Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
With today’s readings, we could easily get lost in a lot of different allegorical interpretations. In many ways some would be valid. But remember the gospel was written after Jesus died and rose and even after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. In many ways the early church would see that the vineyard was the reign of God on earth and that the overseers or tenants were so pleased with what they had that the would go to any length to preserve what they had. Thus, we see when the Son of the owner comes they assume the landlord is dead and presume they can eliminate the Son and all would be theirs. It is almost saying that if you want that vineyard or kingdom which is the ultimate for anyone, that you would do almost anything for it. Extreme? Yes, but how intense are you when you want something? That kingdom, the vineyard was everything to those who murdered the Son. Now Jesus wasn’t preaching murder, but the question is what do you value in your life today. Are we so comfortable or set in our ways that we lose sight of what is beyond the here and now. The reign of God is now and it is love. How much do we value that in day-to-day life? How far will we go to get that kingdom and be a part of it? Like the lost coin or the pearl how far would we go. How strong is our motivation?
Can we be so in touch with God’s love that it becomes our way of life? Some would say it was radical or impossible to do. As humans we do have faults and failures, but we can still pull ourselves up and live the kingdom in the right way. Love is now and it is forever. In fact, God is love and when we say I believe but let us not forget it also means those two words were a beginning, an opening of a whole way of life and love joined together in our faith and love and the church of God here and his kingdom.
Let us remember if Jesus gave a kind of backhanded compliment for how resolute the tenants were in achieving their goals, how resolute should we be going after ours?