not accept his law, which is a law of love, given, precisely, to lead to happiness, then disgrace, and devastation occur.
Jesus' parable does not speak of all the people, but only the princes of the priests and elders of the people, that is, of the authorities. He is aware of their opposition, negative intentions and plans to eliminate him. He therefore, warns them, so as to realise their error and their wickedness and be converted. The parable Jesus narrates begins in a similar way the song of Isaiah begins: There was a master who planted a vineyard and surrounded it with a hedge, he dug an oil mill there, he built a tower. Then comes the decisive moment, in which the owner entrusts the vineyard to the winemakers and leaves. Here the loyalty of the winemakers is tested: the vineyard is entrusted to them; they must harvest and then hand over the harvest to the owner. At the time of the harvest, the master sends his servants to collect the harvest. But those winemakers have possessive attitude: they do not consider themselves, simple, administrators, but rather owners, and refuse to hand over the harvest. They maltreat the servants, indeed they even go as far as stone and even kill them. The master is patient: he sends back other servants more numerous than the first, but the result is the same. For Jesus, these servants represent the prophets sent by God. In the Book of Jeremiah the Lord says to the Israelites: I sent it to you all my servants, the prophets, with care and always; yet they did not listen to them and did not listen (Jeremiah 7,25-26; cf. 25,4; 26,5; 29,29; 35,15; 44,4).
In the end, the master thinks of sending his son to them, saying: They will respect my son! But those tenants, enchanted of their possessive attitude, as they see his son, they say: He is the heir; come, let's kill him, and we will have the inheritance. And, taking him, they drive him out of the vineyard and kill him. At the end of the story, Jesus asks this question to his interlocutors: So when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? They answered him: He will make those wicked ones die miserably and give the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the fruits to him in due time. At this point Jesus makes his interlocutors understand what he is talking about: You have never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was made by the Lord and it is marvellous in our eyes?" Here Jesus quotes a verse from Ps. 118, which refers to the opposition of the builders, that is, of the authorities, to a stone that was to be received and placed in a place of honour; but they discarded it as an object of rejection. God, therefore, has turned the situation upside down, and this stone has become the cornerstone: This was done by the Lord. And Jesus concludes: The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will make it bear fruit. With these words he announces that the authorities of Israel will no longer be at the head of the people of God, who will have other authorities: the twelve apostles and their successors.
In the parable narrated by Jesus, there is, therefore, a prefiguration of his paschal mystery and its consequences. Jesus is aware of the destiny of his adversaries, but he tries to make them avoid, as far as possible, all the misfortunes and catastrophes that are threatened. This parable must also be a warning to us against possessive attitude. We all have responsibilities: some on a modest level, some on a higher level, some on a very high level. But for everyone, the attitude we take, with regard to these responsibilities, is decisive. The temptation is always that of assuming a possessive attitude, saying: God has given me gifts; I am the owner of it, I do what I want. I have received a post of authority, I take advantage of it for my own interest, to accumulate money, etc. So, we take possessive attitude instead of exercising authority for the good of all. The possessive attitude is at the root of many sins and many injustices. With it one would like to achieve happiness, but in reality, this does not happen. True happiness, in fact, is found only in a life of love and service. All the gifts that God has given to us are tools to be able to love and serve others. If we use them selfishly to seek our own interest, we are like the rebellious tenants in the parable. And the consequence will be disastrous for us, as well as for many other people. We must ask the Lord to give us the grace of assuming as he. He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (cf. Matt 20,28ff). He did not want to take advantage of the Father's gifts for his own advantage, as we clearly see in the episode of the temptations in the desert (cf. Matt 4,1-11ff). He has always followed the path of love and service. This is the way that Jesus proposes to us which he makes possible for us through the Eucharist, in which he offers himself to us in a total and complete way possible. In the Eucharist he assumes a completely un-possessive attitude-he takes the bread and gives it to the disciples, saying: This is my body given for you; he takes the cup of wine and gives it to the disciples, saying: This is my blood shed for you. We Christians are therefore, called to live generously with this spirit of love and service. In it we will find the perfect and divine joy, which the Lord wants to communicate to us. +John I. Okoye
graphics by chukwubike oc
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