The Twenty-Seventh Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: What Has God Not Done? 天主還有甚麼沒做到？
When I meditate the Gospel passage today, I am much relieved and grateful to hear that “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit” (Matthew 21:43). Don’t be simplistic. Jesus’ warning to the chief priests and the elders of the people was not a simple dichotomy of people in authority against commoners or Jews against Gentiles. Rather, it is a warning against those who produce good fruit against those who don’t. As I am a permanent deacon, I naturally identify myself with the chief priests and the elders to whom this message directs. I am relieved and grateful because God has not yet passed judgment on me. I still have time to repent. Yet, I should not be complacent. Like what the prophet said two weeks ago, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6), I should repent whenever opportunity permits.
Firstly, all of us should be grateful because the kingdom of God has been given us already. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to take it away if we had not possessed it in the first place. Moreover, it also indicates that we are unable to attain or keep the kingdom of God permanently. We may lose it before we leave this world. Simply put, somewhere along the timeline of our stay on earth, God has given us His kingdom either by admitting us into His Church or infusing His grace in our hearts. Either way, God has elevated our creature status (Genesis 1:27) to being His children (Romans 8:21). However, we are living in a world contaminated by our sins collectively. In such an adverse environment, we might doubt God’s love for us; or might be unable to persevere to the end in times of difficulties and lastly have not loved our neighbour adequately. Doubt confuses us in our decision-making so that we make bad choices. Loss of hope stops us short before the finishing line. Consequently, we fail to produce good fruit when our hearts are so hardened that we are unable to love our neighbour as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39).
Were the chief priests and the elders of the people dumbbells who knew nothing? Of course they were not! After hearing Jesus’ parable, they were able to pass a sensible and reasonable judgment, though they might not be aware that they were actually passing judgment on themselves. “He (the owner of the vineyard) will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times” (21:41). Thus, the chief priests and the elders could not evade their moral responsibilities. God held them accountable for their rebellions against Him and they deserved their punishments even more if they refused to repent because they were not mentally deficient.
Once more Jesus shows His mercy in this incident. Jesus refrained from condemning the chief priests and the elders directly because He knows that as the Son of God, His condemnation would be irrevocable. Like what Nathan the prophet had done to expose the sins of David (2 Samuel 12:5-6), Jesus told them a modified “Vineyard Song” and made use of their self-righteousness like David’s, to pass judgment on themselves. Their judgment is not eternal! For the past few weeks, we have seen enough the eagerness of self-righteous people to see their perceived justice prevail, namely the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:28), the first batch of workers (20:12) and today the chief priests and the elders in the shadow of King David!
Let’s take a look at Isaiah’s “Vineyard Song” which is really a master piece. To start with, Isaiah spoke as a third person stating the facts in an objective manner (Isaiah 5:1-2). Of course, we know that his friend is no ordinary person. His so-called “friend” is God. Just imagine how sweet it is for us who partake in the prophetic ministry of Jesus since our baptism to be counted among God’s friends. Then Isaiah shows the true colour of prophets as spokesmen of God when the song switches to the first person, viz. God (5:3-6). God speaks through Isaiah, “What more could be done for my vineyard that I did not do?” (5:4) Who on earth would be able to stand up to accuse God of failing to do some good things? I am sure not even Satan, the greatest ever Accuser is able to! Then the song switches back to the third person to tell us what God expects of the House of Israel: judgment and justice (5:7). “God’s Judgment” means discerning and doing the will of God while “God’s justice” means uplifting and liberating the needy. The chief priests and the elders knew this song well. They might not have learnt the lesson though their fathers had gone through the fulfilment of the prophecy in the Babylonian Captivity. Though life under Roman colonialism was tense, they managed to play politics well to lead a secure and privileged life, forgetting the painful lessons of their ancestors.
On the other hand, after seeing the tenants ill-treating the servants he sent earlier, wasn’t the owner of the vineyard stupid to risk the life of his own son and expected that the tenants would respect his son instead (21:37)? We understand that “the servants” symbolize the prophets God sent to the House of Israel (21:34-36). Most of them, say Isaiah, Jeremiah and John the Baptist etc., did not work miracles but Jesus did. Therefore, it was reasonable for God to expect the rulers in the House of Israel to respect Jesus. So once more, the ball was in the court of the Jewish religious authority. Why did the chief priests and the elders reject Jesus and subsequently handed Him over to the Romans for execution after seeing or hearing of His miracles? Actually in the gospel of Matthew, only the scribes, Pharisees (12:38) and Sadducees (16:1) demanded Jesus to perform miracles to prove Himself. Perhaps miracles were irrelevant when the chief priests and the elders rejected Jesus. In fact, it is wrong to expect people to believe or to increase their faith in God after seeing miracles. Such kind of faith can easily be misplaced because miracles encourage people to cling to tangible things and prevent them from coming closer to an invisible and intangible God!
Instead, we should remember what St. Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but handed Him over for us all, how will He not also give us everything else along with Him?” (Romans 8:31b-32) Since prophets, including Moses, were not able to persuade the House of Israel to repent, God sent His Son, knowing very well that the House of Israel would kill, in order to deliver them from the bondage of sins. In other words, God intends to acquit us, to deliver us and to bring us back to Him through the death of His only begotten Son.
Beloved brethren! I hear “What more could be done for my vineyard that I did not do?” (Isaiah 5:4) drumming in my ears. Do you?
God bless!
2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: biblecartoons.co.uk
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