Comments on the liturgy of the day taken from the September/October 2020 edition of the “Sulla Tua Parola” missal.
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
3rd week psalter
FIRST READING
From the book of the prophet Isaiah (Is 5:1-7)
I will sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines; in the middle of it he built a tower and also hewed out a winepress. He expected it to produce grapes; instead, it produced wild grapes. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men 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 expected it to produce grapes, did it produce wild grapes? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will become pastureland; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland; it will neither be pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it. Indeed, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel; the people of Judah are his cherished planting. He expected justice, but saw bloodshed; he expected righteousness, but heard the cries of the oppressed. The word of God.
Commentary on the first reading
When God speaks with his people, he always begins not with what might seem like demands, even though he would have every right to ask. The God of Israel is not like those gods that human beings have created, gods they went searching for and could imagine only according to human categories. The God of Israel is not capricious; he is a Father who enters into a profound relationship of love with humanity. That is why our God always begins with the memory of his many gifts. The people are compared to a vineyard whose owner personally cares for it. He builds everything necessary for its protection and productivity. Our God is a farmer, a builder, an engineer. He is a God who clears and cultivates, who plants, builds, and digs. One detail in this passage from the prophet particularly strikes me: God does not plant just any vines but, the text says, choice vines. In the great field of the world, which the Father cares for, we have been placed like choice vines to produce first-rate grapes. And yet? That is precisely the question posed by this passage.
SECOND READING
From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Philippians (Phil 4:6-9)
Brothers and sisters, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is honorable, whatever is virtuous and worthy of praise, think about these things. Whatever you have learned, received, heard, and seen in me, put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you! The word of God.
Commentary on the second reading
The apostle Paul never fails, in his letters, to urge believers to trust. These exhortations are not based on some vague feeling that goodness must surely exist somewhere in the world and in the human heart. Paul urges trust on the basis of his own experience of Jesus. He saw every one of his hopes fulfilled in the Master, and for this reason he can say to anyone, and says to us today, “Do not be anxious about anything.” Life always presents difficulties, trials, and sorrows, but in all these things there is no room for anguish in one who has experienced the Lord’s Resurrection. We have a God who does not remain indifferent to our needs; we need only have the courage and humility to present them to him. Because if there is one thing the Father respects, it is the freedom of his child. Sometimes I hear this objection: “But if God knows everything, why do we have to ask him for things?” Because only in this way is our freedom preserved. Because it is through our requests, our supplications, and the things for which we give thanks that what truly dwells in our hearts emerges.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 21:33-43)
At that time, Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: «Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He surrounded it with a hedge, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. When the time came to harvest the fruits, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect the harvest. But the tenants seized the servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent them his own son, saying, “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 take his inheritance.” So they seized him, 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 him: «He will put those wicked men to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him the fruits at the proper time.» And Jesus said to them: «Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was done by the Lord, 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 fruits.» The word of the Lord.
Commentary on the Gospel of the day
The parable of the murderous tenants, in its stark realism, places before our eyes and hearts the evil of which human beings are capable. The Gospel does not conceal this dimension of reality. This parable contains an interpretation of the past. The servants of whom Jesus speaks are all those prophets whom God continually sent to his people and who, almost always, were victims of the hardness of heart of those to whom they had been sent. At a certain point, the owner of the vineyard decides to send them his own son. How can we fail to see in this symbolic narrative the story of Jesus himself and his contemporaries? The Son will not meet a different fate from that of the servants. The chief priests and those elders of the people, asked what fate might await those men, give the most obvious answer: “He will put those servants to a miserable death.” It is probably the answer we would have given too, but it will not be Jesus’ answer. God the Father, whom Jesus experienced and came to reveal to us, will not put anyone to death but will entrust the vineyard anew to others. God is now placing everything in our hands, asking us to make a new abundance of fruit possible.
