Divine expectations
Fr. Robert Wagner
In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus tells us of a landowner who plants a vineyard, erects a fence and a tower to protect it and builds a winepress for harvest time. Then, he leases it to tenants, only to watch them violently turn against him. The landowner sends two groups of slaves to receive the vineyard's harvest, only to have the wicked tenants mistreat and kill them. When the landowner finally sends his son, trusting he will be treated with more respect, the tenants seize and kill him as well.
This parable summarizes the unfaithfulness of the Israelites throughout Scripture. They rejected God in His prophets and ultimately rejected His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Certainly not all the Israelites rejected the prophets and Jesus, but for those who did, we should ponder what caused their blindness. Why could they not identify Him as the Messiah?
Before Jesus became incarnate, the Israelites had an expectation of who the Messiah would be — how he would look, how he would act, and what he would accomplish. Many factors shaped these expectations, including their interpretation of Scripture, the history of the nation of Israel and their own personal experiences of God working in their lives and the lives of others. Some probably thought the Messiah would be a worldly king, coming from a family with high social standing. Others may have assumed the Messiah would rise to a high rank among the religious leaders of Israel.
However, when Jesus came, He did not meet any of these preconceived requirements they had formed. He was a child of humble birth. He preached of forgiving His enemies, not conquering them. His ministry was not limited to the Israelites faithful to the law. Instead — to the shock of many Jewish leaders — Jesus sought out the tax collectors, the adulterers and other outcasts and sinners.
Thus, when the Messiah did not meet their expectations, they failed to recognize Him. Being blinded by pride and sin, they refused to let Jesus reshape their vision of God and their expectations of how He would lead them to glory. This blindness ultimately led to their rejection of Jesus as He foretold in the parable.
We, too, can be blinded in the same way. Our spiritual growth can be stunted by our stubbornness in refusing to change our expectations and put aside our preconceived notions of what holiness looks like. When we place these false expectations in front of the divine reality God offers us, we sin by rejecting Him and His truths.
Each of us has expectations of how God should work in our lives: when He should act; the manner in which He should bring peace in our world and our homes; why He needs to eliminate suffering, etc. No doubt we are disappointed when our expectations are not met. However, by God's will, sometimes our prayers do not lead to the elimination or reduction of the crosses we bear. Sometimes the innocent suffer, and sometimes evil invades our lives. When these things occur, they may contradict our expectations of God. When they do, do we still believe that He is loving and just? Do we still have faith in Him and praise Him for His mercy?
In many cases, we cling to our expectations of how God is revealed in the teachings of Jesus and His church on difficult issues. Often we may think they are unreasonable, outdated, or lacking in compassion. In these cases, we must seek to understand with a docile heart why Jesus and His church give us these truths. Otherwise, when we refuse to accept God’s commands, we create in ourselves a false reality of what God desires for us, and in our stubbornness we lead ourselves and others into sin.
When our expectations of God blind us to His working in our lives, we imitate the tenants in the parable whose pride led them to reject the landowner and his son. May the Holy Spirit enlighten us to see where our understanding of God is contradicted by His truth, that in humility we may convert our thinking and our lives, allowing us to be faithful workers in His kingdom on earth, and joyful saints with Him in heaven.
Fr. Wagner is Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde’s secretary.
Year A - 27th Sunday in ordinary time
He will leave the vineyard to other tenants
Matthew 21:33-43
33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.
34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.
35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way.
37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.'
39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
41 They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time."
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'?
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.
(NRSV)
Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus
To explain the kingdom of heaven I have spoken in different parables, this one speaks of investments and profits.
There is no action without a reaction, just as there is no work without a reward. If men have the right to work and obtain their wages, to invest and receive their profits, is it not then appropriate for God to have the same rights and even higher?
I am the Word of God that when planted as a seed in the heart of man is destined to produce fruit and bring glory to my heavenly kingdom. It is because of the action of the evil one, the lures of the world, the pleasures, the worries, the entertainment and all the dissipations of earthly life that my word is not given a chance. In fact it is despised, rejected and eventually destroyed in the same way that I was personally rejected and put to death on the cross.
The Jewish people had waited for thousands of years for the coming of the Messiah, they were waiting for their liberator, but they were so caught up in their religious rituals that they were blind to my coming. I came humbly as one of them, I came to bring light to dissipate their darkness, but they rejected me and put me to death. They failed to produce the fruits that my word was supposed to receive from them; they failed me! They were the chosen ones, but they proved to be unworthy of my gifts, therefore my kingdom has been given now to those who listen to my word and put it into practice, regardless of their background. I have come to forgive sinners and to give to everyone the opportunity to be saved.
On the day of reckoning, every one will have to give an account of their talents. In the wonderful creation of God, man has been lavished with many gifts and talents; the greatest of them is my word, which serves to elevate man to the spiritual heights of salvation. Blessed is the man who listens to my words and puts them into practice, he is producing the fruits that I expect.
My word becomes a curse for those who reject it because I am the word and they are rejecting me, God himself.
Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary