THE 27TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
A Reflection on Matthew's Gospel – 21:33-43
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The past few weeks have seen a cluster of parables presented to us. On the 25th Sunday, we heard the parable of the generous landowner, who went to the marketplace several times during the day to find labourers for his field, and eventually paid all of them equally. Then, on the 26th Sunday we heard the parable of the Two Sons: one of whom said he would do the father's will and work in the vineyard but didn't, and the other who said he would not go into the vineyard, but then did. The parable for this 27th Sunday is about the landowner's son, who was killed by the tenant farmers hired to take care of the vines. These three parables are essentially about the same reality: the vineyard sets the agricultural scene for the reader, but what is actually common to them, in the interplay of characters, is Social Justice – either its presence or its absence.
The vineyard theme has often been used in the scriptures to describe God's relationship with Israel. When the prophet Isaiah sang of the 'Song of Love for the Vineyard,' it was about the vineyard of the Lord's love for his chosen people – a fertile oasis in a pagan landscape. Alas, the history of the chosen people was more about failed crops and withered vines than abundant fruit. None-the-less, as the parables show, there is always forgiveness and the possibility of re-planting.
Friday evening this week signalled the beginning of the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. In this most important event of the Jewish festival calendar, the sins of the people were cast onto the head of a goat, which was expelled forth into the desert, to die there and never return. Thus the sins of the people were atoned for, and were accounted as nothing, at least for another year. As Christians, our transgressions have been atoned for, once and forever, by the death of Jesus.
In Jesus' day, social inequalities made life difficult for the poor. Excessive taxes and burdens on the weak and vulnerable caused many a heartbreak, while the ruling classes (the Pharisees) simply took advantage of their positions to increase their own fortunes. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see that leaders world-wide still do the same. Airliners are shot from the sky, while no-one owns up to who did it. Contracts are let for bridges and freeways while ordinary houseowners along its path are paid a trifling amount for their family homes. Officials keep out the stranger and the sojourner, the refugee and the asylum seeker, while maintaining a facade of being a compassionate nation. These are sins that cry out for atonement, and yet there is not much sign of a worthy goat appearing to carry the load. However, as the festival of Yom Kippur demonstrates, there is always the hope of forgiveness and repentance. But atonement must be a part of the deal as well.
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