Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a

Psalm 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21

Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:

“Hear another parable.

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,

put a hedge around it,

dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.

Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.

When vintage time drew near,

he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.

But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,

another they killed, and a third they stoned.

Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,

but they treated them in the same way.

Finally, he sent his son to them,

thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,

'This is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’

They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”

They answered him,

“He 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.”

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

by the Lord has this been done,

and it is wonderful in our eyes?

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.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,

they knew that he was speaking about them.

And although they were attempting to arrest him,

they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you carefully direct the course of history. You knew how the story of Joseph would end and permitted him to suffer and be tested. You knew everything that would happen to your Son and his Apostles. You know my story and how it will unfold. Guide me each day so that I may be with you.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Salvation through Joseph’s Suffering: When we hear the story of Joseph and his brothers, we cannot help but think of Jesus and how he was betrayed by Judas. Joseph was sold by his brothers as a slave for twenty pieces of silver; Jesus was betrayed and sold by Judas for thirty pieces of silver. Just as the sons of Jacob became envious of their father’s love for Joseph and sought to get rid of Joseph, so also the Pharisees are acting like the wicked tenants in today’s Gospel and are plotting to kill the landowner’s son. When we read the story of Joseph in Genesis it is important to remember that God brought good out of the evil actions of Joseph’s brothers (Genesis 50:20). In Egypt, Joseph eventually rose to second in command and saved his brothers from a devastating famine. And, just as God brought about the salvation of Jacob’s family through the sufferings of Jacob’s son, Joseph, so also God brings about the salvation of the families of the world through the sufferings of his Son, Jesus Christ.

2. Salvation through Jesus’ Suffering and Death: Jesus directed the parable of the vineyard and the wicked tenants to the chief priests and the elders of the people. Through the parable, Jesus warns them that they are acting like the wicked tenants and are plotting his death just like the tenants plotted the death of the landowner’s beloved son. In the parable, the landowner of the vineyard represents God the Father, the vineyard is Jerusalem, the tenants are the leaders of Israel, the servants sent by the landowner are the prophets, and the son sent by the landowner is Jesus. Like the landowner’s son who was killed outside the walls of the vineyard, Jesus is the Son of God who will be crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem. The death of the tenants at the end of the parable is a prophetic reference to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70. The ending of the parable means that God will lease his vineyard – the New Jerusalem and the Kingdom of God – to other tenants, to the Apostles and their successors.

3. Offering up our Sufferings as a Sacrifice: The wicked tenants thought they would acquire the inheritance reserved for the landowner’s son by killing the son. This is a very deep and mysterious reference to the saving effect of Jesus’ death on the cross. By dying, Jesus destroyed our death. His death lifts the ancient curse and establishes the New Covenant that grants us a share in the inheritance of the Son of God (Romans 8:17). As children of God and members of a royal priesthood, we are called to offer up our lives as a pleasing sacrifice to God our Father. We are to unite our sufferings, which are transformed by love into a sacrifice, to the suffering and sacrifice of Christ (Colossians 1:24).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I unite my life and my sufferings to yours. All that I am I offer to your Father and my Father. I humbly ask that you present my offering to the Father today and purify it with your love.

Living the Word of God: Where is there suffering in my life right now? How am I dealing with it? How can I unite it to the offering of Jesus today?