Gospel: Cornerstone

Today is the Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, where the Gospel to reflect on will be taken from the writing of St Matthew.

"Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it around, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad.

When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. 

But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another, and stoned a third.

Next he sent some more servants, this time a large number, and they dealt with them 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 each other, 'This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.'

So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?

They answered, 'He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him at the proper time.'

Jesus said to them, 'Have you never read in the scriptures: the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this is the Lord's doing and we marvel at it?'

'I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to the people who will produce its fruit.'

This Gospel passage is an important analogy of the relationship of Judaism to Christianity, how God's people will inherit everything that was rejected by the chosen few, and how the New Covenant fit into the scriptural narrative.

The vineyard represents God's work here on Earth, which started from the day the covenant was made with Moses and the Israelites with the introduction of the ten commandments. When God left his vineyard to his chosen people, he expected to collect what is due to him at the proper time.

So, after a while, when it is time for harvest, God sent his servants to collect them, which represents the various prophets God sent to the people of God. But one by one, they killed their prophets, and they stoned them to death.

Finally, God sent his son through the Lord Jesus Christ, thinking that they will respect him. And we all know what happened next: the Lord was crucified by his own people to die a death he did not deserve.

Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith. He is the source of all Christianity, the very basis of this religious tradition. After Jesus came, the divine right that was once afforded to a chosen few, was unceremoniously snatched away from them with the overflowing love and generosity of God. This represents the New Covenant to God, to whom the Heavenly Father is very pleased.

Today, let us remind ourselves that the cornerstone that they rejected was Jesus himself. May we all strive to bear spiritual fruits which is due to God, tend his vineyard properly, shepherd his sheeps, and become cheerful workers in his fields.

Amen.

x----x

Picture from Pixabay.