Weekly Reflection

A good deal of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels is about the kingdom of heaven – the great promise of a future in which the Father draws all creation into harmony. The images that Jesus uses to describe this kingdom draw on familiar, domestic life: the woman who loses a coin; the seed that grows to a great tree; the family and friends gathered to celebrate a marriage. To be people of the kingdom, Jesus’ parable suggests, is to be a people aware that we carry great gifts that belong not to us, but to our Lord. It is the constant concern for what is put into our hands that is so vividly set before us in the image of the “perfect wife” in the first reading. The woman’s hard work in the ordinary fabric of daily living, far from being “just” domestic, or “mere housework,” is recognized as the virtue that it is: a kind of practical wisdom that enables life to flourish, and generous charity to find a place in our homes. It is ordinary doing of love and faithfulness.

Today we are all being called to a new kind of mission – a fresh witness to the world about the love of God in Jesus, and the joy that life in His Spirit brings. I will pray, instead, for God to raise up others to great tasks. Those prayers are important; but today’s readings remind us that, first and foremost, it is in the daily routines of life that the power of the kingdom can find a home in our world. Next time we are cleaning, picking up the phone to a colleague or friend, cooking for our children, or waiting for a bus, let’s call to mind our great vocation to serve God’s kingdom in ordinary things. In such small steps, the world will be consecrated more and more to Christ.

Jesus seems to have been very fond of weddings. He worked His first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana and He enjoyed referring to weddings and wedding banquets as symbols of heaven. This Gospel, like many parables, is complex in its meaning. As we approach the end of this Church year, which will conclude in two weeks, the liturgy favors the interpretation that the Gospel is about the end of the world when Christ will come again in glory. That day no one knows. Every wise generation of Christians, from those to whom St. Paul wrote in Thessalonica, to the present has waited for Jesus’ return with patience.

St. John had a vision of great wedding supper in heaven. An angel said to him, “Write this down: Happy are those who have been invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” Waiting patiently for that supper is very wise. And we are called to be wise, to wait in patience for the coming of the Lord. The end of the world seems far off. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. If He does not come sooner, the Lord will come in the moment of our death. It is a moment which actually we should look forward to in joyful hope. We naturally fear death and cling to life. And yet we must heed the point of the Gospel: be alert, wide awake, and ready to meet the Lord whenever He comes.

Holy Communion is a preparation for death. A Catholic who is about to die is entitled to, and directed to receive, communion as “viaticum,” the food for the journey from this life to the next. Even when we receive communion at Mass we should be mindful of death, but always with faith in our resurrection from the dead. Standing to receive communion is a sign of that faith. The moral is “Keep your eyes open, for you know not the day or the hour.”

Children call their male parent “father” even though Jesus said, “Do not call anyone on earth father.” Instructors in school accept the title “teacher” even though Jesus said, “Avoid being called teachers.” And yet, through these rather strong imperatives, Jesus did want to teach us an important lesson. He wanted to instruct us that we may give to no one the place in our lives which belongs to God.

We are all children of our parents. Some of us have been blessed in the parents we have, and quite honestly some have not. Ultimately, however, we must look to heaven to find the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and who has become our Father too. We cannot allow anyone to take God’s place in our lives. We all have teachers from the moment we were born, during all our years in school, when we got a job, and really throughout our entire lives.

God, speaking through the voice of Malachi His prophet in the first reading of this Sunday, proclaims, “A great King am I.” Can any person of faith deny that? And yet God demands an answer to His question: “Do you accept that you must not put anyone in My place as Your sovereign Lord?”

Our circumstances are not very much different from those of the people to whom Malachi preached his message. They had returned from exile in Babylon only to find their homeland populated by a people who did not share their religion or their values. The situation was a challenge to the faith of both the priests and the people. That is why Malachi preached to them with such great urgency.

And this why the Gospel of this Sunday has great meaning for us. We live in a country which is motivated primarily by individualism, materialism, and consumerism, not by the values of religion. Most people may say that they believe in God but the temptation in our country is to live as if God didn’t exist. That temptation is real for us. And yet the Church should be and is our heaven, our spiritual home here on earth. Here we pay heed to Jesus, our teacher, as we listen to His words proclaimed in Sacred Scripture. We follow His teaching by praying to God as “our Father,” not only in the Lord’s Prayer but throughout the Mass. Here too we should find people with whom we share the same values in life, people who support us in our faith and people whom we are willing to help in their time of need. The Jews returned to a land which seemed foreign to them. We should never feel our of place in a Catholic church. We should find in each other dedicated people who want to live according to the values which Jesus, the Son of God, has given us.

Jesus had problems with the legal establishment of His time – the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes – especially when He taught in the Temple at the end of His ministry. In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees try Him with the question: “Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” The issue was not actually about which commandment took precedence over all others. Rather, Jesus was being asked to express an opinion on whether there was a single commandment whose greatness lay in its capacity to sum up the meaning of the whole Law, with all 613 of its precepts. It’s easy to imagine the endless debates on the subject among the great and the good of the religious leadership: everyone had an opinion on the matter. It is also easy to see how the question must have seemed perfect to trap this amateur preacher who was causing problems with His radical new teaching.

Jesus doesn’t give a direct answer to the question. Instead, He chooses two commandments: from Deuteronomy and from Leviticus. He says, “on these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” We are reminded of pictures in a gallery, suspended by two chains. Similarly, the two commandments chosen by Jesus are like two chains that uphold the entire Law. The two commandments are well known. First comes a quotation from Deuteronomy 6: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” The second, from Leviticus 19, resembles it, says Jesus: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” We are left with the question of why Jesus chose these two, and why He says the second resembles the first. One way we can explore this is to consider Jesus’ teaching on the conditions of discipleship. To be a disciple, says Jesus, it is necessary to renounce self and take up the cross and follow Him. Jesus’ total commitment to His Father is shown through His talking up of the cross: the cross shows He loves His Father with all His heart, soul, strength and mind. In taking up the cross He renounces himself. He continually places the needs of humanity before His own needs: that is, He loves His neighbor as himself. To be a neighbor is to address the needs of others before one’s own needs. So loving God with all our energy, and loving neighbor as self, sums up the Law because it describes perfectly the ministry of Jesus, who is the fulfillment of the Law.

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.”