From the Pastor

In today’s Gospel, the tenants in the vineyard, while they have not lost the ability to recognize the heir, have lost any interest in the importance of that fact. Jesus uses this parable to warn how the Savior, “the heir,” will be rejected by the very people who recognize Him. The Gospel combines two of the most important images for the people of God, vineyard and the temple, and shows how Christ is the fulfillment of them both.

How then do we avoid becoming like the wicked tenants of the vineyard? Surely it is by practicing virtues, both cardinal and theological. We can only do this if we maintain a humble attitude to the Lord and pray for His help. This is not always easy. Bad habits, temptations and weariness all interfere with out attempts to be faithful servants and good stewards of the gifts that God has given us. But Christ is always at hand in prayer and the sacraments to come to our help, to raise us up when we fall.

The parable of the laborers in the vineyard is one of the most difficult ones for a modern audience to appreciate. How can it be just that those who have worked for only an hour are paid the same as those who have labored through the heat of the day? It is the same sort of complaint we hear from people who have led exemplary lives only to be hit with ill health, economic woes and personal tragedies. “Why is God doing this to me? They ask. “It isn’t fair.” However, what Jesus wants to reveal, through His use of parables, is not what is fair and what isn’t but rather what enhances the presence of the kingdom of God and what blocks it. In today’s parable He uses the miserliness and envy of the workers. The kingdom of God is a place of forgiveness and generosity, not a place of greed and envy. The parables face us with a tough challenge. Can we understand and can we live in the way God lives?

For the Christian, envy and greed are not just addictions or illness. They create an obstacle in our way of understanding God and in our freedom to follow God’s guidance. Each of us is tested in different ways. We are asked to free ourselves, and to think that what another has is something I should have. It is true that such world view often emerges from our own sense of emptiness. Not having any sense of our fulfillment, we look elsewhere to fill the gap, but the gap is never filled. Instead we can look to the Lord and His teachings, for His grace and His guidance reveal a way forward in this labyrinth. We can do that, we can break the vicious circle of envy and greed and become fully alive in the kingdom of God.

Today’s readings center on how best to address the problems that arise within the local church, in particular on the issue of brotherly or sisterly correction. Ezekiel, whom we heard in our first reading, insists that just as a sentry is duty-bound to warn of approaching danger, so he, the prophet, must warn those who persist in wickedness of the consequence of their actions. If his language sometimes seems harsh, it’s because the issue is so serious.

Indeed, in some ways Ezekiel’s words foreshadow Jesus’ own teaching, as presented to us in today’s Gospel. There He reminds us that we have a familial duty to do what we can when a brother’s or sister’s behavior causes offense, especially when it is a threat to the well-being of the community. The first step is to deal with the matter privately and informally, in the hope that it will result in a peaceful settlement. It is far better to have the courage to speak with wrongdoers face to face than to gossip about them behind their back. If that fails, stage two is to get the assistance of a couple of others; it will be more difficult to reject the advice of two or three people than that of one. Finally, as a last resort, the matter may have to be brought to the community. This may have to be officially acknowledged. However, excommunication should be rare, and should be used not as a punishment but rather as encouragement to the wrongdoer to return to the fold. If, as the Gospel puts is, such a person is to be treated “like pagan or a tax-collector”, that does not mean that the community are to wash their hands of him or her. On the contrary, just as pagans and tax-collectors were a special focus of Jesus’ ministry, so Jesus teaches us to include them in the community’s mission also.

The second reading puts things into perspective: St. Paul teaches us that “Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbor.” Christian correction makes sense only when it is done in the spirit of love: there may be times when we are called to practice the love that cares enough to confront, to challenge and even to oppose. Whenever we have courage to oppose what is evil we are involved in the Church’s task of binding the evil forces that oppress people, loosing the bonds that prevent them from living the fullness of life in God’s kingdom. The Christian is called to love enough to speak uncomfortable truths at times – but always in humility and love. The final words of today’s Gospel apply not only to communal prayer but also to every honest attempt to restore peace and harmony within the community: “where two or three meet in My name,” Jesus promises, “I shall be there with them.”

Today’s Gospel passage is a damning one for poor Peter. Jesus calls him “Satan.” Jesus has got to the point in their relationship when he wants to share with the disciples what is going to happen. He says that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer and die. He also makes it clear that He will rise again on the third day. Peter says to Jesus, “Heaven preserve You, Lord…This must not happen to You.” Last Sunday we head Jesus speaking to Peter in different way: “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.” The place where Jesus says this in Matthew’s Gospel is only 5 verses before today’s “Get behind Me, Satan!” We have Peter’s strength put before us in the “You are Peter” verse; and suddenly we have his weakness in the “Get behind Me, Satan!” statement so soon after. Peter has many wonderful qualities, and we rejoice in them. However, the scriptures make sure that we are aware of Peter’s failings, too: for example, when Peter is walking on the water, he panics and cries out for help; and ultimately Peter tells Jesus he will die for Him but then denies Jesus and runs away. Peter is a real person of flesh and blood, full of all the bravery and fears involved in discipleship, yet he is an example that we do well to follow.

Are we not basically the same as Peter in his humanness and unworthiness? Could Jesus say the same to us, “Get behind me, Satan?” Probably many if not all of us, can think of moments in our lives when Jesus could say that to us. One of the reasons that we come to church is to help us to be better followers of Jesus. Today let us focus on what Jesus is telling us in this Sunday’s Gospel. He is saying to each one of us, “If you want to be My follower you have to pick up your cross and follow Me every day.” We know what Jesus call us to do – do we have the determination to do it? And when we fail, do we have the faith to turn to Jesus again?

Today’s readings all deal with the question of humanity’s search for and encounter with divinity. As today’s scripture show us, it is not that humanity is able to seek and find God by its own powers, but rather it is God who allows God’s self to be discovered by us. And usually we encounter God in the most unexpected of places and ways. Elijah encounters the living God in “the silence.”

In the Gospel the disciples are battling with the storm on the lake, in the circumstances that make any encounter with God highly improbable. Jesus invites Peter to recognize who He is, to have faith in Him, to take the step of faith. But it is only a step. Faced with the reality of the storm and danger of death, Peter’s faith wavers and he needs the Lord to save him.

In our lives, we can find ourselves like Elijah and Peter – at the end of our tether, living in fear, full of doubts. God comes to us unexpectedly – in the silence, in the midst of our busyness and our fear, in our tiredness and brokenness, in our doubts and desperation. The Lord invites us to come out of the darkness of the caves of our lives, to step out of the security of our little boats and to place our trust in Him.

Jesus is preparing His disciples for the even greater self-giving He will carry out on the cross, and the memorial, sacrificial meal, which we call the Eucharist. He feeds us not with earthly food, but with His very self, body and blood, soul and divinity. But the story does not end there, of course. By sharing in the Eucharistic banquet we are already participating not only in Christ’s death, but also in Christ’s resurrection, and therefore our own as well. All the sacraments are participations in the death and resurrection of Christ, but especially baptism and the Eucharist. This great Eucharistic generosity of God not only prepares us for eternal life, but has consequences for us now. If God is so generous with us, ought we not to be generous with others? One of the great challenges always facing us is that earth’s resources should be shared justly among all, especially those most in need. So, food, death and religion are profoundly linked, but utterly transformed in the light of the Gospel and the risen Jesus. Jesus still feeds us in the wilderness which this world can be, but we can always bear in mind that our home is the promised land of eternal life with the Blessed Trinity and all the saints and angels.