Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance

Gn 37,3-4.12-1 3a.17b-28; Ps 104; Mt 21,33-43.45-46
22 MARCH

The whole of the New Testament reveals that Jesus’ death on the cross was not an error of assessment or of incorrect discernment. The signs of Jesus, so unequivocal, portentous, great and perfect, would necessarily should have led to the affirmation of the truth of Christ the Lord, at least in the declaration of his origin from the Father. There is a clear and evident fault, it might be forgiven, on condition that after the last portentous sign, which gives the seal of truth to every other, repentance, conversion, adhesion to the Word, faith in Christ and in the Gospel of Christ, take place. From the Acts of the Apostles we know that the opposition against Christ turns into opposition against the disciples. Stephen is the first martyr of this absurd closure of the heart.

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.” When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and when he said this, he fell asleep (At 7,51-60).

Also in this parable, Jesus, besides declaring himself the Son of the Master of the vineyard, reveals himself as the stone rejected by the builders that becomes a corner stone, a stone that gives stability to the whole house and that admirably unites the two testaments making them only one mystery of salvation and redemption. However, a third truth must be highlighted. It is not God who takes the kingdom away from his people. It is his people that refuses to enter the kingdom. We know that after his glorious resurrection, Jesus sends his Apostles to preach conversion and forgiveness to every man, beginning with Jerusalem.

“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.

The Lord’s people is without the kingdom, because it did not want to observe the conditions set by God to enter it. The conditions are the welcome of Christ Jesus as Messiah, Lord, God, Judge of the living and the dead, Word of truth and eternal life for every man. All those who do not confess this faith, even if baptized, are without the kingdom, they are outside of it. Whoever wants to be the kingdom of God must live in Christ, through Christ, with Christ, making his Gospel the only law of his life. God never takes away. He always gives. It is the man who declares himself unworthy of welcoming his kingdom.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints make us be true Kingdom of God among men.