Did you happen to notice the correlation between the gospel and the old testament reading today? Joseph’s own family tried to kill him, and in the parable of the gospel today, the caretakers of the landowner’s vineyard did eventually kill his son. There are a great many more similarities between the two readings.
The gospel parable is of course about God’s own son, Jesus Christ. The tenants that God left in charge of the vineyard is the Jewish people. He entrusted His kingdom to them. The first groups of servants that the landowner sent to the vineyard to retrieve his produce, are actually the prophets. God’s own people killed His prophets. Finally, after the people killed His prophets, God sent his only son to them.
Jesus knew he would be killed by his own people. He is explaining this to the crowd, but most especially to the chief priests and Pharisees in the crowd. God had entrusted His Kingdom to them, the vineyard of His people. Their souls were the fruit of the vineyard, but the Pharisees wanted to spend their efforts on themselves instead of God’s people. They served themselves, instead of God. Jesus is telling them that the Kingdom of God would be taken away from them and given to a people who would produce it’s fruit, and that is exactly what happened. The Gentiles became Christians and they now serve the Lord Jesus Christ and produce the fruit for God’s Kingdom. Genuine love for God, love for one another, and the salvation of souls is the fruit of the vineyard in the parable that Jesus talks about. God gathers the souls of his people when they are ripe, so to speak, but good fruit does not grow well, without loving care and attention. The Pharisees certainly did not genuinely love and care for God’s people.
The scripture verse that Jesus quoted is about himself:
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes.”
Christianity was founded on Jesus who is the stone that the builders rejected. Another rather odd similarity is that Jesus founded his church on Saint Peter,” the rock” that the Catholic church was built on. Saint Peter was also rejected and martyred too, just like Jesus.
Another correlation between the old testament reading about Joseph, to the new testament reading about Jesus, is the fact that Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. Judas also betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver, which caused his arrest and lead to his crucifixion.
Christ’s life fulfilled the scripture verse he quoted, even down to the fact that “it is wonderful in our eyes.” It is wonderful that our sins can be forgiven, and we have the hope of eternal life because of the stone that the builders rejected. The old testament is so often fulfilled in the new.
The scriptures today are beginning to guide us through our Lenten journey toward Good Friday. They are a reminder that there is only about four weeks left of Lent. How are you coming along in your Lenten observances? Today is Friday and a reminder to abstain from eating meat, by the way. Some of us have been putting off going to confession. What about our prayer life? Are we wavering there too? In the past two weeks have we grown closer to Jesus, or further away? Sometimes it is two steps forward and one step back, but we are only about a third of the way through Lent.
Let us continue this journey together, growing in holiness, in unity and in faith. Holiness, unity and faith seem to be what both groups of people in the readings for mass today were missing.
Daily Mass Readings:
Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a / Psalm 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21 / Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
