Father Nissen's message of 5 October

The Gospel reading for the day is Matthew 21: 33 - 46.  Here is that passage from the New English Bible:

[Jesus said,] "Listen to another parable.  There was a landowner who planted a vineyard: he put a wall rount it, hewed out a winepress, and built a watchtower; then let it out to vine-growers and went abroad.  When the harvest season approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect the produce due to him.  But they seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another, and stoned a third.  Again, he sent other servants, this time a larger number; and they treated them in the same way.  Finally he sent his son.  'They will respect my son,' he said.  But when they saw the son the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir; come onk let us kill him, and get his inheritance.'  So they seized him, flung him out of the vineyard, and killed him.  When the owner of the vineyard comes, how do you think he will deal with those tenants?"  

"He will bring those bad men to a bad end," they answered, "and hand the vineyard over to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop when the season comes."  

Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures:  'The stone which the builders rejected has become the main cornerstone.  This is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes'?  Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation that yields the proper fruit."

When the chief priests and Pharisees heard this parables, they saw that he was referring to them.  They wanted to arrest him, but were afraid of the crowds, who looked on Jesus as a prophet.

* * *

This is a parable of a hostile takeover!  The tenants took over the farm, killed the landowner's messengers, who had come to collect his share of the profits, and even killed the landowner's son.  Of course, the meaning is transferred to God the Father as the landowner and Jesus as the Son.  Not only Jesus, but other servants--the church--are made to suffer, too.  

We wonder, why do these injustices occur?  Partly because people have free will to love or hate, and too often we ignore God altogether.  Second, we tend to think we own everything, but in fact everything we have is a gift from God.  Then, too, people tend to become easily angry with God and then to transfer this anger to others.  But in all this the church will be vindicated.

Although we may be tempted to think that some of the teachings of the Bible do not apply to us, we must keep reading them.  The Holy Spirit will reveal to us the deeper meaning of this teaching  in our lives.