They Will Reverence My Son
They Will Reverence My Son
Gospel Reflection for October 8, 2023 - Matthew 21:33-43
Hear ye another parable. There was a man an householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen; and went into a strange country.
And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof.
And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
Again he sent other servants more than the former; and they did to them in like manner.
And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: They will reverence my son.
But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: This is the heir: come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance.
And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him.
When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?
They say to him: He will bring those evil men to an evil end; and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, that shall render him the fruit in due season.
Jesus saith to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done; and it is wonderful in our eyes.
Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. (Matthew 21:33-43 DRA)
The readings for this week, which due to the analogy of Scripture and the prudence of their selection by the Church perfectly complement one another, are providentially suited to our time. The Israelites, who are the primary group symbolized by the vineyard and its fruits in the parables of Isaias and Our Lord, were intended to be pressed by discipline into producing the wine of fidelity to God’s law. The overseers of the vineyard, the tenants or husbandmen who were charged with protecting and cultivating the vineyard from their watchtower, are the priests and teachers whom Scripture gives as the direct targets of Christ’s parable.
Although both parables apply to the Israelites in general, who had failed to obey the law and practice virtue as they should, in each instance the blame is applied first to the overseers, those who are responsible for the spiritual growth and health of their people, the fruit of God’s covenants. But these leaders had betrayed their obligations and forsaken their God-given authority, for which they had been ordained, and so the defects of their people were imputed doubly to themselves. As St. James taught, teachers will receive greater judgment for the errors of their pupils due to their special responsibility. (Jas 3:1) The husbandmen not only failed in their mission, scandalizing their people and wasting the harvest which God had planted, but they also killed the prophets sent by God to collect it, finally culminating in their crucifixion of His own Son outside the vineyard, on Calvary. In the parable of Isaias, God then says that He will allow the thorns and briars of error, worldliness and persecution to bring the punishment of ruin to his vineyard, but Christ gives the new revelation of hope in Himself, that the vineyard will be saved through the conversion of the Gentiles and the establishment of the Church, through which Christ Himself will preserve His fruit and protect it even from its own sins.
It would be misleading to apply these parables only to the historic circumstances of the Israelites, as though Christ’s Church, the true Israel, is immune from such bad leadership. However, as the history of the Church makes abundantly clear, this is not the case. Despite the greater blessings given by Christ through His Church and the infused supernatural virtues of His grace, which the saints have lived out heroically in every age, Christians have consistently betrayed their baptismal promises, becoming wild fruit and allowing the thorns of worldly vices and errors to corrupt the good soil of the faith. The shepherds of the Church, those ordained by Christ as the husbandmen of His new vineyard, are also vulnerable to these temptations, and when they succumb to them, the effects are even greater. The harvest of evangelization is left to rot; the pruning which corrects errors and forgives sins is neglected and instead allows corruption to infect the whole crop; the beacon of the watchtower, whose light of truth is meant to penetrate the darkness and guide the people to safety, is broken into a rainbow, where good and evil are indistinguishable and truth is condemned in favor of convenient lies. When this occurs, the fruit can become wild, believing that their guides will no longer protect them; not knowing how they should live and grow, they fall prey to outside influences and false shepherds. Some can even spread outside the vineyard of God, believing that they can grow a purer vineyard on their own and act as their own overseers.
This situation has occurred many times in Church history, as it did in the history of Israel, for example in the Arian crisis of the early Church, or the schisms of the Middle Ages, or the Jansenism of the Enlightenment or the modernism of the twentieth century. Today, we are seeing another instance of it, the culmination of decades in which weaponized ambiguity and accommodation of worldly sin and error has led to continuous scandals, abuses and confusion. Now, during this Synod on Synodality, Catholics are once again mired in fear and perplexity, wondering, as many of our best bishops have asked, whether the supposed concern for “pastoral charity” and the use of sophist “nuance” will allow the priestly blessing of sinful relationships, the perversion of Tradition and the abandonment of doctrine. Many even wonder if the Magisterium, which they held in faith as the infallible defender of the Deposit of Faith and protected by the Holy Spirit from officially teaching error, still exists, or if it will finally succumb to the pressures of the world as have many of the Protestant churches and thereby reveal that it was not supernatural after all – only another human institution.
Thank God for His Providence in giving us the Epistle from St. Paul for this Sunday. With the two parables and our current situation which they illuminate, Paul gives an unflinching reminder that God is the God of peace. He cannot and will not abandon His Church. Whereas the house of Israel betrayed its covenants, the new covenant of the Church is in the Blood of Christ; we are the members of His Body, and He is our true priest and shepherd, the true God and true man who alone ensures the indefectibility and certainty of His promises. The grace of His Sacraments will never dry up and the truth of His Word will never falter, no matter how much it is distorted in the human words of its shepherds. The official teaching of the Church, therefore, can never be corrupted, nor can the Sacraments, even if the opinions and practices of the bishops misrepresent them. No matter what happens with individual bishops or in individual parishes, Christ is omnipotent in victory, and so we should never allow fear or anxiety to destroy our faith or lead us into despair. In fact, through what Dr. Anthony Esolen calls the ironies of faith, the very weakness of the Church today is its greatest strength, the time when God will show His dominion over Satan and the world most profoundly, as Christ told St. Paul: “My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity.” (2 Cor 12:9) We must therefore cling to Him, focusing always on the good. Study Scripture and the saints, imitate those who have come before us, cultivate holy and devout families from which the future leaders of the Church will arise – not from those families who do not hand on or exemplify the Faith to their children – and continue the tradition of Christian humanism which preserves and celebrates all that is good in history and in our own time, as Paul first taught: “But prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thess 5:21) This is the path to true joy and salvation, not the misdirection of the world which leads only to darkness.
Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld thee. (Is 41:10)
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. (Jn 14:27)
Let us ask all the saints, through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary, to pray for those participating in the Synod, and for the protection of Israel against Islamic attacks.
(Cover image source: By Андрей Николаевич Миронов (A.N. Mironov) - Own work, Andrey Mironov See also ticket:2015070410013036http://artmiro.ru/photo/religija_zhanrovaja_kartina/pritcha_o_zlykh_vinogradarjakh/4-0-481, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30163320)