TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A

Matthew 21:33-46

Commentary of Fr. Fernando Armellini

Greetings to all.

In the last Sundays we have listened to two parables that had the vineyard as their theme and today Jesus takes up the theme with a third parable. To understand it, we must remember the famous Song of the Vineyard which is found in chapter 5 of the book of Isaiah and which the liturgy offers us today as the first reading. It is a song that was composed and probably performed by Isaiah himself in a small square in the city of Jerusalem. Already at that time, there were singer-songwriters, and when one felt he had some poetic vein and some story to tell, he would interpret in these small squares in the city of Jerusalem.

It is precisely the case for Isaiah; we can imagine him surrounded by a group of young friends because Isaiah, when he composed this song, was in his early twenties. It begins by telling a love story of a farmer for his vineyard. His young listeners immediately understand that, behind the picture the farmer in the vineyard hides a yearning love of some young man from the village for a beautiful girl. So, they are pretty intrigued by the story. Isaiah tells how this love began and how it was then cultivated with a thousand attentions and care. The vine was not chosen at random; the farmer went to a foreign country and chose it well. Then he prepared the land, cleared it of thorns, weeds, and stones, and planted this vineyard in a sunny place because it should bring forth grapes and good and strong wine. He also built a surrounding wall to protect it. In short, he showered it with every care and attention.

At this point, we are also involved and want to know the outcome of this love story. Did the vineyard respond to this attention and care? Here is the surprise: the vinedresser was expecting bunches of excellent grapes and instead, at harvest time, he found four sour and inedible grapes; a bitter disappointment.

We know that great loves betrayed always give rise to great hatred. And so, this farmer is a prisoner of uncontainable anger and resentment. He tears down the wall of separation, he wants the passers-by to trample the vineyard; he wants the wild boars—which are wild (“worldly”) animals—to enter the vineyard and devastate it; let the brambles overrun it, and choke it, and let the clouds pour not a drop of water upon this vineyard.

What is Isaiah talking about? What is hidden behind the images of the farmer and the vineyard? I mentioned that the young men who listen to him certainly think of a boy and a girl of the city and also certainly make their assumptions. At the end of the song, the prophet reveals the riddle: The lover is the Lord, and the vineyard is Israel, the people whom He went to buy in Egypt and were transplanted in the land of Canaan, a people who have disappointed his love. And in the end—says the song—God expected justice and found bloodshed; he expected righteousness and instead, he heard only the cries of oppressed people. What will the Lord do with this vineyard that has betrayed his expectations? We have heard its rapture, the will to destroy it. Let us beware; God does not, naturally, do these things; they are images with which the poet wants to tell us to what extent the Lord is involved in this passion of love for man.

Let us now listen to Jesus’ parable in which we can immediately appreciate references to Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard. Let us listen:

“Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.”

In the time of Jesus, there were vineyards of modest size, of family character; each family, next to its own house, had a few vine plants. And as the vineyard is very long-lived and can live even for centuries, it was loved almost like a family member because it accompanied several generations of the same family. Psalm 128 uses this image: “Your wife is like a fruitful vine in the privacy of your home.” And when one planted a vine, it meant that he was convinced that he and his children and grandchildren would remain a long time in that place, and life thus became a sign of peace and prosperity.

And some large landowners owned very extensive vineyards; they didn’t work them; they gave them to tenant farmers, and they went to live in the big cities of the Roman Empire, in Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, or Ephesus. They would come back at harvest time to gather the fruits. And Jesus is inspired in this social and economic reality of his time to compose his parable and introduces one of these large landowners.

In the analysis of the parable, we will proceed on two levels; we will refer first to the immediate meaning of the parable because Jesus tells it to the religious authorities before him, and he wants to make them reflect on the unprecedented crimes they are about to commit. But we will also notice that this parable is very topical for us. Speaks to the community of the baptized, of the Church, the vineyard of the Lord, even though the Church has not replaced Israel: the vineyard of the Lord is still the same, but it is no longer limited to Israel. It has now involved all humanity.

The owner represents God; we have heard the description of all his attention and care, very similar (and Jesus compares them) to the Song of Isaiah. Let us review these cares of the Lord. The first one: he surrounded the vineyard with a hedge; he wanted to delimit his property well because he did not want strangers to set foot in his field, he wanted to protect it. This is what God did with Israel, his vineyard. In chapter 19 of the book of Exodus, God says: “You are my property among all the peoples of the earth” and this is repeated in many places in the Old Testament. The Israelites at that time believed that each people had their own God and each God its people whom it protected and from whom they received sacrifices, burnt offerings, prayers, and incense. Thus, Chemosh had his people, the Moabites; Milcom had his people, the Ammonites, the Syrians of Damascus; Baal had his people, the Canaanites…

The Lord had his people, his vineyard well delimited—Israel—and he wanted to protect it from the idolatrous mentality, from the immoral practices of the pagans. We know that in the Roman Empire, the Jews were known to be not only for their monotheism but, above all, for their strict morals, especially in the sexual sphere. The Lord had protected his people well. What was the hedge of protection? The Torah, the Law, which continually reminded the Israelites how true people behave.

Today the vineyard of the Lord needs this hedge of protection because the surrounding world reasons and lives not according to the Beatitudes of Jesus of Nazareth but according to pagan logic; the prevailing thought does not refer to evangelical values and proposals. If this worldliness manages to infiltrate into the mind and in the hearts of Christians, it infects and damages this vineyard. Even the best plants are affected. What is the hedge with which the Lord today protects his vineyard? It is his Word; it is the Gospel.

The second concern of the Lord is to dig a hole to press the grapes. The crusher that I put at the back is from two centuries before Jesus, so it is very old. Notice there are two basins: in the larger one, the grapes were pressed. And you can also imagine the crushers because there are two holes in the rock where they inserted two sticks and on top of them, they put a beam to which they tied ropes the crushers used to hold on to and not to slip while they were working. And, while they did so, they sang, they danced, and this is the sign that from the vineyard, the Lord expects only joy, celebration, singing, and love. I have pointed out in the background that crusher and you also see that there is a smaller vat where the grape juice was collected. The prophet Jeremiah remembers in chapter 25, the shouts of joy of the crushers.

Today God expects from the vineyard—which is the Church— to produce joy for all humanity. If the disciples of Christ are united as branches to the vine, who is Jesus of Nazareth and let his Spirit circulate in them, they will produce the only fruit that interests God: the works of love. Christians are to give the world proof by their lives that those who live according to the Gospel live in joy and produce joy.

Third concern: He built a tower. If one visits Israel and passes, for example, through the fields of Samaria, you often see in the fields some ruined towers like the one you see behind me; some are very old and before the time of Jesus, you can also appreciate the reconstruction of the most common model of these towers. This one is located in the biblical garden of Jada Scemonat near Jerusalem. In these huts, the peasants kept their work tools, and on the roof was the observation point for surveillance.

What is the meaning of this tower? It is the symbol of the Lord’s gaze that protects and watches over his vineyard, his people, with a maternal solicitude. Watch because thieves and bandits are always ready to jump over the wall and the hedge, and if you let them enter, they steal, kill, and devastate the vineyard.

How does the Lord watch over his vineyard today? He does not do it directly, but he sends his angels, the mediators of his care. We know many of these angels who are present in our communities; they are the ones who see to it that no one messes up the vineyard of the Lord, that no anti-evangelical proposals are introduced. And when this occurs, these angels watching over the tower immediately intervene, raising their voices, awakening the attention.

After having entrusted the vineyard to the peasants, the great owner has left, and now begins the time of the harvesting of the fruits. The hearers of the parable are the Pharisees, the spiritual leaders of the people, the high priests are those who offer burnt offerings to the Lord. They must have been thinking as they listened to the parable: “If the Lord comes to ask us for the fruits, we have them in abundance. Just look at the esplanade of the Temple… is full of pilgrims praying, bringing chosen lambs to offer them to the Lord… The Lord will certainly be satisfied if he comes to us to gather the fruit”…

However, let’s listen to how the parable continues:

“When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way.”

Who do these envoys represent, whom the vineyard’s owner sends to gather the fruits? They represent the prophets. Jeremiah, in chapter 7 of his book, refers to his people, saying: “Since they came out of the land of Egypt, the Lord has always sent his servants, the prophets, to show them the right decisions to make; but they have not listened to them and have decreed their ruin.”

Jesus distinguishes between two groups of envoys. He was probably referring to the prophets sent by God before the exile and those sent after the exile. And what did these prophets ask of the people of Israel? They continually asked for the fruits that the Lord expects. Isaiah says so in the first chapter of his book: “Learn to do right; seek justice, help the oppressed, defend the fatherless, protect the widow” (Is 1:17). And what did these envoys find instead? They found solemn liturgies and sacrifices, lambs, incense, prostrations, burnt offerings. These were not the fruits that God wanted from his people. These were external practices by which they deceived themselves into thinking they were right with the Lord. The prophet Isaiah says at the beginning of his book: “Bring me no more worthless offerings; the smoke of the incense is detestable… your solemnities and feasts I detest… I close my eyes when you stretch out your hands” (Is 1:13). He is not interested in these things. He wants justice.

In chapter 58, Isaiah always mentions the fruits that God desires. Instead of the false fast, he wants the true fast that pleases God: “You bend your head like a reed, to lie down on matting and ashes. Do you call that fasting? The fact that I want is this: to open unjust prisons, to break the bars of the stocks, to let the oppressed go free; to share your bread with the hungry, to give hospitality the homeless poor, clothe him whom you see naked, and do not neglect your brother, who is your flesh” (Is 58:3-7). They are your brothers.

These calls of the prophets, however, annoyed the Israelites. And what did they then do with the envoys? Exactly what Jesus tells in the parable: some they beat, some they stoned, some they killed. The most hated of all was Jeremiah, who was stoned and cast into a cistern; Uriah was killed; Zechariah was stoned in the Temple courtyard. This happened to Israel. This was how they treated the prophets who continually came to ask for the fruits that God wanted: Justice, love, and attention to the poor.

And today, the Lord continues to send his prophets, who call and demand the same fruits. How are these prophets treated? Let us try to think how their brothers of faith received them: Primo Mazzolari (an Italian priest who worked in the peripheries), Don Lorenzo Milani (prophet of a Church going out), Oscar Romero (Salvadoran bishop who defended the option for the poor), Tonino Bello (Italian bishop, pacifist), and Turoldo (servant of the Word). Let us try to ask ourselves what is happening today with those who ask for a more evangelical attitude, with those who demand the end of political climbing in the Church. What happens with those who denounce how the goods of the Church are managed today, a way contrary to the Creator’s plan? What about those who denounce a hypocritical religiosity that only appeases consciences but does not give the Lord what he wants? What happens with the prophets who denounce the incoherence of certain religious practices, certain traditions that have nothing to do with the Gospel? They are persecuted.

We may ask ourselves: How can these prophets be recognized? These are some signs that make them recognizable: They are people who never seek personal benefit; they do not act to obtain favors, recognition, honorary titles, and promotions in their career. A passion for the Gospel always dictates their words, for justice; their call are always centered on the fruits that the Lord expects: love and care for the poor. They are people who are always on the side of the last and, in fact, always have problems with those in power, both political and religious. One last criterion: Prophets are the ones who always pay with their own life.

After the prophets, the Lord decided to send his Son. Let us listen:

“Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.”

As the prophets had done, the son asked for the vineyard’s fruit. And what did he find? The synoptic evangelists tell us another parable: the parable of the barren fig tree. The fig tree, like the vine, is one of the symbols of the people of Israel, a people that produce tasty fruits to offer to their God. What did Jesus find in this fig tree? The evangelists say that in the morning, Jesus was hungry and went to a fig tree looking for fruit and found only leaves. Of course, it is only a parable. The leaves indicate the appearances of religiosity that Jesus found in Israel; he did not find the only fruits that the Lord wants, and the leaves deceive because they hide the lack of the fruits, which are the only thing that God is interested in.

The son also disturbed those in charge of the vineyard. And what did they do? They cast him out and killed him. The parable describes exactly what they did to Jesus, not the people of Israel, of course, but those who considered themselves the owners of the vineyard and wanted to increase their prestige over the simple people, to maintain their privileges. That is why they got rid of the son that bothered them.

Let us be careful because today we can make the same mistake, lord it over the vineyard, drive away the Son… The parable certainly offers reasons for reflection. In the first place, those who have a great responsibility in the ecclesial community can forget that the Gospel is the point of reference for every choice. They are not the masters of the vineyard. Today, a danger exists because it already existed in the primitive Church. Peter, in his first Letter, writes to the elders of the communities and says to them: “I, an elder like yourselves, commend to you that you lead the flock of God not out of shameful self-interest, but in a generous spirit.” Do not become masters but become models of the flock. It is not only the ecclesiastical hierarchies who must rethink their way of living and administering the Lord’s vineyard. Every baptized person runs the risk of driving the Son out of the vineyard.

We can give some examples: If we introduce the mentality that justifies the accumulation of goods as it is done in the justice of the world; if we do this, we drive out Christ and his Gospel from the vineyard because Jesus says blessed are the poor, not those who accumulate. This is the mentality of the world; if we introduce it in the vineyard, we expel the Gospel. If we justify wars by saying: “not all, of course; only the necessary ones,” we drive Christ and his Gospel out of the vineyard because Jesus did not think so. If we conform to the present mentality regarding sexuality and forget the proposal of the family, which is a testimony of fidelity and unconditional love, we move Christ and his Gospel out of the way to make way to a pagan conception of sexuality.

What happens when we expel the Son of the Gospel from society? The famous phrase has been circulating for some time: “God is dead; we have killed him.” The consequences of this murder are before the eyes of all; we see what is produced by man detached from the Gospel, detached from Christ: horror, loneliness, lack of sense of life, violence, destruction of Creation, arrogance, and many other aberrations, some already in progress and others programmed.

The parable ends with the dramatic scene of the murder of the son, the one who came last to ask for the fruits that the Lord expects. With the killing of the son, it is all over. They have won the battle. Will they keep the vineyard forever? Let’s listen to how the parable continues:

Jesus asked the chief priests and Pharisees: “‘What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?’ They answered him, ‘He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.’ 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.’ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.”

At the end of the parable, Jesus addresses his listeners directly and tells them that they, the elders, the high priests are the caretakers of the vineyard. And he asks them directly: “If you were in the place of the vineyard’s owner, what would you do?” The answer immediately emerges and I believe it is very similar to the one we would have given: “He will put an end to those wicked ones and will lease the vineyard to other vinedressers who will give him its fruit in due season.” Jesus replies: “Have you not read the scriptures? God does not behave like that.” God only does works of love; he does not destroy anyone. What will God do? He will take the stone rejected by the builders and lay it as a cornerstone of a wonderful new building, a temple from which sacrifices will be raised to heaven, the only burnt offerings pleasing to God, which are works of love. Jesus meant that God would transform the greatest crime committed by people into a masterpiece of love and salvation.

The conclusion presents us with dramatic images that may shock us but are good news, a proclamation of joy and hope. Jesus is a defeated one; the stone has been rejected and induces us to think that evil has conquered. But no. What the parable is telling us with these dramatic images is that, whoever falls under this stone will perish, will be crushed by it. Attention: These are Semitic images to tell us the lamb is stronger than the wolves; he who loved and gave his life is stronger than those who took it from him. And, therefore, this is a proclamation of joy, of hope that evil will never prevail.

This lamb, this stone that has been cast away, is stronger than the wolves.

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.

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