Matthew 21:33-43, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us a parable about a landowner and his vineyard. The landowner leaves the vineyard in the hands of his tenants to tend. However, the tenants behaved far from expected. They seized, beat, stoned, and even killed, the landowner’s servants. This happened again and again. Finally, even the landowner’s son as thrown out of the vineyard and killed. We understand who Jesus was referring to as the servants. They were the prophets sent by God to remind his people of their duties. The killing of the landowner’s son is clearly a reference to Jesus’ death on the cross. So what does the parable mean for us?

The parable makes it clear that God’s people have been poor tenants in His vineyard. We are the tenants. However, we do not read this parable to judge anyone but to reflect on our lives and behavior. We might ask ouselves: how are we doing as God’s tenants? Are we much better than the chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees? We are privileged to be baptized and called to serve in God’s vineyard. Every Sunday, we are called to gather to hear the Gospel’s message and to make it a part of our lives. We are called to serve the Church and to be active members of the Christian community.

To serve means to love. The word “love” is simple to write but not easy to do. True love requires the ability to face and overcome negative emotions and behavior such as misunderstanding, quarrels, and even hatred, while still choosing to be kind, compassionate and to forgive without regrets. This is almost impossible for humans to do, but Jesus perfectly defined love in his short life. He willingly gave up his own life for love, sacrificing his life for his friends and enemies. His love seems to have gone beyond any definition of love we can give and deserves to be pondered over and over again.

If we reflect on our own lives, we might wonder what we have that makes us worthy of God’s love. Perhaps the only way to live up to His love is to spread it generously. Every small act of kindness in our lives, every act of understanding and consideration for others, though seemingly insignificant, is a great treasure in the eyes of Jesus. Because that is how he sees us, in our truest and most beautiful form.

More than 10 years ago, I was a scholastic studying at the Ateneo and residing in Arrupe International Residence. On of the lovely, older Jesuits living with us at that time was Fr Francis Doyle, an Irish Jesuit in his 80s. One day, he was taking photos with his camera in front of Arrupe. I happened to be sitting outside with a dog belonging to the community whom we called Nabu. Then Fr Francis took a few pictures of me and I thought it was just part of his hobby. To my surprise, on my birthday, he emailed me the photos he had taken. I realized that he had taken the photos that day especially for me. It was a small gesture of love but one that touched me deeply. In this world, everything passes – money, power, fame pass away when death comes. But love never passes away. It is just passed on to the next generation and the next.

*Photo by Brett Jordan/Pexels