“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Daily Reflections
Sunday, 8th October 2017.
Twenty Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Is 5: 1-7;
Ps 79: 9,12-16, 19-20;
Phil 4: 6-9;
Mt 21: 33-43
JESUS, THE ROCK OF OUR SALVATION
Referring to Christ, the stone which the builders rejected, Matthew comments: “Whoever falls on this stone, he will be broken to pieces; on whomever this stone falls, he will be ground to dust” (Mt 21:44).Christ and his gospel are “the stone”. They are “the stone” that shatters the logic of this world, the tricks, cunning and above all the foolish images men made for themselves of God. The great of this world, the builders of the new “Tower of Babel”, discard this stone because it does not fit their plans, it messes up their dreams, destroys their kingdoms. They tried to eliminate it but God chose it as the rock of salvation. Whoever puts it as foundation of his life will not be disappointed.
“In the last days…one will sit in peace and freedom under a fig tree or a vine of his own and none shall make them afraid”(Mic 4:1-4). With this lovely village image, Micah describes the peaceful and happy life every Israelite sought. The vineyard was a symbol of peace, family union, joy and feast. The beloved of the Song of Songs dreamed of running between the rows, hand in hand with her beloved in a cool spring morning: “Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the buds have opened and the pomegranates have blossomed. There I will give you my love” (Song 7:13). In this cultural context, in which the vineyard is associated with the call to love. The passion of a farmer for his vineyard, is like that of a lover for the woman of his life. Excellent grapes were planted on a sunny slope. The land was freed of thorns, weeds and stones, gathered at the edge of the field. No care, no concern, no effort had been spared. He is expecting a yield of excellent grapes, instead it yields only wild, bitter, inedible grapes. As in the betrayed and disappointed lover’s heart, love turns into disappointment, resentment and anger. The farmer decides to inflict a terrible punishment to his vineyard: he will break down the wall, will let the wayfarers enter to trample on it, wild animals to devastate it, the brambles and briers to invade it until she chokes. In the allegory of the vineyard there are two opposing attitudes: that of God who manifests a concrete love and the people who, neglecting justice, is satisfied with exterior rites and devout prayers (cf. Is 1:11-17).The severe denunciation of Isaiah is presented again to the Christians of today. Because of her infidelity, Israel has gone to meet national disaster. It was invaded by foreign peoples who devastated “the vineyard of the Lord” and reduced Jerusalem to “a hut in a melon field” (Is 1:8). This destruction is the symbol of sterility of one who ignores, mistakes, neglects the attention and kindness that God has for him.
As the prophet Isaiah, Jesus also uses the image of the vineyard to describe the work of God and man’s response. However, the scene is quite different. A master plants a vineyard, with a hedge around it, digs a mill there, builds a tower, entrusts it to tenants and goes. When the time of harvest arrived, he sent his servants to collect the produce, but here’s the surprise: the farmers do not want to deliver the benefits. They may have wanted to keep the produce for themselves, or they might have no fruit to give, since they had not worked. Some of them began to make fun of the envoys from the master, then the insults, beatings and finally the killing of some servants. The landlord does not give up; he loves his vineyard too much. Then he sends other servants more numerous than the first, but even these have no luck. As a final attempt he sends his son, but the workers in the vineyard hunt him out and kill him. They are convinced of being able to be masters of the field that has been entrusted to them.
As in the first reading, all the details of the gospel story have a symbolic meaning. The master is the Lord who has lavished so much care and expressed an immense love for his people (v. 33). The hedge is the Torah, the law that God has revealed to his people, to protect it from enemies, that is, from the proposals of senseless life that would lead it to ruin. The tenants are the chiefs, religious and political leaders, whose task is to place the people in an ideal conditions to produce the fruits that the owner expects. The fruits are identified by the first reading. They are the works of love for the neighbor and social justice. The two groups of envoys are the prophets who, before and after the exile, were sent, always more numerous, to warn Israel to be faithful to the covenant. The son is Jesus.
Through this parable Jesus is predicting his own death and resurrection. The leaders took the Son and throw him out of the vineyard. This is what happened to Jesus. He was deemed a blasphemer, impure and for this he was brought out of the city walls and executed. But God in raising him, glorified him and made him Lord, the cornerstone of a new building. The end result of the intervention of the master is the delivery of the vineyard to other workers who will make it produce fruits. This is not about the master’s annoyed reaction, but his gesture of love and salvation. Not even the rejection and murder of his son can make him an enemy of man. Reporting this parable, the evangelist Matthew certainly thought of the infidelity of the leaders of his people and their rejection of the Messiah of God. But not only to them; he also thought of his community and the entire world: every man is a vine grower from which the Lord expects delivery of the fruits. The happy news which concludes the Gospel (v. 43) is that, despite all the refusals of man, in the end God always finds the way to achieve his purpose and to obtain the good fruit he wants.
Prayer: Lord, give me wisdom and discernment. Give me also the courage I need to be strong and forceful with Your grace when it is Your will. I give my life to You, dear Lord, use me as You will. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.