27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)

 

Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time  (A) [Mt 21:33-43]

08.10.2023

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

Readings: (1) Is 5:1-7 (2) Phil 4:6-9

1.  Theme in brief

God’s goodness versus human wickedness

2.   Focus Statement  

    In spite of our sinfulness and ingratitude, God is so good, generous and patient with us that he gives us plenty of opportunities to repent and change by sending his messengers.

3.  Explanation of the text

The whole of salvation history is summarized in today’s Parable of the Wicked Tenants. It deals with God’s boundless goodness and benevolence towards humans in contrast with their wickedness or sinfulness. The Bible as a whole depicts God as a zealous lover who loves his beloved (that is, human beings) with an exclusive love. But human beings, quite often fail to respond to his love and break off their relationship with him by sinning. To save them, he visualizes a grand plan. He executes this plan by choosing a community (people), namely Israel and reveals to her his plan. When Israel becomes unfaithful, he sends prophets to bring her back to himself. But Israel rejects prophets, sometimes even by stoning and killing some of them. Finally, when the appointed time comes, God sends his only Son (Jesus), and through his Passion, death and resurrection saves sinful humans. Today’s parable highlights this wonderful love-story of God filled with his boundless love, generosity, patience and large-heartedness or benevolence for his beloved.

A parable in the strict sense is not supposed to have a word for word hidden meaning. But this one, like some other parables, breaks that rule and is converted into an allegory by the evangelist. According to this allegory vineyard is Israel; God is the owner of the vineyard; tenants to whom he leases his vineyard are the religious leaders of Israel, that is, the priests, the Pharisees and the elders (21:33); the successive emissaries (slaves) sent by the absentee landowner are the prophets sent to Israel by God, some of whom were stoned or murdered by them (21:34-36); and the son of the landowner is God’s own Son (Christ). The owner thinks that they will respect his son better than previous slaves (21:37). Instead, they seize and kill him outside the vineyard (21:39) – surely a reference to the crucifixion of Jesus outside the city of Jerusalem. Thus, the murderous behaviour of religious leaders of Israel reaches its culmination when they crucify Jesus, the greatest prophet of the New Age.  

This parable has its background in the OT. In the Book of Isaiah (5:1-7), Israel is called a vineyard and its owner is the Lord of hosts. He did everything possible to nurture this vineyard. He established an everlasting covenant with her, delivered her from Egyptian slavery, led her through the desert and gave her the Promised Land. But Israel failed to discharge her duties faithfully as the chosen people of God and rejected God’s servants (that is, the prophets) who were sent to lead her to God’s ways. Now she is rejecting God’s Son (Jesus) also. The other tenants to whom the owner leases the vineyard after cancelling the lease of former tenants (21:41) are the Gentiles who accept the gospel rejected by Israel. Hence, this parable probably hints that now the Church has become the new Israel and is full of new tenants (that is, Gentile Christians). Since the leadership of Old Israel failed to produce good fruits, it was now handed over to the New Israel (that is, the Church) which is already producing fruits of so many Gentile Christians.

By highlighting the fact that the landowner’s benevolence towards his enemies goes beyond limits, this parable emphasizes God’s tremendous patience and kindness towards sinners. No earthly landowner would dare to send one’s own son after meeting such acts of treachery from his tenants; instead he would retaliate strongly against those murderers. From the world’s point of view, was it not an act of utter foolishness? Did he not make a mistake in believing that they would respect at least his son? Yes, he did; but in God’s way of thinking, it is not a mistake. It is the tenants (who are now likened to builders) who committed the greatest blunder by rejecting the cornerstone while constructing their building and suffered for it by losing their lease to the better accountable tenants (21:41-42).

4.    Application to life                      

As we have noted above, today’s Parable of the Wicked Tenants highlights the central theme of the whole Bible – God’s boundless love and generous mercy towards sinners. When we reflect on this central theme of the Bible, we come to know that there are common elements in God’s boundless love and mercy in the history of our salvation and our personal life-history. We can imagine how God has chosen us and loved us boundlessly from the first moment of conception and birth till today through so many people beginning with our parents. Each person who loved (loves) us and each event in our life (sweet or sour) proclaims God’s wonderful love and benevolence towards us. Like the chosen people (Israel), he chose our ancestors also to Christian faith, not because they were better than others or more worthy, but out of sheer love. Quite often he chooses the unworthy and the little ones and not the powerful ones.

If God has been so good and generous towards us, how are we responding to his goodness and mercy? Like Israelites, we too often reject God’s love. We too just murder the precious values of God’s Kingdom – love, peace and justice – like the tenants who murdered the slaves and the landowner’s son. Instead of producing sweet fruits of love of God and neighbour, we produce bitter or sour fruits by sinning against both. God gives us so many opportunities for repentance by sending his messengers like preachers, counsellors, teachers, trustworthy friends, spiritual leaders, guiding parents and supportive spouses. But we oppose them, try to suppress their voice and sometimes even react violently. Thus, we become unworthy of the trust placed by God in our hands. Let us examine and see how we have ‘stoned’ and ‘killed’ the prophets sent by God, not literally, but by disobeying, disregarding and discarding their good advice, direction and guidance. Sometimes we have ‘killed’ them with our heart-piercing words, that is, harsh and destructive criticism. If we think that we are self-sufficient and are not in need of any guidance and spiritual direction, the Kingdom of God may be taken away from us (21:43). We may lose it by losing our character or virtues.

Israel’s election as a holy people involved a responsibility to be a light for all other people. But she was unfaithful to her call and produced wild grapes instead of sweet grapes by worshipping idols and committing other sins against God’s commandments given through Moses. The same thing can be said about the new Israel, the Church. If we notice divisions, group conflicts, scandals, corruption, power-mongering in the Church or in our local Christian community, we can conclude that they are the symptoms of wild and bitter grapes in the Church. In spite of being Christ’s disciples, if we are totally immersed in the corrupt practices of the world and give bad example to people of other faiths by living a life contrary to the gospel-values, we produce sour grapes. If this is the case, today’s gospel invites us to repent for the times we have become like those unfaithful and rebellious tenants. This is a call to be converted from the state of being called “murderous and wretched tenants” and produce fruits of the Kingdom (21:43).

When we reflect on God’s benevolence towards sinners like us, we come to realize how wicked we become by refusing his love so often!  We can compare this type of ingratitude with experiences of being let down or betrayed by our own people for whom we did or do so much, such as our children, relatives, friends, colleagues and close neighbours. These bitter experiences make us imagine how much disappointed God must be feeling when we are unfaithful to him. In spite of our wickedness and ingratitude, God is so good, generous and patient with us that even today and right now he offers us plenty of opportunities to abandon our wickedness, repent and change. He has loved us to the extent of allowing his Son to die a criminal’s death on the cross. Compared to that benevolence, what is or response?

Each one of us should think that this parable in today’s context is not about the Jews but about us. We are the tenants of God’s ‘vineyard,’ that is, his Kingdom. God has made us partners in his great enterprise or project for this world, that is, his Kingdom. We are like his stewards to whom he has entrusted the care for his ‘vineyard.’ He expects to see good fruits in it. He has a right to expect good fruits because he has done so much for us. This is a great privilege, which entails great responsibilities. The question we must ask is whether we are producing good fruits for God’s Kingdom. As this parable says, we quite often think God has gone to “another country” (21:33). We play the role of rats in the absence of cat. We misuse our freedom in the absence of God. But God wants to make us accountable to the duties and responsibilities entrusted to us. Yes, we are accountable to God for the care of our families, for mending our troubled relationships and reforming of our unforgiving attitudes. All these things require a great deal of patience, just as God is so patient with us. As mentioned in this parable, he wants to collect his produce (21:34), that is, fruits of genuine love gathered by overcoming selfishness, doing pro-active service, and working for justice and fellowship among us. This is what is meant by building up his Kingdom by making use of the Cornerstone or Keystone who is Christ himself. In other words, yielding fruits means submitting ourselves to God’s loving rule and living the gospel-values. It also involves bearing fruits of repentance for our failures to live the gospel way. Let us examine ourselves and see how we ‘murder’ the values of the Kingdom like genuine love and concern in our families, truthfulness in our society and justice in our dealings.

If we extend the application of this parable further, we can consider our family, community or society, institution, organization and the Church as our ‘vineyard’ which God has entrusted to our care. Instead of yielding sweet fruits in God’s ‘vineyard’ by behaving with a sense of responsibility and accountability, we are tempted to manage it for our personal advantage or benefits. There is a tremendous pressure or a silent war going on inside our hearts to succumb to the temptation of using the leadership and management roles entrusted to us in the family, the Church and the society to lord it over by becoming authoritarian, to always expect to be served and not to serve, to earn a name and fame for ourselves, to erect monuments that perpetuate our memory, to further our own hidden agenda, to enhance our power and position, to amass wealth for ourselves by misappropriating public or church funds, etc. We must understand that we are ultimately accountable to God for the misuse or mismanagement of the ‘vineyard’ entrusted to us. Today’s gospel invites us to examine whether we have succumbed to these temptations and behave in an irresponsible manner. If yes, we need to realize that ultimately we are accountable to God himself.

Even if we have occasionally succumbed to these tests, God, being God, is infinitely patient and merciful towards us. He gives us so many opportunities for repentance by sending his messengers like preachers, counsellors, trustworthy friends, guiding parents and supportive spouses (vv. 34, 36). But we oppose them, criticize them, try to suppress their voice and sometimes even react violently. Thus, we become unworthy of the trust placed by God in our hands. Will he not take away the Kingdom from us and give it to others who produce better fruits (21:43)?

5.  Response to God's Word

Let us praise and thank God for doing wonderful deeds for each one of us personally and to our community by calling us to Christian faith. Do we make use of so many opportunities given by God for repentance by sending his messengers like parents, spiritual leaders and trustworthy friends? Do we listen to them or try to suppress their voice? Like Israelites, do we too often reject God’s love instead of responding generously to his mercy? How are our fruits: sweet or sour? Do we ‘murder’ the values of the Kingdom like genuine love and concern in our families, truthfulness in our society and justice in our dealings? Are we accountable and responsible in our stewardship, or have mismanaged the ‘vineyard’ entrusted to our care?

6.  A prayer.

O boundlessly generous and patient God, what thanks can we render to you for the wonderful opportunities and messengers you provide us again and again to change our ways. Grant that we may respond generously to your infinite mercy towards us. We regret for the times we mismanaged the vineyard you entrusted to our care. Make us more responsible and accountable citizens of your Kingdom. Amen.