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

3 JUNE (Mk 12,1-12)

Jesus takes up the canticle of the vineyard that Isaiah makes the people of the Lord listen and gives it its last update. History always has the Word of the Lord updated in its present truth, otherwise it is no longer the word of God, but a man’s word. The Word of God is such because it is capable of giving full truth to every event in history. Every life and every time in it is placed by the Word in its highest truth.

Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; He spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; Within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes. Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do to my vineyard: Take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his cherished plant; He looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry! Woe to you who join house to house, who connect field with field, Till no room remains, and you are left to dwell alone in the midst of the land! In my hearing the Lord of hosts has sworn: Many houses shall be in ruins, large ones and fine, with no one to live in them” (Cf. Is 5,1-30).

The upgrade of Jesus in this song is more than necessary, because God has entered history, made himself history, suffers the consequences of its sin. As for the ancient vineyard there was a possibility of a return to its truth of nature. The vineyard is of God and it must produce fruit according to God. Jesus says that the vineyard will be taken to the tenants and will be given to a people who will give the Lord the fruits of its time. The upgrade of Jesus also says how far the wickedness of man is pushed: up to killing the very son of the owner, his only heir. These winemakers want the ownership of the vineyard and they are willing to do anything to possess it. However, they ignore that the Lord who holds the key of history is, above every deed of man.

He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What (then) will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture passage: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes’?” They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.

Jesus also gives the Psalm its update, even this a fruit of history. He is the stone rejected by the builders. Is he whom the Father places as the cornerstone. The builders claim the stone to be inept, useless and ineffective. The Father instead a places it as point of stability of all his house. This is the great man’s poverty: a poverty of assessment, analysis, truth, judgment, discernment, wisdom, and intelligence. With this poverty he impoverishes the whole world. All our current crisis is not a crisis of resources, it is a crisis of intelligence, poor judgment and lack of true wisdom. It is the folly which deprives man of all true wealth and leads him to the extreme spiritual and material poverty. This poverty is the result of his actual sins.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us wise in Christ Jesus.