Twenty Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

Biblical scholars tells us that Matthew is actually preaching his own homily on Jesus’ words concerning “the stone rejected by the builders becoming the cornerstone” in reference to the behavior of the tenants in the vineyard leased to them.  In his homily, Matthew points his finger at the authorities of his day.

Matthew gives us pause to wonder who the tenants are and who the landowner is.  Most likely, the temple leaders thought they were the landowner who was wronged.  More likely than not, as we hear the parable today we think it is God who is the landowner and the tenants are the Jewish authorities.

As we squeeze the Gospel for good news to break out, what is it we discover?  Three things come into focus for our consideration.  The vineyard may actually be the zip code we live in, the stones rejected by the builder may be the unwanted dimensions of our own personalities, and the landowner, like God, does not give up too easily.

First, the parable challenges us to ponder whether we are producing fruit in the vineyard that bears the address where we live, which is necessary for building the Kingdom of God.  We hear about the new evangelization and that the Gospel has lost its taste, its freshness, and its luster in much of our culture today.

The reigning gods of secularism, consumerism, and materialism erode our confidence in the truths of our faith.  We are confronted with untold acts of terrorism at home and abroad.  Yet, in the midst of all of these givens, we are called to reposition the Gospel in our own neighborhood, and to do it in the ordinary, everyday moments of our day.

Second, think about those wild and sour parts of ourselves we don’t like, those parts of ourselves we want to hide, those things we keep secret.  What are the rejected stones comprising the edifice of our own personality?  And, often when we look at what we reject about ourselves, there’s the clue to something wonderful, something new, and something exciting. 

Third, God does not give up on us too easily, even as we need to do more tending to the vines in our own gardens.  Often we are like the wild grapes spoken of in both the reading from the prophet Isaiah and the gospel from Matthew.  We scapegoat and cast the blame on the other, forgetting the mercy God grants in our regard.

Jesus asks his audience, the chief priests and elders, “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”  The tenants offer the obvious answer: “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

Imagine that God is pointing his finger at us as we tend the vineyard right now – what have we got to show for it?  In the vineyard of the world today, we witness gruesome and unimaginable horrors, we see widespread and unnecessary waste, we hear silent or eerily audible screams of the vulnerable – do we make mental notes of these crimes, or are we stirred to action in some concrete way?

The warning in the parable reminds us that we are accountable for what we do with our faith, and the God of love and compassion desires a response from us.  And, just like in the parable, God does not give up too easily!

At this Eucharist, we ask God for the passion we need to live in the garden where God has planted us; for the clarity we desire to accept our complex personalities; and for the determination to accept responsibility to produce a good yield in this most favored portion of God’s vineyard.

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor