The past several Sundays we have been reading from the vineyard
parables of Jesus in Matthew, and this Sunday we reach a climactic point in the
hostility between the leaders of the people (chief priests and Pharisees) and
Jesus.
The Readings for this Lord’s Day are skillfully chosen to complement
the Gospel reading. Most commentators
agree that the vine parables of the Old Testament found in Isaiah 5 and Psalm
80 are the textual background for Jesus’ own vineyard parable in Matt 21:33-43.
1. The First Reading gives us Isaiah 5:1-7, the key prophetic parable
that identifies the “vineyard” as God’s people Israel. Although we have not read it in the liturgy
until this Sunday, this passage of Isaiah has been in the background through
Jesus’ other vineyard parables in the last several weeks:
Let me now sing of my friend,
my friend's song concerning his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside;
he spaded it, cleared it of stones,
and planted the choicest vines;
within it he built a watchtower,
and hewed out a wine press.
Then he looked for the crop of grapes,
but what it yielded was wild grapes.
Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard:
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I had not done?
Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes,
did it bring forth wild grapes?
Now, I will let you know
what I mean to do with my vineyard:
take away its hedge, give it to grazing,
break through its wall, let it be trampled!
Yes, I will make it a ruin:
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
but overgrown with thorns and briers;
I will command the clouds
not to send rain upon it.
The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah are his cherished plant;
he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed!
for justice, but hark, the outcry!
my friend's song concerning his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside;
he spaded it, cleared it of stones,
and planted the choicest vines;
within it he built a watchtower,
and hewed out a wine press.
Then he looked for the crop of grapes,
but what it yielded was wild grapes.
Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard:
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I had not done?
Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes,
did it bring forth wild grapes?
Now, I will let you know
what I mean to do with my vineyard:
take away its hedge, give it to grazing,
break through its wall, let it be trampled!
Yes, I will make it a ruin:
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
but overgrown with thorns and briers;
I will command the clouds
not to send rain upon it.
The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah are his cherished plant;
he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed!
for justice, but hark, the outcry!
The themes of this song from
Isaiah have important connections with the Song of Songs. The word translated “friend” in our Mass
version is literally “my beloved,” in Hebrew dowdi or didi, which is the preferred term the bride uses for the
royal bridegroom in the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs is also full of
vineyard imagery; in fact, the vineyard/garden is often identified with the
bride herself: she is a vineyard/garden.
“A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride; a garden enclosed, a fountain
sealed!” (Song 4:12). “Let my beloved
come to his garden and eat its choicest fruit” (Song 4:16).
Thus, the poem in Isaiah
5:1-7, understood in light of broader Scriptural themes, is a love story. The vineyard is a metaphor for the spouse of
the Lord, his beloved people. Ultimately
it points forward to the Bride of Christ.
The use of the term “beloved”
(dowdi) both in Isaiah and Songs
lends itself to a Messianic reading of these passages, since “my beloved” (dowdi) sounds virtually the same as “my
David.” “David” (dawid) literally
means “beloved one.” Thus one can see
how easy it is to understand the “beloved” in these passages as the “David”
that Israel is awaiting (see Ezek 34:23), that is, the Anointed Son of David
who can save them.
P. The Responsorial Psalm
also combines the themes of the vineyard-people of God and the royal Son of
David:
Responsorial Psalm Ps 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20
R. (Is 5:7a) The
vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
A vine from Egypt you transplanted;
you drove away the nations and planted it.
It put forth its foliage to the Sea,
its shoots as far as the River.
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Why have you broken down its walls,
so that every passer-by plucks its fruit,
The boar from the forest lays it waste,
and the beasts of the field feed upon it?
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
O LORD, God of hosts, restore us;
if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
A vine from Egypt you transplanted;
you drove away the nations and planted it.
It put forth its foliage to the Sea,
its shoots as far as the River.
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Why have you broken down its walls,
so that every passer-by plucks its fruit,
The boar from the forest lays it waste,
and the beasts of the field feed upon it?
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.
O LORD, God of hosts, restore us;
if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.
R. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Here, Israel is again likened
to a vine that God transplanted from Egypt to Canaan. God has then punished vineyard-Israel, but
the Psalm implores him to come to their aid.
Verses 15-16 are key: “Look
down from heaven, and see; take care of this vine ... and the son of man whom you made strong for
yourself.”
This “son of man” is none
other that the royal Son of David who sat on the throne of Israel at the time
the psalm was composed. Later in the
psalm (verse 18) he is referred to as “the man on your right”: “May your hand
be with the man on your right” (v. 18).
This is an apt expression, since the Temple, the throne of God, lay to
the north of the royal palace, the throne of David, so that the Son of David
literally sat “at the right” (i.e. to the south) of God. (Directions were expressed facing east:
“left” was north, “right” was south.)
Psalm 80 is a prayer for God
to protect vineyard-Israel, but also the royal Son of David. In fact, the fate of Israel and of the royal
son are united and inextricable.
2. In the Second Reading we
continue our lectio continua through
Philippians:
Reading 2 Phil 4:6-9
Brothers and sisters:
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,
if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Keep on doing what you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me.
Then the God of peace will be with you.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,
if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Keep on doing what you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me.
Then the God of peace will be with you.
St. Paul exhorts us here to
ponder “whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, etc.” It is a list similar to the Fruit of the
Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23. Using the
vineyard analogy given to us in the other readings, we can say that St. Paul
wishes us to envision the Fruit of the Spirit, so that we may also bear these
Fruit. What we contemplate, we emulate.
That is why Our Lord teaches in the Sermon on the Mount: “The eye is the
lamp of the body. So if your eye is
sound, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness!”
(Matt 6:22-23).
Obviously Our Lord is not
speaking in a physical sense, as if our eyes shed light within our torsos or
somesuch. Rather, Our Lord is speaking
about what we focus our attention upon, what we meditate upon, and as embodied
creatures, the focus of our attention is almost invariably tied up with what we
physically observe with our eyes.
Recently, there was a spat in
the little corner of the social media universe where I sometimes timidly
venture over whether it is appropriate for Catholics to watch Game of
Thrones. I’ve never seen the show: the
way it is marketed alone gives me a bad feeling and I have stayed away. I’ve heard that it has portrayed graphic
sexuality and even violent sexuality, essentially rape. I won’t comment on the show, but I do object
to the graphic portrayal of immorality as a form of entertainment. And let us be clear: it is sinful for
followers of Christ voluntarily to watch depictions of grave evil without a
sufficiently grave reason. Sure,
soldiers, doctors, first responders, law enforcement often need to look evil in
the face for the good of society. If that is your vocation in life, you can
call on the grace of God to help you bear it with a clear conscience. But the rest
of us don’t need to watch evil for the sake of entertainment. It can skew our conscience, derail our inner
peace, arouse carnal desires (concupiscence), desensitize our conscience, and
eventually deaden our natural revulsion for evil. Both St. Paul and Jesus himself urge us
rather to contemplate the Good, to make that
the object of our meditation. This is
why we celebrate the feast days of the Saints and not the great apostates, even
to take warning from them. Evil is like
a tarbaby that is difficult to encounter without getting it all over
oneself. St. Josemaria—who, as a
survivor of the Spanish Civil War and of street ministry in the slums of Madrid,
was not a sheltered individual by any possible
stretch of the imagination—used to say, “I never speak of impurity, but of
purity, because Christ is speaking to all of us when he says: ‘Blessed are the
clean of heart, for they shall see God.’”
So let us take this Second
Reading to heart, and exercise the classic Catholic practice of “custody of the
eyes”, such that we exercise care over what we put before our gaze.
G. The Gospel passage is the last
of the vineyard-themed parables recorded by Matthew:
Gospel Mt 21:33-43
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the
people:
"Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking,
'They will respect my son.'
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.'
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?"
They answered him,
"He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times."
Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you,
the kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit."
"Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking,
'They will respect my son.'
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.'
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?"
They answered him,
"He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times."
Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
Therefore, I say to you,
the kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit."
The basic meaning of the
parable is clear: the tenants are the chief priests and leaders of the
people. The servants sent to the
vineyard are the prophets; the son is Jesus himself; the vineyard owner is God
the Father. The judgment on the tenants
is a prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem which was to happen within a
generation (AD 70).
Jesus cites Psalm 118
concerning “the stone that the builders rejected.” Clearly this stone is a reference to
himself. He is the foundation stone of
the temple, rejected by the chief priests—who were, in fact, involved in a
massive project of rebuilding the temple initiated by Herod the Great and
completed about AD 66.
The chief priests were
rebuilding the temple, but neither they nor Herod who initiated the project
were properly authorized to undertake such a sacred task. Herod was not even a Jew; he was an Edomite
who gained the throne of Israel by collaboration with the Romans. Likewise, the chief priests at this time did
not have the proper lineage, and maintained their position and power by
manipulation and cooperation with the Roman authorities.
It was the Son of David who
was authorized to build the Temple of God (2 Sam 7:12-13). So Jesus stands as the true temple-builder
over against the false temple-builders.
The Temple was decorated in
its interior with garden imagery, which was intended to evoke the concept of
Eden, the original garden-vineyard of God.
In fact, a great vine was carved on the gates of the Temple. Some scholars surmise that Jesus was passing
the Temple gates, with the great vine image, on the way to Gethsemane in John
15, where he begins his “True Vine” discourse: “I am the true vine, and my
Father is the vine grower ...”
By identifying Himself as the
True Vine, Jesus is claiming to be the personal embodiment of Israel, the
people of God.
At the end of today’s
reading, Jesus warns the chief priests, “the kingdom of God will be taken away
from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”
This has sometimes been
interpreted as the “Kingdom of God” being taken away from the Jews and given to
the Gentiles, but there are serious reasons to doubt that such a meaning is
intended here. Jesus, his Blessed
Mother, all the Apostles, and the writer of this Gospel were Jews. Ethnic Jews have always been part of the New
Covenant. In fact, the New Covenant
itself is nothing other than the Body and Blood of Jesus the Jew.
It would be better to
understand the “people who will produce its fruit” not as the Gentiles per se, but as all those, whether “Jew
or Greek” (cf. Rom 1:16), who partake in the Body and Blood of the True Vine,
that is, the True Israel, Jesus the Christ, and by partaking become
incorporated into the New Vineyard, the New Israel. By partaking of the Eucharist, we “abide in
him, and he in us”: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear
much fruit, because without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
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