+(Intro) In our first reading this morning we will hear of how Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons and Joseph’s brothers hated him for this. There are times in all of our lives when we can become jealous because of how others are treated so let us take a moment to reflect on this.
(After the gospel) As I read the parable of our gospel today, I found myself thinking this really is a summary of the whole of our Jewish/Christian tradition The landowner who plants a vineyard is God selecting a chosen people that is to grow and bring forth a harvest, a chosen people, a Church. The vineyard is to bring forth a rich harvest that is to be the source of joy, of peace, of eternal blessings for all peoples on the earth.
But there are tenants over the ages because of self-interests have caused constant conflict and disruption of God’s plan. And God’s messengers or servants over the centuries have been abused or killed. Even when God sent his Only Begotten Son, they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
But sacred history does not end on such a sad note, for the stone, rejected by the builders, has become the cornerstone. One wonders where the violence of our own time may take us as a human family but we can be sure that as we trust in God’s design, all will be well and all manner of things will be well.
Gen 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a; Matt 21:33-43, 45-46