First Reading Commentary
The “friend” in this Reading is represented in
the Latin Vulgate by the word “patruelis”
which means “cousin”. This is the
prophet’s word for Christ. The Hebrew
text translates as “beloved”. To understand
the prophecy, all three translations can certainly support the understanding of
the Messiah. According to Jewish
tradition, Isaiah is of the royal blood of the kings of Judah and therefore
“cousin” identifies the Messiah as a blood relative, while “beloved” intimates
a Messianic meaning. And “friend” should
turn our thoughts to the words of Jesus: “I have called you friends” (John 15:15).
The name “Isaiah” in Hebrew signifies “the
salvation of the Lord”. As a blood
relative, Isaiah prophetically presents to us Christ lamenting over Jerusalem
which is fulfilled in Luke 19:41.
God is the Master of the vineyard. And that vineyard is meticulously cared for
and loved but what the vineyard produced was wild grapes which signify a people
who did not return that care and love they had received. And so, the cause of Christ’s lament
prophesied here is basically a broken Heart.
And one can feel the incredible sadness that our Lord is experiencing in
the question: “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I had not done?”
Second Reading Commentary
Have you ever known someone, read about someone,
or perhaps by a great grace you are that someone who possesses “the peace of
God that surpasses all understanding”? In
our modern day one of the persons that might come to mind fitting that
description is Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, even though we learned after her
death, via her letters, of the dark night of the soul experience she was living
through for many years. Surely, though, she
had possessed God’s peace and one need not look any further for evidence of
this than by reviewing her daily grind and living conditions. To live how she lived and do what she did
without complaint can only be heaven sent.
She was also not afraid to point out evil when
she saw it. On February of 1995 at the
National Prayer Breakfast, Mother Teresa received a standing ovation by many
that were present. The President of the
United States, however, reached for a glass of water while the First Lady, the
Vice-President and his wife looked like they were in shock after hearing
Mother’s speech which included the following: “I feel that the greatest
destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child — a
direct killing of the innocent child — murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even
her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an
abortion? As always, we must persuade
her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give
until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life
to love us. So the mother who is
thinking of abortion, should be helped to love — that is, to give until it
hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father
of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to
love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he
does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought
into the world. That father is likely to
put other women into the same trouble; so abortion just leads to more abortion.
Any country that accepts abortion is not
teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.
That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”
Certainly Saint Paul would agree that Mother
Teresa’s speech was courageous; but she also was speaking words that were true,
just and worthy of praise. And she could
only make such an eyebrow raising speech by being confident that her heart and
mind were guarded by Jesus Christ.
Gospel Commentary
Let’s begin by lining up who is represented by
the characters in the parable that Jesus presents to us: The landowner is God
our heavenly Father; the vineyard is the house of Israel but on a larger and
wider scope the vineyard is the whole world in which Jesus died for; the
tenants are the priests of the Mosaic covenant but again looking at the bigger
picture, the tenants represent all of humanity; the servants represent the
prophets who have been sent to Israel from time-to-time. The son is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Now that the characters are in place it’s pretty
easy to interpret the parable. God has
kept His loving gaze on us since the beginning of human creation. He went well beyond the call of duty to
secure our salvation. A Messiah-Redeemer
had been foretold by the prophets, many of whom suffered persecution and
death. Finally the Messiah, the son of
the landowner is sent and He is also killed.
Saint Nicholas of Lyra points out that the
parable is not intended to suggest that God was somehow oblivious to what would
occur; after all, it is His Son Who is telling the story. On the contrary, Jesus shares this parable to
not only foretell what will occur, but He also tells it to show how things
could have been different if humanity would have abandoned their sinful
ways.
