27th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A
SEE THINGS FROM HIS VIEWPOINT
MT 21: 33-43
MESSAGE
Today, the first reading and the Gospel show a remarkable parallelism. Both speak of a vineyard; both speak of the owner expecting a good harvest. And both describe the frustration of the owner that turns into a raging anger. In the first reading, the owner abandons the land; in the Gospel, the owner punishes his tenants.
Is this a picture of an angry God, a wrathful God, a vengeful God? In our social media milieu, just focusing on the end of the narrative will make for a successful and viral post, comment, or story. It is easy to paint an ugly portrait of a God who demands too much and gives in to a burst of violent anger. What a frightening God indeed!
But Christians are not people who fall victim to clickbait. We know and we are challenged to analyze, to reflect, and to search for the real context of things. Before the frustration of God, before his expression of anger, the story shows how he gives every care imaginable to his unyielding vineyard, every kindness unparalleled to his treacherous tenants. Then we realize that what comes next is the sentiment of a God who is hurt, betrayed, ignored by those he loves.
In our relationship with God, do we not only always express our own sentiments and feelings? If this is a true relationship, do we also consider how God feels when we are unresponsive, stubborn, disobedient, and unloving? God is hurt when alongside our faith in him we continue to cling to our daily personal and hidden idols. He does not relish having a competitor for our loyalty and devotion.
REFLECT
And yet even in his hurt, God does not withdraw his love. His patience endures and his desire for our conversion never fades. The vineyard of our lives may fail, we the tenants may betray, but the heart of God continues to seek a response from us: a return, a change, a renewed fidelity. This is the God we meet in Scripture: just, yes, but always merciful; wounded, yes, but always hopeful.
