Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

The parable of the unfaithful vinedressers encourages us to be faithful and obedient to Christ’s commandments. It threatens divine punishment for those who reject Jesus. In his homily LXVIII on St Matthew, John Chrysostom says that the servants sent were the prophets and the Son of the vinedresser, Jesus Christ. In this parable, God asks human beings to bear fruit like the vine; this is similar to the parable of the true vine. (John 15. 1-12).

The cornerstone is also Jesus Christ. During the Angelus on Sunday, 2 October 2011, Pope Benedict XVI commented that the vine, God’s people, must work for good and that believers must remain faithful to Christ in order to bear the desired fruit, the fruit of compassion.
In their commentary on this parable, exegetes Daniel Marguerat and Emmanuelle Steffelk pointed out that the killing of the beloved son is an allegory of the Passion of Christ. Concerning the rejection of the cornerstone (Lk 20:15-19), they added that the rejected stone [Jesus] becomes a « dangerous stone », a crushing stone. The attitude towards Jesus] decides a person’s final destiny, and he who despises Jesus exposes himself to divine judgement.

From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew

At that time, Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people : « Listen to this parable : there was a man who owned land; he planted a vineyard, fenced it in, dug a winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to the vine-dressers and set out. When harvest time came, he sent his servants to the vine-dressers to collect the produce of his vineyard.

But the vine-dressers seized the servants, beat one of them, killed another and stoned the third. Again the master sent other servants, more numerous than the first, but they were treated in the same way. Finally, he sent them his son, saying to himself : ‘They will have respect for my son. But when the vine-dressers saw his son, they said to each other : « This is the heir. Let us kill him and we will have his inheritance !

They took him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Well, when the Lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these vine-dwellers? » They answered : « He will destroy those wretches miserably. He will rent the vineyard to other vine-dressers, who will deliver the produce to him in due time ». Jesus said to them : «Have you never read in the Scriptures : « The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone : this is the work of the Lord, the wonder that is before our eyes ? »»

 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will make it fruitful. They took him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Well, when the Lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these vine-dwellers? » They answered : « He will destroy those wretches miserably. He will rent the vineyard to other vine-dressers, who will deliver the produce to him in due time ».

Jesus said to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures : « The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone: this is the work of the Lord, the wonder that is before our eyes »? Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will make it fruitful. (Mt 21, 33-43)

Reprimands to the members of the Sanhedrin

Jesus liked to relate his teachings to the Old Testament. But the simile developed in view of the goal he had in mind. This purpose was evident: after rebuking the members of the Sanhedrin for their impenitence. Jesus made them feel their guilt through this tragic story; after bringing them to pronounce his own judgement, he judged them by telling them of the iniquitous conduct of the leaders of Israel throughout the ages. (Mt 21, 33-43)

Jesus liked to relate his teachings to the Old Testament. But the simile developed in view of the goal he had in mind. This purpose was evident: after rebuking the members of the Sanhedrin for their impenitence. Jesus made them feel their guilt through this tragic story; after bringing them to pronounce his own judgement, he judged them by telling them of the iniquitous conduct of the leaders of Israel throughout the ages.

They themselves remedied these iniquities by killing the one who had spoken to them. A fence protected the vineyard from any devastation from outside. For the Orientals, the winepress was dug into the vine itself. It consisted of two superimposed vats, one of which was used to receive the grapes that were thrown into it to be crushed; the other, located below, was intended to collect the must that flowed into it.

Finally, the tower was a watchtower, built in the centre of the vineyard, from where it could be watched from all sides. This did not mean that these peasants had to pay in money for the annual product of the vineyard; the master had made a contract with them for the cultivation of his vineyard ; he had to receive all or part of the product in kind. The vine-dressers mistreated and killed the master’s servants in order not to deliver him the fruit; now that they had the heir, they thought that by putting him to death, nothing could prevent them from taking possession of his inheritance.

 Jesus forces his adversaries to pronounce upon themselves the terrible sentence that the vine-dressers deserved. In Mark and Luke it is Jesus himself who asks the question and gives the answer. Matthew’s account is more dramatic : the conscience of Jesus’ interlocutors forces them to pronounce the condemnation of the vinedressers, that is, their own condemnation.

It is only Matthew who retains this combination of terms, which emphasises how severe and deserved the condemnation was : He made those wretches perish miserably. Jesus wanted to introduce the leaders of the theocracy to the son in the parable who was rejected and put to death by the vinedressers. They themselves were the foolish and guilty builders who rejected the cornerstone. This stone, in the image used by the psalmist, is that which, placed as a foundation at the corner of a building, supports two walls and holds up the whole building.

This is what Jesus Christ is in the spiritual temple that is being built to the glory of God. This glorious destiny, which stands in contrast to his rejection by men, is the Lord’s explicit work and will and will remain an object of admiration for the ages: for it is said in Scripture : « Behold, I lay in Zion a cornerstone, choice and precious, and he who believes in him shall not be put to shame. » (1P 2, 6)

 The landlord who planted a vineyard and gave it all his care is God who, in his great mercy, founded a kingdom of truth, justice and peace on this earth plunged into darkness because of sin. He entrusted it to his people Israel, and particularly to the leaders of the Jewish theocracy. He had the right to expect and demand its fruits, the fruits of religious and moral life: gratitude, love, obedience and holiness.

The servants he sent on various occasions to reap these fruits were his holy prophets, who, alas! were always rejected by the many, persecuted and put to death : « Some women recovered their dead by the resurrection ; others were abandoned to torments and did not accept deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection; still others suffered mockery and scourging, chains and imprisonment ; they were stoned, quartered, tortured; they died by the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins, deprived of everything, persecuted, mistreated, those of whom the world was not worthy, wandering through deserts and mountains, in caves and dens of the earth. « (Heb 1:35-38)

As for the son whom the master of the house then sent in his immense love, the whole Gospel tells us who he is, and we hear him, in this very parable, foretelling his rejection and death. In spite of their unbelief, the leaders of the theocracy of his time had the foreboding that he was the heir and that by putting him to death they would remain masters and possessors of the kingdom.

But they themselves, by pronouncing this double judgement on the vinedressers, that the vineyard would be taken from them and that they would perish miserably, were proclaiming their own condemnation. Jesus confirmed this sentence with these words: the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, you will be excluded from it, and it will be given, by pure grace, to a nation, the people of God chosen from among all peoples, who will produce its fruits.

Jesus saw the first fruits of this new kingdom. This prophecy was fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem and the ruin of the Jewish theocracy, and the establishment of the kingdom of God among the pagan nations.

Deacon Michel Houyoux

Links to other Christian sites.

◊ Loyola Press : click here to read the paper →Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

◊ Uynited States Conference : click here to read the post → Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Daily Readings

◊ VideoVictorius Messiah Fellowship → https://youtu.be/eSW1HOILfnA

Vendredi de la vingt-sixième semaine du Temps Ordinaire – Année A

Peut-il sortit quelque chose de bon de Nazareth

De l’Évangile de Jésus Christ selon Jean

En ce temps-là, lorsque Jésus vit Nathanaël venir à lui, il déclara à son sujet : «Voici vraiment un Israélite : il n’y a pas de ruse en lui.» Nathanaël lui demande : «D’où me connais-tu ?» Jésus lui répond : «Avant que Philippe t’appelle, quand tu étais sous le figuier, je t’ai vu.»

Nathanaël lui dit : «Rabbi, c’est toi le Fils de Dieu ! C’est toi le roi d’Israël !» Jésus reprend : «Je te dis que je t’ai vu sous le figuier, et c’est pour cela que tu crois ! Tu verras des choses plus grandes encore Et il ajoute : «Amen, amen, je vous le dis : vous verrez le ciel ouvert, et les anges de Dieu monter et descendre au-dessus du Fils de l’homme.» (Jn 1, 47-51)

Put-il venir quelque chose de bon de Nazareth ?

Nathanaël dit à Philippe : «Put-il venir quelque chose de bon de Nazareth ?» Philippe lui répondit : «Viens et vois !» D’où put venir ce préjugé dans l’esprit de Nathanaël ? De ce que Nazareth fut en Galilée, de ce que ce fut une petite localité ? Ou enfin de ce que cette ville fut mal famée sous le rapport de la moralité ?

Les interprètes soutinrent ces diverses opinions. Monsieur Godet pensa que le doute de Nathanaël vint de ce qu’aucune prophétie n’assigna à Nazareth un rôle important.

La question de Nathanaël parut trop générale (quelque chose de bon) pour comporter cette idée. En revanche, Nathanaël étant de Cana, à une lieue seulement de Nazareth, il put céder a cette mesquine jalousie qui exista souvent de village à village et qui ne lui permit pas de croire que cette localité, aussi petite que la sienne, eut part à une gloire si éclatante.

«Voici un véritable Israélite en qui il n’y a pas de fraude» : Jésus adressa ces paroles à ceux qui l’entourèrent, mais de manière à être entendu de Nathanaël et afin d’entrer en rapport avec lui, de gagner sa confiance en se dévoilant à lui dès l’abord comme Celui qui sonde les cœurs :«Le lendemain, Jésus voulut se rendre en Galilée, et il rencontra Philippe. Il lui dit: Suis-moi.»(Jn 1, 43)

Nathanaël ne repoussa pas la louange de Jésus ; ce fut là, comme l’observa Meyer, une preuve de sa sincérité, et sa question ne fut que l’expression d’un profond étonnement.

Il parut que, peu de temps avant la rencontre de Philippe et de Nathanaël, ce dernier se retira sous un figuier près du chemin, ou il crut ne pas être repéré. Ce fut là que Jésus l’interpela : «Je t’ai vu.» Le regard de Jésus, non seulement découvrit Nathanaël en un lieu où il fut naturellement caché, mais il pénétra jusqu’au fond de son cœur et reconnut les sentiments intimes qui l’occupèrent à ce moment.

C’est ce qui ressortit de l’impression profonde et décisive que fit sur Nathanaël ce simple mot : je t’ai vu. Rien de moins ne saurait expliquer comment cette parole créa la foi en cet homme, et provoqua la confession qui s’échappa de son cœur et de ses lèvres.

Se sentant en présence de Jésus qui le pénétra jusqu’au fond de l’âme, Nathanaël le reconnut et le confessa avec bonheur comme le Fils de Dieu et le Roi d’Israël.

Sans doute, la connaissance de Nathanaël fut encore bien faible, car il ne fut pas un théologien qui fit de la métaphysique, mais un croyant qui confessa sa foi, et cette foi renferma en germe tout ce que crut plus tard, avec plus de lumières, Nathanaël devenu apôtre.

Ceux qui s’étonnèrent de rencontrer de sa part une telle confession, oublièrent que tout Israélite pieux connut les Écritures et que Nathanaël avait pu trouver : «Servez l’Éternel avec crainte, Et réjouissez-vous avec tremblement.»(Ps 2, 11)

Diacre Michel Houyoux

Liens avec d’autres sites chrétiens sur Internet

◊ hozana.org : cliquez ici pour lire l’article → Vous verrez les anges de Dieu monter et descendre au-dessus du Fils de l’homme

◊ Catholique.org. : cliquez ici pour lire l’article → Vous verrez les anges de Dieumonter et descendre au dessus du Fils de l’homme

Vidéo

Marc Jude Duvil → https://youtu.be/mhupPIcbDGM