Threw him out of the vineyard

FRIDAY 13 MARCH (Mt 21,33-43.45)

Whoever wants to know how great the wisdom and the intelligence of Jesus is, it is enough that he reads even one single parable of his or that he hears only one of his answers to those who question him to make him fall with a few words that came out of his mouth. How far does the satanic will of the leaders of his people reach in their refusal to submit to their Lord, God, Creator and Father? Not only in the exit from obedience due to him by creation and the Covenant stipulated, but also in striking, beating and killing those who are sent to recall, remind and make resound in their ears the obligations assumed, which are of full fidelity to the Word of God, on whose foundation the Covenant was stipulated. How far instead does the love of redemption and salvation of their God, Lord and Father come? Not only in never getting tired of sending prophets after prophets and messengers after messengers, but it also goes as far as sending his only Son, his Only Begotten. The Father sends him with a thought in his heart: he is my Only Begotten.

They will have respect for him. But precisely because he is the Son of the Vineyard Master those peasants kill him, taking him out of their field. Thus, the Father no longer has anyone to send and the vineyard will be theirs eternally. But these think from their heart, they do not think from the heart of the Father. They ignore that the Father will never abandon man. He loves him with an eternal love and will always send prophets and righteous people to call his creature to conversion, to enter life. The love of the Lord is always more tenacious and stronger than evil. If the power of evil is strong, the power of God’s love is infinitely stronger. No one might ever think of holding back the love of our God. It is eternal: “The Lord appears to him from afar: With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you” (Jer 31,3). Only man might frustrate the eternal love of the Lord, but to his perdition. The love of the Lord is like the sun. No fire might ever extinguish it and no shadow might eclipse it. It will also appear that the love of the Lord disappears for a moment. But what are the days of man in relation to eternity? For the Lord a thousand years are like a day and a day like a thousand years.

“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.

Jesus leads the chief priests and the elders of the people to pronounce the sentence on themselves: “Those wicked ones, he will make them die miserably and will lease the vineyard to other peasants, who will deliver him the fruits in due time”. In his judgment the Lord is infinitely merciful and just. Jesus does not pray that they be punished severely. He asks forgiveness for them, excusing them: “They do not know what they are doing”. Not even Jesus removes the vineyard from them. They are the ones who come out of the vineyard, separating. With Jesus in the vineyard one does not remain by birth, but by faith. They did not pass to the faith and the vineyard is no longer under their rule. Only with death God’s judgment will be according to perfect justice. Until that moment there is always room for conversion and forgiveness.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help us not to separate ourselves from the true vine that is Christ Jesus.