HOMILY FOR 2ND FRIDAY IN LENT — YEAR A
HOMILY FOR 2ND FRIDAY IN LENT — YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”
BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas
Genesis 37:3-4,12-13,17-28, Psalm 104:16-21, Matthew 21:33-43,45-46
“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.
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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.
The Gospel today is a parable that basically describes the story of Israel, the Chosen People of God. Jesus uses the image of a vineyard. The House of Israel is the vineyard, and its true and absolute owner is God. He leased it out to tenants who will ensure abundant harvest of grapes. The tenants are the Chosen People of God. The servants sent to collect the harvest are the prophets and other spokespersons sent by God to His people. But they were rejected, abused and killed.
Finally, the owner decides to send his own son, expecting that they will respect him. But the contrary happened. They also killed the son, thinking that they could have the vineyard for themselves. In this parable, Jesus is already directly alluding to His forthcoming suffering and death in the hands of God’s own people.
In short, this is already a crime of ‘breach of contract’. The people, who are merely tenants or stewards, did not honor the agreement with the true owner, God. In their selfishness and greed, they disobeyed God, and wanted to be their own masters, arrogating to themselves something that is not theirs.
The fruit of this rebellion proved to be totally disastrous. In the year 70 A.D., as predicted by Jesus Himself, the entire city of Jerusalem including the Temple were destroyed, never to be rebuilt again. And the Jews were dispersed all over the world. Israel, the Chosen People of God, is gone forever.
Jesus, addressing now the chief priests and Pharisees, declares: “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” The vineyard is let out to the new tenants – the non-Jews and Gentiles. Indeed, “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
In the strict sense, this biblical passage refers to Jesus Himself. He uses this quote to predict the rejection He is about to suffer that will culminate in His crucifixion. Yet, He will surely rise again and manifest Himself as Lord and Savior of the world. In a wider sense, this refers also to the Gentiles who, for so long, have been rejected by the Jews as outsiders. Now, together with the Jews who accepted Jesus, they are the cornerstone on which the Kingdom of God will be built.
This lesson is also a strong reminder for all of us. Many people often forget the basic truth that we are only stewards or tenants of God’s vineyard. We do not own anything in this world. Our mission is simply to take care and bring into fruition everything that God has entrusted to us – our life, family, properties, talents, and all human and natural resources at our disposal. Unfortunately, like the Chosen People, many of us claim that which is not ours. We say, ‘This is my life! I can do anything I want with it.’
The most glaring example of this is the crime of abortion. The woman says, “This is my body! I can do anything I want with it. So, I have the right to get rid of this ‘thing’ in my body!” She does not realize that the ‘thing’ in her womb has also its own body, soul, dignity and the right to live – another human person completely distinct from her. So, she has no right, therefore, to tamper with this body, for it is not hers.
A famous author, Dr. Peter Kreeft, who is a convert to Roman Catholicism, accurately points this out when he said, “Abortion is the Antichrist’s demonic parody of the Eucharist. That is why it uses the same holy words, ‘This is my body,’ with the blasphemously opposite meaning.”
In the Eucharist, Jesus offers His own Body that others may live: “This is my Body.” In abortion, the woman says the same words: ‘This is my body’. But the intention is the complete opposite: she kills the baby that she may live. Selfish. Demonic.
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