TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A

[cappie]

Jesus told a lot of stories—parables—and he told them for the same reason: to change our expectations, to get us to look at the world and ourselves in a new way, to make some connections we might not make otherwise.

He said things like, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed,” and we can imagine people saying, “Where’s he going with this?” Like, “A shepherd had 100 sheep and left 99% of his inventory to go in search of one who was lost,” and people say, “What kind of a shepherd would do that?” He told one about weeds growing among wheat, and when the farm workers come and say, “You want us to pull up the weeds?” the owner says, “Nah, let them grow together, I’ll sort it out later.” What?

Jesus told stories to upend our assumptions about “this is just the way things are” or “I know how this turns out.” When we take Jesus’ stories to heart,  they leave us with a moment of decision, “Okay, now what? Now how will I live? Now what will I do? What decision will I make?”  That’s really apparent with today’s parable, which is  usually called, “The Parable of the Wicked Tenants.” Jesus tells this story just now in the Gospel about a landowner who rented property to some farmers. In Jesus’ day, the usual terms of the agreement were that the farmers were allowed to live on the land and farm it, and in return, they had to give the landowner a percentage of the crop they harvested as rent.

In Jesus’ story, when harvest time comes, the story continues, not as the landowner had hoped. 

Then Jesus asks the people how the story should end. He asks, “What do you think? When the owner of the vineyard comes, what do you think he’s going to do?” The people answer, “he’s going to come and get those farmers. He’s going to make them pay for what they’ve done!” In other words,  he’ll do what we all expect– respond to violence with more violence.

Notice this is how the people say it should end. They’ll get what they deserve. This is just how things go. Isn’t this just the way of the world? The way things work.

But what if it’s not?

If this story is an allegory, God is the landowner, the servants are the prophets, and the landowner’s son is Jesus, who is sent by God to God’s people. But people don’t listen to or respect him. They kill him instead.

Now, does God respond to Jesus’ death in the vengeful and bloody way we might expect—in the way the people say the story will end? No. The story of Good Friday and Easter shows us this is not what God did. Despite the ways Jesus was abused, despite his death as an innocent man, despite the ways those who serve God and good have been mistreated throughout time, God refuses to meet our expectations, go by our assumptions, play by our rules. Violence and death will not be the end of the story. God chose resurrection.

That God has any affection left for people who treat one another and even God’s own son with such brutality is astonishing.  We can marvel at what must have been in the heart of God on the night of Good Friday, or all day long on Saturday.  God is writing a story where we can throw aside our expectations, and instead, expect good to defeat evil, forgiveness to heal guilt, unity to overcome estrangement, joy to conquer despair. That is the ending God wrote to the parable of the wicked tenants.

God raised Jesus from the dead so we can learn new ways to be in the world: God’s ways. God shows mercy rather than hatred so we can forgive and reconcile instead of trying to get revenge. God shows love so we can break stupid cycles that lead to more and more misery; live out of God’s future instead of repeating the tragedy of the past. Love.   As today’s Second Reading advises, we need to fill our hearts and minds with noble intentions and virtuous deeds, rejoicing always that the Lord is near.