First
Reading – Isaiah 5:1-7 ©
Responsorial
Psalm – Psalm 79(80):9, 12-16, 19-20 ©
Second
Reading – Philippians 4:6-9 ©
Gospel
Acclamation – John 15:15
Alternative
Acclamation – John 15:16
The Gospel According to Matthew 21:33
- 43 ©
(NJB)
Listen!
God, the
creator of the universe, God does not directly intervene in the affairs of
human beings, but nevertheless, there is an intention behind the act of creation,
there is purpose and meaning; God is pulling all of us toward God’s desired
end.
God wills
that we be good and just, loving and kind, humble and merciful, that we be accepting
of one another, even with all of our faults, and yet, even though this is what
God wills, God does not create us with these qualities fully matured, they
exist within us like a seed in germ; it is od’s will that we develop these
qualities naturally, throughout the course of our lives.
Be mindful.
The prophet
likens humanity to a vineyard:
In one
generation a vineyard will produce beautiful fruit, in another generation it
will be sour.
A single
vine in the vineyard will produce fruit of mixed quality, some branches will
dry up and wither, while others go on to produce a wonderful bounty.
In one year
a vineyard will go to rot, in another it will be restored.
Briar
patches and thorns may impede the vine in one season, while at the same time
returning vitality to the soil.
This is the
way of things in a vineyard, just as it is the way of all human institutions,
it is the way of civilization, and the Church is not excepted from this rule.
When you
read the psalms you must understand how the psalmist misunderstands, and therefore
misconstrues, the way in which historical events unfold, especially in relation
to the will of God.
Know this!
God did not
rescue the Israelites from Egypt. God did not send the Assyrians, the
Babylonians, the Ptolemy’s, or the Romans. God did not destroy the temples; neither
will God will not protect you or punish you, or show you any favor in this
world no matter how fervently you pray for it.
God is the
shepherd of all people, not only of Israel, and not only of Christians.
Be mindful.
God does
not reside on a throne, God is not a general who comes at the head of an army. When
we imagine God thusly, we do a disservice to the divine.
God’s face
shines on everyone, look for it in the face of your neighbor, in the face of
your enemy, in the faces of those who persecute you. See God there, and let the
image of God change your relationship with all people.
It is up to
us, God’s children, to love to show mercy, and to care for those who are downtrodden.
It is the
desire of God that all people be well and happy. To further this end God desires
that we be tolerant of one another, that we care for one another, that we seek the
happiness of our neighbors with a spirit of charity.
It is
precisely there that we will come to the peace of God; we will find it in the
work of a servant.
Meditate on
what is true, truth that is rooted in love.
Commit
yourself to what is good, know it by the fruit that goodness bears, see it in
the benefit which the whole community derives from it.
Be mindful
of those who seek honors, speak of virtue and love praise; we are easily
deceived by them, and easily deceived for them.
Know this!
The
greatest commandment is to love, and to love is the whole of the law.
To love one
another, to give of one’s self to another in love, there is no greater gift.
The mode of
loving that we are called to, is not the mode of love we call desire, though to
desire and be desired is an experience of great joy. We are called to move past
desire and to move past the scope of love we have for family and friends,
because to love those nearest to us is only a short extension of the love we
have for ourselves. To love one’s family and friends is an easy way of loving
because we see ourselves in the faces of our mothers and fathers, and our sisters
and brothers, we see our ambitions as being tied to the ambitions of our
friends and allies. It is good to love in this capacity but we are called to
love in a greater capacity than this. We are called to love to the point of
selflessness, to love even those who are against us, to love our enemies, to
forgive those who have hurt us and have done us harm, we are called to feed the
stranger and protect them…and to do so with a loving heart.
This is the
great commandment.
Consider
the Gospel for today, it is a piece of pure propaganda, written in the mode of an
apology.
The
reading for today is an attempt by the authors of Matthew’s Gospel, written in
the first generation after the Roman conquest of Palestine and the destruction
of the Temple, to explain to a largely Jewish audience the divine purpose
behind those events.
While
Matthew’s community was predominately Jewish, there were gentile converts among
them.
The
warning to the readership is this:
If
you do not give up your insistence on retaining your distinctively Jewish
traditions, you will be destroyed, and the gentiles among you will take your
place as heirs to the promises that God made to your ancestors.
The
narrative is one that the writers of Matthew borrowed from the early prophets like
Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel, whose books were also written in the apologetic
mode, in order to explain the destruction of Israel by the Assyrians, and then the
destruction of Judea by the Babylonians, followed by the invasion of the Holy
Land by Antiochus Epiphanes.
The
basic move that all of these prophets (or those writing in their name) make is
to explain current events through the lens of past events. In this case they
are putting a prophecy in Jesus’ mouth to explain the Roman invasion of
Palestine and the destruction of the temple, along with the ongoing persecution
of the Jewish people.
The
lesson they intended to impart was this:
Everything
unfolds according to God’s plan. If you resist God’s plan you will be destroyed
and all of your hopes will be dashed. They were pushing the message that these
catastrophe’s have happened before and they happen again.
They
wanted to hammer home the idea that all good things come from God. Nothing you
have belongs to you and can be taken away in the blink of an eye, if and when
God determines to punish you for your lack of faith.
First
Reading – Isaiah 5:1-7 ©
Against
the Lord’s Vineyard
Let me sing to my friend the
song of his love for his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard on
a fertile hillside.
He dug the soil, cleared
it of stones and planted choice vines in it.
In the middle he built a
tower, he dug a press there too.
He expected it to yield
grapes, but sour grapes were all that it gave.
And now, inhabitants of
Jerusalem and men of Judah, I ask you to judge between my vineyard and me.
What could I have done
for my vineyard that I have not done?
I expected it to yield
grapes.
Why did it yield sour
grapes instead?
Very well, I will tell
you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge for it to
be grazed on, and knock down its wall for it to be trampled on.
I will lay it waste,
unpruned, undug; overgrown by the briar and the thorn.
I will command the clouds
to rain no rain on it.
Yes, the vineyard of the
Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel, and the men of Judah that chosen plant.
He expected justice, but
found bloodshed, integrity, but only a cry of distress.
Responsorial
Psalm – Psalm 79(80):9, 12-16, 19-20 ©
The
vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
You brought a vine out of
Egypt;
to plant it you drove out the nations.
It stretched out its
branches to the sea,
to the Great River it stretched out its
shoots.
The
vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Then why have you broken
down its walls?
It is plucked by all who pass by.
It is ravaged by the boar
of the forest,
devoured by the beasts of the field.
The
vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
God of hosts, turn again,
we implore,
look down from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and
protect it,
the vine your right hand has planted.
The
vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
And we shall never
forsake you again;
give us life that we may call upon your name.
God of hosts, bring us
back;
let your face shine on us and we shall be
saved.
The
vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Second
Reading – Philippians 4:6-9 ©
If there
is Anything You Need, Pray For It.
There is no need to
worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with
prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than
we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, fill your 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. Keep
doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and
have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Gospel
Acclamation Jn15:15
Alleluia,
alleluia!
I call you friends, says
the Lord, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my
Father.
Alleluia!
Alternative
Acclamation – John 15:16
Alleluia,
alleluia!
I chose you from the
world to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last, says the Lord.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Matthew 21:33
- 43 ©
This
is the Landlord's Heir: Come, Let Us Kill Him
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.’
The Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary
Time (Year A)
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