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

1 MARCH (Mt 21,33-43.45-46)

The prophetic mission has never been easy in Israel. The men, they were sent to, caused them untold suffering, including the same martyrdom. The Second Book of Chronicles is a witness to the wickedness of man against them.

Early and often did the Lord, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the Lord against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy. Then he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men in their own sanctuary building, sparing neither young man nor maiden, neither the aged nor the decrepit; he delivered all of them over into his grip. All the utensils of the house of God, the large and the small, and the treasures of the Lord’s house and of the king and his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. They burnt the house of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, set all its palaces afire, and destroyed all its precious objects. Those who escaped the sword he carried captive to Babylon, where they became his and his sons’ servants until the kingdom of the Persians came to power. All this was to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah: “Until the land has retrieved its lost Sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled.” In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing: “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!'” (2Cr 36,15-23).

With Jesus this evil reaches its highest. He is taken out of the vineyard and killed for a cause of true religious atheism. These men do not want God to reign over them. They want to be absolute masters of their lives and of the entire vineyard. Their thinking must be the only truth, law, statute, rule, form and manner of religion practiced and taught by them. Theirs is a religion without true obedience to the Lord. It is only obedience to man. This is most pure idolatry. It is the utmost of corruption. The Lord is totally ousted from his vineyard. What must he do? Plant himself another vineyard, entrusting it to another people so that they make it bear fruit.

“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.

This parable is a warning to all of us Christians. Let nobody think and nobody believe to be the absolute master of the faith and the truth of God. Let no one dare to make himself owner of the will of his Lord. If he does this he will be transformed quickly into a spiritual and even physical murder of his brothers. A man is killed when he is deprived of the truth of the faith and religion. A prophet is killed in many hearts when he is slandered because of the very pure truth of God preached and proclaimed by him.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us true worshipers of God.