Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB offers a reflection on the Gospel for 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Image by Marcello Cerrato via Qumran2.net

Once again we are presented with a parable about that important vineyard—that place of encounter with the divine. Once again the target audience are the leaders of the community—the chief priests and elders who should be listening to the WORD OF God. They are the ones who should be leading by example, but, as we saw last week, these very leaders play the part of the son who says "YES" to God and then choose to ignore it and go their own way.

Jesus makes a chilling prophecy to the religious leaders of his day. God had entrusted them with the care of his people—his 'vineyard'. He describes their ancestors' brutal treatment of the prophets. False prophets had been hailed, but true speakers for God had been beaten and killed. Now God sends his divine Son. Knowing that they will reject him too, he bluntly tells them that they will lose all. True prophets are uncomfortable to be around: they preach a truth that most of us would rather not hear.

When we look at the major and minor prophets of the Hebrew scripture, we see men and women destroyed by their own people—their message of challenge is just too difficult. When we too experience hurt it is often at the hands of those we trust and care for—thus the betrayal is even harder to put up with. In the parable, the wicked tenants of the vineyard see a chance to take over when the son of the owner is sent. In a chilling reminder of Calvary, they reject him and see that he is killed. Now, we might never physically kill those prophets, even the rebels, of our own time, but our negative words and actions can still destroy them. Jesus quotes from Psalm 118: it refers to stone-cutting and building. Builders cut blocks from quarries and preferred to have straight edges. Occasionally the stone might crack unevenly and be useless for normal purposes, however, it could prove valuable, though, as a cornerstone. If the ground were uneven, the off-edge stone might fit exactly for a special purpose. The psalmist is saying that God has a way of using things and people who do not seem to fit by 'human standards.' The Lord is able to interpret people quite differently. This story only makes sense if you believe that God loves, and that God understands that, in this world that He Himself created, there is great sorrow and sadness and pain, in the midst of all the love. For those without this divine love and understanding, life is empty and meaningless: they only want a 'vineyard' or a society that they can control. However, God is saying, "I will show you that the only way to overcome the sadness, the sorrow, the pain, that we all experience, is to follow Jesus."

These past six months have seen a global pain that we have all had to endure: it has been a challenge and it has hurt, but we need to learn and move forward too. In the brokenness of the Cross, we see our own failures; in our own brokenness we discover our light and strength. In rejection, we can have an opportunity to share our lives to the full with Jesus.

Today, we are urged to THINK carefully before our actions could crucify others. Thus our default position MUST be kindness—this is not softness, but an attitude that sees the good in others, while recognising that we all can fail and make mistakes. Today we are challenged to be KIND. With St Francis de Sales we are urged to move forward together:

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.

St Francis de Sales, Patron of the Salesians of Don Bosco