October 4th 2020. The Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Matthew 21, 33-43

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

 

GOSPEL: Matthew 21, 33-43

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 Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

 

Summary . . . The parable in Sunday’s Gospel tells the story of the tenants of the beautiful vineyard of grace that the Lord has given his people. The behaviour of the tenants is horrific! Not only do they kill the master’s servants, they also kill his son. Are we those tenants? As we read this parable, one of the questions we can ask is, “Does the Father have the right to expect fruit from us?” We have been given life by him and many gifts. It is normal that he should expect us to be fruitful! But how does he ask us to be fruitful? Has he knocked on your door recently? The Lord knocks on our door through the people around us. Children have the right to expect their parents to lay aside their own needs and to care for them selflessly. Parishioners have the right to expect their priest to be a man of God rather than a selfish bachelor. Our friends have the right to our fidelity and assistance. One thousand times, God asks us to bear fruit! What is the alternative to bearing fruit? The alternative is the taking of life. God has given us beautiful gifts. If we keep the fruit of these gifts to ourselves, then we engage in the act of draining life from the works of God. In reality, it is always the Son who is sent by God to receive our fruitfulness. We receive this calling through the Lord’s word, through various appeals that come to us for conversion. In the parable, the master says, “They will pay attention to my son”. This point – being attentive to what is in front of me, being aware of the manner in which God is asking me to be fruitful in the present moment – is fundamental. We are constantly being invited by God to be fruitful, to be beautiful, to spread the Gospel. The Lord doesn’t send us a written request! He sends his Son through the others that we encounter. The sick person in front of us, the beggar - this is God. “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me”. In the parable, the murderous tenant who keeps the fruit for himself ends up losing the kingdom. Each one of us has this “old man” inside. Through baptism we are called to put on the new man. This spiritual man inherits the kingdom, because for him the request to bear fruit is joyful. For the man of flesh, the request for fruitfulness brings only anger and violence. Let us pass from greed to generosity, from possessiveness to gift.

In the story from Isaiah, it is the vineyard that produces bad fruit, whilst in Jesus’ parable, it is the tenants who mismanage the fruit in a dishonest way. In response, Jesus states very clearly that those tenants will be punished severely.

The parable of the murderous tenants is tragic and disturbing, but it is wise to consider it carefully, even if it is a text that is not a favourite among priests and faithful. Many priests might find it challenging to give a homily on this Gospel, but maybe they should reconsider. It is the story of a master who furnishes a vineyard with everything it needs to be fruitful. The parable mirrors the account from Isaiah that we find in the first reading. In that case, it was the vineyard itself that produced bitter fruit, while Jesus shifts the attention to the peasants to whom the vineyard is entrusted, the ones who manage the yield in a dishonest and violent way. In Isaiah, God responds to the bad production of the vineyard with a declaration of impending doom. Often, in the New Testament, this type of tone disappears, but not here. Jesus repeats those threats with renewed harshness. They are now no longer addressed to a symbolic vineyard, but to criminal tenants. What is all this for? 

Does God have the right to ask us for fruits? Yes! He gave us life and many gifts. Does he really come to ask us for these fruits? Yes! He comes by means of all the people around us who ask us for patience and love in our duties as a sibling, a parent, a friend.

One thing has to be asked: does the master, who is the heavenly Father, have the right to ask us for fruit? Let's think about it: does God has the right to knock on my door and ask what I am doing with the life He has given me? Does God have the right to ask me if I am utilizing the gifts He has given me? Is it right that the Lord asks for fruit from all his Church, which is his vineyard? Before answering, let's try to ask another question: does God really come to ask for fruit? Yes, many times. He knocks on my door by means of all those around me who ask me to bear fruit, as a man, as a brother, as a father, as a Christian, as a priest or whatever. God is hidden in the child who asks us to have patience during the challenging trials of a relationship, or in an elderly or sick relative who asks if there is a little love for them in our hearts.

The people around us have the right to expect fruitfulness from us. And it is what brings us true happiness

God has planted so much in the lives of all of us. We have been welcomed by him, forgiven and loved. All of this is willed by him so that we too might attain the capacity to love.  A spouse expects us to be fruitful, a friend asks us to be fruitful. And it is good that they do so because people have the right to find in a priest, for example, a man of God and not an individualistic and narcissistic bachelor. A child has the right to find in a mother an adult woman who knows how to lay aside her own needs and who teaches her tenderness. When someone does not find this in his priest or his mother, he is right to complain! There are fruits that any human being is expected to bear, and, in addition, there are the gifts of the Master's Vineyard, which is his holy people, the mission he entrusts to us and all that is given to us as Christians. The world is asking the Church for the love it preaches, and not just words only. It is worthwhile to be challenged by the seriousness of this parable, because bearing fruit is what gives us greatest happiness. On the other hand, reasoning in a violent and self-referential way like the peasants in the story means turning life into something degenerate. We were born to love, and only true love, which comes from Christ, can give us true joy. It is good to bear fruit.