Faithfood for the Faithful October 5, 2014 St. Maria Faustina Kowalska Readings: Isaiah 5:1-7 Psalm 80:9, 12-16, 19-20 Philippians 4:6-9 Matthew 21:33-43 FAITHFULLY LIVING OUR FAITH Fr. Jun Lingad, SDB The story tells of a landowner who who planted a vineyard [usually on the slopes of hillsides], put a fence around it [which serves as protection from foxes, jackals, or other animals, as well as from any thieves], dug a wine press in it [which consists of two hollows hewn out of solid rock: (1) the larger hollow is higher than the other one; (2) The grapes are put into larger one, and then trodden by the feet of men, women, and also children, usually whole families working together, customarily accompanied by shouts and songs of happiness; (3) the juice flows into the lower hollow; (4) usually each vineyard of any size has its own winepress], and built a watchtower [where the watchmen can look out for mischief-makers of any kind]. Then he leased it to tenants [one or more peasant families] and went to another country; when the harvest time [usually in September or October; grapes come out in April or May] had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce [usually half or more of the products of the grapes: grapes, raisins, wine, and dibs (which is grape juice boiled till it is thick like molasses; considered as “grape honey”)]. All this elaborate description of what the vineyard owner did for his vineyard should convince us of what God has done for our salvation. He did not spare Himself anything to assure our good and final enjoyment of the fruits of salvation obtained for us through the death of Jesus, God’s only Son. Jesus’ style of teaching in parables included audience participation! His hearers really understood the story and even sympathized with the owner who was treated so shamefully by his tenants. Jesus’ hearers guessed the owner’s reaction: not only will he condemned ‘those wretches to a miserable death’ but also ‘leased the vineyard to more profitable tenants! “ALWAYS READ THE TEXT IN CONTEXT!” In Matthew 21:23, ‘…the chief priests and the elders of the people’ had ‘approached’ Jesus ‘as He was teaching and’ adamantly demanded, ‘“By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?”’ These are the people whom Jesus confronted saying, “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’ (Ps. 118:22-23)? [Jesus was the cornerstone of the Kingdom of God, that is, the Community of Believers in Jesus, who was rejected by the builders, namely, the religious leaders]. 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” [as history shows, the Apostles of Jesus will turn from preaching to Jews and address the Gospel to non-Jews, to Gentiles; many of the latter will believe in Jesus and belong to the Community of Believers] (vv. 42-43). Let this episode of what happened to the Jews teach us, Christians, to take our Christian vocation as a precious grace for which we should always be grateful to God, and faithfully live our Christian life in everyday life. We must do this if we do not wish to see this priceless grace of being Christians taken away from us by our unfaithful way of life. Prayer: Jesus, may I live a Christian way of life everyday. Amen. Hand of the Sower Catholic Community Salt of the World Evangelistic Resource Mt. 13:37 “...the man who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 05:47:47 +0000
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