26 A

26th Sunday of Ordinary time A

Introduction: This Sunday we arrive at a point in Matthew's Gospel

where the conflict between Jesus and the authorities is heating up.

Just prior to today's reading, Jesus in chapter 21 had entered Jerusalem

in triumph. He had cleansed the temple and worked miracles of healing.

The chief priests and elders of the people question his authority: "by

what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this

authority?" Jesus confounds them by a question about John the Baptist.

Matthew follows this controversy by three parables of judgement on those

who do not accept Jesus as the Herald of the Kingdom.

l) In these three parables we pick up the mounting hostility

between Jesus and the Jewish leaders.

2) But we also detect the strained relationship between Matthew's

community (around the year 90) and Judaism.

3) We ask ourselves the question: what do these parables mean for

me today?

a) The two sons. (REFUSAL BEGINS WITH JOHN THE BAPTIST)

1) The "sinners" (prostitutes and tax collectors had been living a

"no" to God) at first REFUSED to do God's will, they ignored the Law and

the teachings of the rabbis. Later, however, they repented through the

preaching of John and Jesus, opening their hearts to God's design.

The righteous, on the other hand, said "yes" to God by meticulously

following the Law. In fact, however, they did not do what God really

wanted. They refused to heed the message of John the Baptist or Jesus.

This parable repeats the demand for repentance verified by action

that is the hallmark of Matthew's Jesus. "None of those who cry out,

'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of God but only the one who DOES

THE WILL of my Father in heaven."7:21

The conversion of the tax collectors and sinners to the way of

holiness should inspire Jesus' opponents to accept his preaching, and

not to regard him with suspicion and hostility.

2) Matthew summons the Jewish leaders of his day to be like the

first son and to join the heirs of tax collectors and harlots--the

Christian community.

3) This parable makes us look at ourselves. Am I more like the

first son or the second son.

This parable summons us who are Christians and heirs of Matthew,

not merely to repond with promises of labor in the vineyard, we must

follow our words with action.

If we said yes, but did "no" we are called to conversion.

Conversion is possible and called for. The son who at first said

no, undergoes conversion and goes. We should learn from the conversion

experience of others and ourselves be converted.

b) The Wicked Tenants. (THE REFUSAL IS OF THE HISTORICAL MINISTRY OF JESUS.)

l) Israel, the Lord's vineyard (Is 5:lff) is tended by laborers who

prove to be faithless. They make a contract, say yes, and then renege

on it say no.

They reject REFUSE the servants of the landowner who comes to claim

his harvest. Matthew gives heavy clues that these are the prophets

rejected by Israel by describing their fate as being "killed" and

"stoned."

Last of all the landowner sends his son, his heir. They kill him.

This is the rejection of Jesus. It is the rejection of the very

cornerstone of God's kingdom.

Matthew's Jesus asks the real question: "When therefore the owner of

the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" The sentence of

judgement is clearly pronounced by the Jewish leaders on themselves.

"He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the

vineyard to other tenants...(who will give him the fruits in their

season." )

2) Because Israel has not responded to Jesus and his Gospel, the

kingdom is taken from their charge and offered to others. Matthew's

Christians receive the heritage of Israel.

But there is also stress on the need for Christians TO BEAR FRUIT,

undergo conversion.

3) What has been my response to Jesus' call in my life? Do I think

that just by being baptised, calling myself Christian I will enter the

kingdom? Jesus challenges me today too to bear fruit.

c) The Wedding Banquet. (THE REFUSAL IS OF THE RISEN AND RETURNING JESUS MADE THROUGH THE PREACHING OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES).

1) The story of the wedding banquet, another traditional image or

biblical metaphor for the kingdom of God, plays out its sad history of

REFUSAL.

The invitation offered by the first group of servants (prophets) is

refused. But the invitation offered by the second group of servants

encounters not only indifference but also hostility, to the point that

those servants are executed.

2) In this parable the invitation that is rejected is that of the

risen and returning Jesus which is made through the preaching of

Christian missionaries. Persecution has been predicted by Jesus, but so

too has the judgment on the persecutors. The vivid description in verse

7 of how the king's army destroyed those murderers and their city surely

brought to the minds of Matthew's first readers the Roman conquest of

Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The claims of the "synagogue across the street"

are rejected.

Because the professedly and publicly religious people of Israel

refused the invitation to the kingdom of God, a general invitation has

been made to "everyone they met, bad as well as good."

However the last part of the parable makes clear that mere

acceptance of the invitation does not guarantee participation in the

banquet. The community of Matthew, however, cannot claim election or

membership in a community as their surety of salvation. It is not enough

to just say, Yes Lord. One must receive Jesus' invitation to the

banquet and ACT UPON IT. To be properly dressed is to put on Christ by

deeds of justice and charity, to be properly clothed with the deeds of

Christian discipleship.

3) We believe that we are the successors of Matthew's community, we

are part of the true church. By our baptism we too received a white

garment a symbol of our putting on new life in Christ. But we must ask

ourselves if our lives have continued to put on Christ. Do we do deeds

of justice and charity or do we just do what everyone else does? Do we

critically examine our life and our decisions against the teachings of

Jesus. It is not just the Jewish leaders, the synagogue across the

street that can be rejected by Jesus. We can too if we refuse Jesus and

his call to bear fruit, put on Christ by deeds of justice and charity.

l) The parables of Jesus when originally uttered summoned his

hearers to critical decision.

2) These same parables, when applied allegorically by Matthew to his church, are not to be read with complacency on the assumption that they deal with the rejection of Jewish leaders.

3) Today they summon Christians who are the heirs of Matthew, not

merely to respond with promises of labor in the vineyard, but to bear

fruit and to "put on Christ" by deeds of justice and charity.

25th A

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time A
The grumbling of those who have worked all day is similar to the
grumbling of the elder Brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Like
the Prodigal Son we never know what they did in response to the owner's
answer.
Act I: hirings.
At the outset there is a surprising note. The householder (and not
his steward) goes out from "early in the morning" until the eleventh hour
to assemble the workers. The hearers are given a hint that their normal
view of the world is to be challenged. Different wage agreements: first
group: normal days's wage; hired in the third hour: whatever is right;
hired in the sixth and ninth hour: presumably "whatever is right";
eleventh hour: no mention of payment.
Act II: payments
“...the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman...”
Normally those who had worked l2 hours would be the first to be
paid. If that had happened, they would have left happy. But the
reversal “inversion” in the order of pay lets those who had worked all day
find out what the others have received. As we stand with the workers
and watch the payment, when those who are hired last receive a denarius,
we begin to have the same feelings as those hired first “they thought that they would receive more”
Act III: Dialogue between the owner and the grumbling workers:
l) “I am not cheating you.”
2) “Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?”
3) I question your attitude. “Are you envious because I am genrous?”
The complaint of the dissatisfied workers is, strictly speaking, you
have made them equal to us. They are defining their personal worth in
contrast to others; they are not so much angered by what happened to
them as envious of the good fortune of the other workers. They are so
enclosed in their understanding of justice that it becomes a norm by
which they become judges of others. They want to order the world by
their norms which limit the master's freedom and exclude unexpected
generosity.
The line between following God's will and deciding what God wills is
always thin and fragile.
The grumblers claim that making one hour equal to those who have
worked all day is unfair. The first group of workers have at the end of
the story exactly that they had contracted for in the beginning. They
would have been satisfied with that if it had not been for the treatment
given the group that only worked one hour.
Notice that they are never denied their reward, just their
complaint. Whatever they lose, they lose in their own feelings of
hostility and resentment.
We human beings are curious. When we look at someone who is the
beneficiary of some generosity we want a strict system of justice. But
if we are the beneficiary of some generosity we wonder at those who have
complaints. They are just jealous.
For who among us does not yearn to find a welcome, a helping hand,
an unexpected privilege, even when we do not deserve it.
Jesus showed us that God does not love us because we are wonderful,
but rather, we are wonderful (or can be) because God loves us. DO I
LOVE YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE WONDERFUL OR ARE YOU WONDERFUL BECAUSE I LOVE YOU?
Another take on the readings of 25th A

Introduction: This morning we will hear in the first reading from the Prophet Isaias: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” If I recall occasions when I’ve heard these words quoted, it has usually been when something has happened that is difficult to accept, an accident, a tragedy, a sickness, or a death. But today in the Gospel we hear a different application of that saying.

Four Points to consider:
1) What does it feel like to be left out? Example of kids choosing up sides for a game. What does it feel like to always be the last one chosen or worse to not be chosen? How must the laborers have felt who were left waiting to be hired? Though the parable doesn’t mention them, there probably were some laborers who were not hired at all . Are there people that we are leaving out?
2) What does it feel like to be given something never earned? How must the laborers have felt who only worked a short time and got the same pay as those who had worked all day? Some people cannot accept a gift from us which they think they don’t deserve. Some people can rejoice in their good fortune when they receive something that is given rather gratuitously. Have you ever received something like this in your life?
3) Those who worked all day in the heat were not unjustly treated. They got what they agreed to work for. But they were jealous and envious of those who received the same pay as they did for less work. There are many ways that people can be jealous or envious of others. Jealousy can become a way of life for some people and it is very deadly. It kills them and it kills their relationships with other people.
4) Lastly we consider the owner of the vineyard. He is generous with the laborers who came later into the vineyard. We all know generous people in our families and our communities. Everyone is surely not equally generous. I could name a good number of people that I would identify as extremely generous. So the owner is not just JUST but generous.

When we die and come before the throne of God I think that all of us have the hope that we meet a generous God, not a Just God.
At Communion we pray, “Lord I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the words and my soul will be healed.’” We receive the Body of Christ from the Generosity of God.

23 A

23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time A
Introduction: Matthew’s Gospel has five sections of Jesus’ teaching. Today’s Gospel comes from the fourth section. It has received different titles. The one I like best is: The first rule of life of a Christian community built upon Jesus’ words." The teachings in this rule of life apply to families, parishes and communities. The basic theme of this discourse is: THE CARE WE NEED TO HAVE FOR ONE ANOTHER.
Don Senior divides the elements of the discourse in this way:1) conversion, turn and become like children (l8:l-4) 2) care for the little ones (l8:5-9) 3) care for the marginal (l8:l0-l4) actively seek out straying sheep. 4) procedures for reconciliation within the community (l8: l5-20) 5) the call for limitless (2l-22) forgiveness (l8: 23-35)

HOMILY
The need for the Christian to seek out the stray and not condemn the stray is complemented by procedures for reconciliation. How are we, as followers of Jesus, to deal with the backsliders in our families, our parishes, our communities? A step by step process is given.
1) What is my reaction when someone sins against me? Usually we expect the offending person to come to us. But Jesus’ process calls for something different. We must be the ones to approach the offender. We are to do this one to one. It sounds easy. It isn’t easy. It is one of the most difficult things to do. It is much easier to find a sympathetic soul upon whom to unburden our grievance; or worse, to air it at once before the whole community; or even worse to take one’s grievances to outsiders. It takes courage to approach the brother or sister personally, and it also takes wisdom to know how. But whether out of cowardice or fear of rejection or passing the responsibility to someone else, how often this simple and direct method is avoided.
It is easier to fall into criticism, gossip. Sometimes authority figures make a general rebuke to a group rather than going one to one. This can allow the person who is the offender to say, “he must be talking about someone else.” The person in the group who has done nothing wrong says, “Gee I wonder if he is talking about me?” This person can go on a guilt trip.

2) If the backslider won’t listen to us one to one, we are then to confront him/her together with a small group. Alcoholics Anonymous speaks about the helping effect of an Intervention. Several people who love and are concerned about a person, name specific detrimental behaviors and set an ultimatum.

3) If the backslider won’t listen to the small group, we are to bring him/her to the church community. If he/she ignores this community, then we are to go to the process of exclusion. The person is to be treated as a gentile or tax collector. However, it is important to keep in mind that Jesus relates to gentiles and tax collectors as persons to be evangelized.

4) Even for those who go through these steps and are no longer open to the direct invitation to return, there is still hope through the prayerful intercession of the community. “..if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.”

Have I interiorized and practiced Jesus’ process? Next week we will hear Jesus tell the story about the unforgiving Servant. We can be that type of Christian. The need for reconciliation dominates the second half of this discourse.