The Two Wings of love: God And Neighbor!

 (Homily 30^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A)

     The central message of this Sunday is condensed in the love of God and neighbor. For Christian love to be authentic, it has to be in forma crucis, vertically and horizontally (God and neighbor). The first reading of today hinges on the love of one’s neighbor, while the Gospel presents the two wings of love: love of God and love of neighbor, and it is a re-presentation of the commandments in a new way. In Jesus’ parlance the love of God and the love of neighbor are interlaced. You cannot have one authentically without the other. As a matter of fact, the love of God devoid of the love of neighbour is nothing but a mere barren emotion; and in the same vein, without the love of God, the love of neighbor is nothing but egoistic and self-centred love. In the second reading, similar to the tone of last week, St. Paul continues with the thanksgiving for the spiritual progress of the Thessalonians in the Gospel. This passage reveals the content of the major themes of St. Paul’s preaching, the abandonment of idols for the worship of the True God: “you turned from idols to serve the living and true God…”

     In today’s first reading (Ex. 22:20-26) we find ourselves in the context when the Israelites have left Egypt. They were no longer under the dictatorial laws of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. This reading presents a section of the guiding rules God gave them on how to care for the weak and the needy in their midst. So, this passage is an excerpt from the book of the covenant between God and his people, as such, the materials therein are related to legal codes of the Ancient Near East. The codes are formulated in the negative: “Do not maltreat the widow…”  But in the evangelical text St. Mathew gives us a positive formulation: “you will love the Lord your God with all your heart…” This passage comes from a section of the code on social conduct, and it hinges on the love of one’s neighbor. It gives us some clues on the activeness and genuiness of love, thus: Do not molest a stranger or oppress him. Do not maltreat the weak (orphans and widows). Do not take interest from a poor man when you lend to him. If you take your neighbour’s garment in pledge, restore it before the sun goes down. All these point to the love of neighbor.

     Reflecting on the Gospel passage (Mt 22:34-40) I think we have to thank this unknown doctor of the law for his question, “Master what is the greatest commandment of the law?” (v.36). He asked the question, not because he was desirous to know or to learn but because he  wanted to put Jesus to the test (v.35). Even though the intention was not good, Jesus profited from the occasion to give a great teaching on love. The teaching of Jesus reveals that the heart of Christian religion is Love. The essence of our being Christians is to Love. To the question on the greatest commandment, Jesus responded, offering three objects of love: God, the neighbour and oneself.

     In answering the question about the greatest commandment Jesus did not quote any of the Ten Commandments, rather he summarized them in two parts: love of God (from the first to the third commandment) and love of neighbor (from the fourth to the tenth commandment). Thus, Jesus focused on the two commandments: love of God and of neighbor. For the first, the Word of God says: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (v.37), this entails that the love of God has to be total, incomparable and without measures. And then for the second it says “and your neighbor as yourself” (v.39), because it is presumed that one ought to love himself. However, we are going to see the novelty brought by Jesus in the New Testament about the love of neighbor. In his response, Jesus used the verb in the future tense “you will love”, which indicates that it is an inconclusive act, to love is not a duty per se, but a necessity for living, for in as much as man continues to exist he is called to love. The response of Jesus could be seen as the summary of the whole bible, both the Old and the New Testaments.

     In the bid, to respond to his interlocutor, Jesus enlisted two commandments already existent in the Old law, but he unified them together, for he says that the second is like the first. In fact Jesus took his response from the book of Deuteronomy (6:4-5): “Shema O Israel: Yahweh our God is the one, the only Yahweh. You must love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength”, that is with regards to the love of God, while the love of the neighbour alludes to Leviticus (19:18): “You will not exact vengeance on, or bear any sort of grudge against, the members of your race, but you will love your neighbor as yourself”. In the time of Jesus there were known to be 613 commandments in the Jewish Law. These two commandments were dispersed in the 613 prescriptions of the law (365 prohibitions and 248 actions to be carried out).    

     Once again in the response of Jesus we see the third aspect of the two commandments, which calls the attention of man to love himself, “love your neighbor as you love yourself”, because one who is not capable of loving himself, cannot love others. But Jesus took this to another level, to its Christological dimension, is no longer love your neighbor as yourself, but love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 13:34: 15:12), here Jesus becomes the model and the reason of love of the neighbor. Unlike in the Old Testament (Lev. 19:18). In some other passages of the Gospel Jesus deepened the modality of loving our neighbor and broadened the concept of neighborhood. There is indeed, a new sense that Jesus brought in, he called us to love our neighbor not as oneself, but as  He (Jesus) loved us, because now everyone (especially those in need) as Jesus taught in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:25:37) is our neighbor. Thus, there is a passage from the Old Testament restricted sense of neighborhood to Jesus universalistic and inclusive sense of neighborhood. At the basis of this, is an invitation to love our neighbor without measures. For and with Jesus the concept of neighborhood acquired a universal meaning without discrimination of race, colour, religion or territory. My neighbour therefore, is someone I have to be close to, somebody in need. We remember the words of Jesus at the episode of the last judgement “In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me” and again “In truth I tell you, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me” (Mt. 25: 40,45). This reminds us of this sacrament of love and our neighbor as a sacrament of God. He who truly loves God cannot but love his fellow man (neighbour). The neighbor in Jesus parlance is similar to God, for the neighbor bears the image of God.

     The love we are talking about originates from God, for God is the source of love. The word of God says that “God is love” (1Jn. 4:8b) and thus “everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God” (1Jn. 4:7), therefore, as human beings we are objects of God’s Love, for we experience it daily, but also we are called to be subjects of God’s love, to become channel of God’s love to our neighbors. For Jesus the love of God and the love of neighbour are like two sides of the same coin. Little wonder, tells us that: “anyone who says I love God and hates his brother is a liar, since whoever does not love the brother whom he can see cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1Jn. 4:20-21). Indeed this is the commandment we have received from him, that whoever loves God, must also love his brother”. We can see the imperative on must, there is no negotiation about it.

     Furthermore, it behooves us to affirm vehemently in this reflection, that though in the parlance of the great French Philosopher Rene Descartes man is an “res cogitas” but before becoming “res cogitas”, man was and still is “res cogitata”, that is to say that before becoming thinking beings, we were already thought of by God, and being thought of by God is a revelation of God’s love. God in deed, is the source of love.

    For Jesus these two commandments are interconnected, for love comes from God and St. John makes it glaring thus: “dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1Jn. 4:7). Love indeed, is the manifestation of the true knowledge of God. Here, when we talk about “knowledge” we don’t mean “knowledge” (gnosis) tout court, rather we are talking about epignosis, that’s real, practical and experiential knowledge, an incarnated knowledge. St. Paul links epignosis with love (cf. Phil. 1:9-11; Eph. 4:13). Give or take, the authenticity of our faith is shown when we put these two commandments into practice. Thus we can say: no love no faith in God. Little wonder St. Paul affirms that “faith works through love” (Gal. 5:6). And in the letter of St. James we read, “faith without works is dead” (Jm. 2:17), the vitality of faith is given by good works. St. John once again in his first letter brings it to a drammatic conclusion as he says: “Children our love must be not just words or mere talk, but something active and genuine” (1Jn. 4:18). So, how is our love to be active and genuine? On this, the first and the second readings gives us some guidelines.

     In the second reading (1Th 1:5-10) instead St. Paul presents the community of Thessalonica as a model for other Christian communities, because they welcomed the word of God with joy. Not only that they welcomed the word of God but they equally translated it into concrete life situations. They got converted and turned to God abandoning their idols. This no doubt points to their love of God. Likewise, for us to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, we too need to abbandon our idols, not necessarily other gods, but those things that divide and deviate our attention from God. We need to abandon our self-made idols, object-idols and person-idols.

     Above all, my beloved brothers and sisters in and of Nigeria, an approach to the second commandment about love could be by reflecting on how we love ourselves, ranging from our leaders to the led. Loving the other as oneself only becomes possible if we have, or can gain, a healthy, sane level of self-appreciation. With the state of things in our country today, we need to embark on the commitment and on the outreach of love and justice. Let us shun and do away with tribal prejudices and political divide, prejudices feed not on facts but on feelings. Today, violence and rebellion, economic disorder, famine, massacre, oppression, corruption and looting threaten every State, are these the presages of the destruction of the entity called Nigeria or the turning point that gives birth to a New Nigeria? In my outreach for love and justice I join my voice to the voices of all meaningful Nigerians who have the peace and development of this country at heart to decry for the end of clueless government, of the dehumanization of the human life, of greed, of corruption and of the politics of the winner takes it all! We need a transformation in people and in the social structures. Let love and justice lead!

     In conclusion, for Christian love to be authentic, it has to be in forma crucis, vertically and horizontally (God and neighbor). Little wonder, the cross is our sign of love and victory. That is why Jesus transformed a sign of shame to a sign of salvific love. In all, we are called to be witnesses of love: “from this all we know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn.13:35). Love no doubt, is the distinguishing Christian personality trait that enables us to be who God wants us to be! Lord Jesus inspire us to love you and to love one another! Amen!!!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)

Things To Caesar and Persons To God!

(Homily 29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr .A)

          Human history itself has been characterized by conflicts, oppositions and clashes. And one of the clashes is that between religion and the state, which is no longer new. Drawing the issue further, the history of Christianity especially in the West, was largely a history of conflicts. In the first few centuries of its existence, the Christian religion was strongly persecuted by the state. Even though, the persecutions gave birth to the martyrs and Christianity later became the religion of the state, however, the traces of that tension still linger today. Our readings today talk about these oppositions and tensions: Cyrus a pagan king as opposed to the Israelites, God chosen people and the tension between Caesar and God etc. The first reading from Deutero-Isaiah presents a remarkable story of the Persian King Cyrus, who did not know God, but all the same God used him to achieve his divine purpose, thus revealing that God is Supreme over all, all the rulers of the earth are subject to him. Cyrus was a pagan king but however was appointed by God (first reading). This episode in the first reading introduces a sort of Jewish teaching about the state, and the teaching culminates in the declaration of Jesus on the tribute to Caesar and to God (Gospel). In the second reading, the faith account of the community of Thessalonica is a manifestation of a community that has placed God in the first position; they have given to God what is God’s through their faith, charity and hope.

          The first reading (Is.45:1, 4-6) tells us that God used Cyrus, a pagan King of Persia, in order to realize his designs, the promise of liberation of the people of Israel. Isaiah envisaged God’s work in a pagan king, an unbeliever led by God and called by name and appointed by God. The word of God to Cyrus: “It is for the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen one, that I have called you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me” (Is. 45:4). The chosen people were slaves in Babylon, and Cyrus won victory over Babylonians, and with his political astuteness he made the exiled Israelites to come back to their own country. Although, some scholars have it that the King did this not with the intention to liberate them, rather he did it because he wanted to dominate them better by sending them to their own land. But the overwhelming point here is that, Cyrus unknowingly became an instrument for the realization of God’s project on Israel: Their liberation from slavery.               

          Extrapolating from the above fact, we see two emergent considerations:

►God can use anyone to realize his divine plans, believers and non-believers alike. However, he will use us more if we are docile and disposed to the manifestations of His grace. ►We should not always consider whatever that happens to us or in our world purely from the point of view of human criterion and logic, sometimes behind the scenes of the happenings, negative or positive there is God at work, for our favor and good. God can make something good out of evil. More so, it serves as a reminder to all of us, that the mission of the Church is to bring to all unbelievers the Good News that it is God that guides their destiny, and through faith in Christ and baptism they too will be anointed by the Spirit and called by a new name. The Good News is that God knows us even when we do not know Him.

         In the Gospel (Mt. 22:15-21) Mathew presents the episode of the tension between Jesus and the two opposing groups: Pharisees and Romans over the issue of tribute to Caesar as a plot to trap Jesus. Latently, Mathew sets out to present the episode as part of the conflicts of Jesus and his opponents. And the fulcrum of this encounter is condensed in the words: “Give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, and to God the things that are God’s”. Doubtlessly, this pronouncement has been subjected to a number of interpretations in the course of the history of Christianity. However, all the three evangelists collocated the episode within the context of the happenings in the last days of Jesus in Jerusalem.

          In the context of today’s Gospel, we see an unusual occurrence of two opposing groups (Pharisees and Romans) coming together for a purpose, that is, to lay a snare for Jesus. In fact, with their initial eulogies they pretended to be on the side of Jesus. The fake tributes to Jesus by two groups of enemies that suddenly became friends, mention of his honesty, his fearlessness, his disregard for the status of those he encountered, all this flattery coming from people who normally were hostile to Christ merely exposes the hypocrisy of their praise. They wanted to get Jesus by incensing him with eulogies, “Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in all honesty and that you are not afraid of anyone, because human rank means nothing to you” (v.16). Afterwards, they threw him the question “give us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (v.17). But Jesus “knowing their wickedness” (v.18), reacts immediately with a counterattack: “You hypocrites, why do you tempt me” (v.18). And he asks for a coin, saying “whose image is here?” (v.20), they couldn’t but reply “of Caesar”. And he told them “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar…” If Jesus were to answer, “Pay the tax,” he would have been accused of collaboration with the Roman oppressors, and would have incurred the scorn of the ordinary Jews, who pay tax. If he had advocated for non-payment of tax, he could have been arrested for sedition by the Roman authorities. So Jesus played his cards well. “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s”, these words left them confounded and they quietly went away. However, it could be said that the response of Jesus left the matter in suspense, for it neither touch on the right of the Romans to rule the Israelites, nor did it enumerate concretely the things of Caesar and those of God.

          However, the hot button phrase of today’s Gospel: “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God” (Mt.22:21), was reported not only by Mathew, but by the three synoptic. And in the account of the three synoptic we see the contending question to Jesus: “Is it lawful or not, to pay tribute to Caesar?” (v.15), this was indeed a hot button question because: ►If Jesus had responded that it was lawful, he would have become a friend of the Romans, and attracted the anger of the Jews. ►If he responded that it is not lawful, he would have fallen into the hands of the Romans. ►If he did not respond it would have been a big disappointment after that their initial eulogy.

          But with his well calculated response Jesus silenced them all, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar”. That is to say, if you accept the services of Caesar, pay also the tribute. This goes a long way to educate the Christians that they have their prescribed rights and duties before the State. Then, Jesus added “And to God what belongs to God”, this invariably reveals that before the duties one owes to the State comes the duties before God, who is the Supreme and Absolute Being. The State / Government cannot appropriate to herself absolute values. Be that as it may, if the State promulgates laws that are contrary to the laws of God, a Christian has to respond courageously like the apostles: “obedience to God comes before obedience to men” (At. 5:29).

          The saying of Jesus above has been interpreted in so many ways, some use it to justify the claim that religious leaders should not interfere in secular domains like politics and economics etc. But this could not possibly be the meaning. As a matter of fact, the whole teachings of Jesus reiterates the fact that the whole of creation belong to God, “his is the earth and the fullness thereof”. As such, there is no question of separate domains, for everything belongs to God. More than that, the saying is rather about maintaining priorities. The question was a trap because for the Pharisees paying taxes to Caesar is important, but for Jesus it is of a relative importance, little wonder he responded in such a wise manner. What belongs to God therefore, must be considered from a wider sense to mean what we can not compromise where and when it is concerned, for instance we can talk about: family, the sacrality of human life, justice etc. Jesus in this passage is pointing out that priorities have gone wrong, little wonder, his response took them by surprise and at the same time, very satisfying, for they left him alone and went away. Many a times, we fall into the same misplacement of priorities like the Pharisees, for we lay too much stress on things that are important but secondary, for instance: wealth, prestige and popularity.

          Symbolically, as the image of the emperor on the coin demonstrates that the coin belongs to him, so also, man as an image of God, with God’s imprint, belongs to God. For Genesis 1: 26-27 reminds us that man is a “creatio imago Dei”, made in the image and likeness of God. As such, if the coin is giving to Caesar because it bears his image, man bears the image of God and thus, belongs to God. Therefore, to Caesar things, to God Persons! Jesus responded to their question with a double edged answer. First, he substituted the verb “to pay” with the verb “to restitute”, restitute, therefore to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Here, restitute is a strong imperative, that has to do not only with money, but the whole life. The question we cannot but ask is this: who is Caesar? Caesar is not God, and Jesus removed from Caesar any divine pretense. Restitute to God what is God’s: to God belongs man, made little less than the angels (Ps. 8) and at the same time on our hands we carry the inscription: “Yahweh’s” (Is. 44:5). No doubt, Jesus recognized the value and autonomy of political powers in the spheres of their competence, however, he reminds Caesar (political powers) that he also has “to give God what belongs to God”, to recognize the universal sovereignty of God, therefore, respecting God’s law on man and the human conscience.

          In the second reading (1Th. 1:1-5b), we read from the earliest written document of the New Testament, which was authored by Paul around 50 AD during his stay at Corinth. It happened that Paul founded the Church in Thessalonica not too long from the moment he wrote this epistle. He writes with preoccupation over his new converts that he left, not only that, he even sent Timothy to go and see how they were faring in the faith. And as God would have it, Timothy brought an encouraging report, and that triggered the warm tone of the opening of this epistle, thus, he began with thanksgiving. They tried to put God at the proper position in their lives, they put God first, they did give to God what belongs to God. He compliments them for their commitment in the faith, industriousness in charity and for their constant hope in the Lord. Can this be said of our own Christian communities and parishes too?

          In all, the story of Cyrus in the first reading confirms the fact that all authority comes from God and belongs to Him too (cf. Romans 13:1), all the same, giving to Caesar and to God does not mean compromising our faith in God with the things of this world. There is a pressing need to put God at the proper position in our lives and society. Today we are in a society that on and on tends to relegate God to the background, a society where relative opinions that drag the human dignity to the mud are made laws. In all this, we cannot but reaffirm the belongingness of man to God. Heavenly Father, all power and authority in heaven and on earth belongs to and comes from you, give us the grace to understand that it is in your Son we have life, and may the light of the Holy Spirit enlighten our minds and our darkened world to acknowledge and place You at the first position in our lives, thus God above all else. As we celebrate World Mission Sunday today, may the Lord give us the grace always to respond to his invitation like Isaiah: “Here am I, send me” (Is. 6:8). May the Lord help us to participate in the Mission either by going or by giving! Amen!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC) 

 

God’s Banquet Is Open for All!

(Homily 28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr . A)

          The predominant context of today’s readings is that of a feast, a banquet. Thus, the theme of banquet or feast serves as a bridge connecting our first reading and the Gospel passage. Indeed, by banquet here, the sacred authors do not allude merely to ordinary feasting; rather it is a symbol of the happiness and joy that are essential elements in God’s Kingdom. In the first reading and the Gospel we see a promise and the ratification of the promise respectively. In the first reading (Is. 25: 6-10) we see the promise of a change and transformation, from a situation of disgrace that the people of Israel were living in, to a life of happiness and joy, as symbolized in the imagery of the feast on the Mount Zion, to which all nations were to participate. It is for all. Again, in the Gospel (Mt. 22: 1-14) we see the dramatic situation of the King whose guests did not honour his invitation and consequently, the exceptional condition of inviting all, to the banquet of his Son’s wedding feast without ifs and buts, no merit, no preference and no consideration of class. On the other hand, in the second reading (Phil. 4: 12-14.19-20) the apostle presents a Christian community living in authentic love, joy and sharing in one another’s trouble. The gifts they sent to St. Paul are eloquent manifestations of their participation in the eternal banquet.

          In the Gospel passage Jesus employed the use of imagery in the narration of the parable to teach about the different aspects of the Kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, the theme “Kingdom of God” occupied a very important place in the life and ministry of Jesus. For at the beginning of his ministry, he started with the imminent call: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel” (Mk.1:15). And the Kingdom of God that Jesus has come to inaugurate on earth is not to be understood as a mere eschatological reality, but also as an experience of the love and peace that are parts and parcel of Jesus’ public ministry. It is a situation of inclusiveness where there is no discrimination and injustice. Drawing the issue further, the parable is full of symbolic personages: the King is God, his Son is Jesus, the invited guests are the chief priests and elders of the people and the messenger-servants are the prophets. The chief priests and elders refused to recognize God’s invitation to a call of holiness as delivered by His Son, but they rejected the Son and ignored his message out of stubbornness and hypocrisy. As such, the parable of this Sunday continues in the same direction of the previous ones, it does not matter who you are, where you come from and what your past has been, what matters is one’s readiness to respond to the Lord who calls. At the heart of that parable we see the theme of the universality of the Kingdom of God that Christ came to inaugurate.

          The Gospel periscope from Mathew presents the wedding feast of the Son of the King, and contrary from what is obtainable in the ordinary human existential context, none of the invitees seem interested, not even the rich and the wealthy wanted to come. But the King does not give up at the prime refusal of those invited, and he went ahead and launched another invitation, yet they did not honor it, but he did not give up. Afterwards, the third time, he said to his servants: “the wedding feast is ready, but those invited are not worthy”, then he sent them to call all, good and bad, and lastly, the wedding hall was filled with people. He asked his servants to invite all, without consideration of merits or formalities anymore. Here lies the central message of this parable: God is like one who organizes a feast, the best of all feasts, and He invites you and gives you the conditions for a good and joyful life. At this third time, he sent his servants to go out, this gesture cannot but remind us, of the invitation of the Church to be on the move, and not an immobile Church. They were sent out to call all, men and women of little importance, what is important is that they are thirsty for the feast and for life. Through this parable Jesus is telling us that God has opened the door of his heart for all men, no one and no race is excluded, likewise, we are expected to open the doors of hearts to welcome his invitation. Therefore, this parable reveals the image of a God whose purpose is to share his life and blessing with all and the outright rejection of man does not reduce the intensity of the divine insistence. This loving and open-hearted persistence of God in invitation us to a joyful life in and with Him is a renewed Gospel that should re-echo ceaselessly in our hearts and ears.

          An important aspect of the Kingdom of God is explained through the parable of the Wedding feast. As such, to belong to the Kingdom of God, is a personal choice of an individual, for therein all are invited, but each person has the freedom to choose to be or not to be a participant. And to become a participant of the Kingdom of God is both a Gift and a Responsibility; the responsibility to undergo a radical transformation and change, leaving behind the old man (cf. Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:9-10), in the Pauline parlance. We as followers of Christ are called to create an atmosphere of love, peace, sharing and passing from the logic of self-centeredness to that of God-centeredness, which depicts the reality of God’s Kingdom.

          In the same vein, the theme of universality was anticipated in the first reading from the prophecy of Isaiah, where he prophesized that the Lord: “will prepare a banquet for all the nations”. St. Mathew in the Gospel sees the parable of the banquet prepared by the King, as a summary of the history of Salvation of mankind. God sends on different times and occasions his servants to call the invited, there are those invited for the wedding banquet, particularly the Jewish people, and a good number of them did not honour the invitation. And their refusal served as an avenue to invite all. Interestingly, in the context of this parable, Mathew sets out to communicate to his readers that the true chosen people are made up of both Jews and Gentiles (pagans) alike, for Jesus has broken all the barriers of separation between peoples and nations. Meanwhile, in the person of Christ, the history of salvation reaches its culminating point: “everything is ready, come to the wedding” (v.4). The kingdom of God is present in Christ, for he is the “Autobasilea”, Kingdom personified. The Kingdom of God is realized through him and with Him the Kingdom of God is present. It is not just only an eschatological reality, for the Kingdom of God is present in our midst. Thus, there is no time to waste, man has to decide and make a choice. Are you honouring the invitation of the Great King or no?

          Secondly, we cannot but underline the gratuitous nature of this banquet; it is God that offers it. It is God that calls, and he expects us to accept the invitation. However, accepting the invitation entails accepting it with all its implications and consequences. It is surprising and astonishing that some of those invited to the banquet turned down the invitation, thus ungrateful of the generosity of the King. This is discouraging because the banquet is already ready, there are no serious reasons not to respond. For as we can see, the major reasons for turning down the invitation is because one prefers his own interest and personal work to the work and invitation of God.

           Consequently, others were invited “good and bad”, “Go on the streets, and call all you find there” (v.9). Here, once again the theme of last Sunday resurfaces, the people of Israel did not listen, and God turned towards all who are ready to welcome his Word. He does not ask about who they are, where they come from and what they have been doing before. Here, we see divine logic in action: from the Few invited to the All invited, from important persons to simple people of no worth. He says let them all enter. Interestingly, he says the bad before the good. The Gospel verily demonstrates that God is not in search of perfect people; rather he welcomes all who are ready to begin a journey of perfectibility and not of perfectionism. He does not want the wedding hall (Church) full of self-acclaimed saints, rather a Church full of pardoned sinners.

           Furthermore, the second part of the parable seems a little bit in contrast with the first one. The King calls all, good and bad, and then, when they are already at the banquet room, he pretends that those invited have the “wedding garment”, and sends away who does not have it (Mt. 20:11-14). In any case, above any exegetical discussion on the interpretation of the fact, it is certain that the parable is calling the attention of the disciples of Jesus, and all of us against the idea that the only thing important is to answer the call, and enter inside the banquet room, but that is not enough, there is also need to put on the “wedding garment”. The king enters the wedding hall and discovered that one of the invitees has not changed his garment, he has not put on the wedding garment, while all changed, he did not. He was still looking like those outside, the fact of his not changing and putting on the wedding garment is symbolic of one who remained in the old life, someone not ready to embark on the journey of conversion, a journey of perfectibility. He refused to enter into the dialectics of pardoned sinners. God’s banquet is open for all, but with the prospective of a spiritual and moral change, because man, and as such a Christian is in a constant becoming! It is indeed surprising that after inviting all, beggars and people of less importance, he now discovered one invited guest without the wedding dress. How come? What is this wedding garment that is necessary in order not to be sent away from the banquet? More than that, the wedding garment here does not refer to the one you wear on the body, it is a garment of the heart. It is a fervent heart, a heart desirous of an encounter with God in His eternal banquet. The wedding garment can be identified with promptness and readiness to begin anew, to start a new life, a state of mind in grace, and it has to do concretely with love (charity), the love of God and the love of neighbours poured on our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (cf. Rom. 5:5). The wedding garment can also signify the “dazzling white linen” of the book of Apocalypses (19:8), which consists “in the work of the saints” or “in the works of justice” that Mathew talked about in the Gospel (5:20), and particularly in the great sermon on the Mount (5:1-7:29).

          The consideration above, invites each and every one of us to ask himself or herself the basic question: if he has the wedding garment? This is an important examination of conscience, we all have to do, because the parable ended emblematically with the phrase “many are called, but few are chosen”. The parable of the today’s Gospel is suggestive of four considerations:

►First, is that God continues to invite man to his banquet, even till today, but how do we respond? Sometimes like the invitees of the banquet in that Parable. The Eucharistic banquet is a sacramental sign of the biggest banquet of God, and it is the prefiguration of the eschatological banquet prepared for eternal life.

►Second, God calls each and every one of us to the banquet of friendship with him, to a life of communion with him. How do we respond to this? Do we always find excuses or we respond positively?

►Third, the parable admonishes us that it is not enough to enter in the Church, in order to be saved, there is need to live in accordance with the divine call. There is need of putting on the “wedding garment”, or to say it with St. Paul of putting on Christ (cf. Rom. 13:14).

►Fourth, it serves equally as an invitation to continue the work of evangelization to all: “All that you can find”. As such, in accordance with his invitation: “Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19).

          Above all else, however, our God is a God that does not sit unconcerned on his Divine throne; rather he comes close to his people, a God that organizes feast for His people. As a matter of fact, as emanating from our readings today, especially from the Gospel, we cannot but re-affirm that the invitation of God to holiness is an invitation of joy, joy that is likened to a great banquet. So, responding to the invitation of the Great King to embrace the life of holiness does not subject us to sadness, rather it yields the fruits of happiness and joy. It is happiness that links us to eternal celebration with the Great King. In fact, St. Paul captured it well when he re-affirmed the words of the Scriptures thus: “What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualize; all that God has prepared for those who love him” (1Cor.2:9). Who can imagine how the great banquet will be? My prayer for us all is that when the Great King comes, we may be found with our wedding garment, for indeed “blessed are those invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9). Amen!!!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC) 

Be Fruitful! Bloom Where God Has Planted You!

 (Homily 27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr .A)

     The unprecedented message of today revolves around the parable of rejected love, God’s kindness and the human ingratitude. The recurrent themes in today’s readings, especially the first reading and the Gospel are love and ingratitude, fidelity verses infidelity. God is coherent and faithful to his words, but man is not. The imagery of the vineyard was used to drive home the point. In the first reading prophet Isaiah presents the canticle on the vineyard of his friend, even in the responsorial psalm we heard the prayer on the vineyard: “God Sabaoth, come back, we pray, look down from heaven and see, visit this vine; protect what your own hand has planted” (Ps. 80:14-15). The first reading and the Gospel present the parable of a rejected love, while St. Paul in the second reading gives us clues on how to remain in this love and bear fruits.

          In the first reading (Is. 5:1-7) we are presented with the canticle of the vineyard, which was composed by Isaiah at the early part of his prophetic ministry. The prophet talks about a vineyard owned by his friend, the vineyard was situated on a fertile hillside. His friend for love of his vineyard, dug the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines. He even built traditional watchtower and installed the typical wine press. After all this, he naturally anticipated a rich and abundant harvest. Instead he got wild grapes. At the heart of this canticle we could feel the pain of a broken heart who breaks his silence in anger. More than that, it is an anthropomorphic illustration of the disappointment God feels in his people who have not acted justly and with compassion to the lowly and oppressed. Little wonder, towards the end of the canticle, the last stanza equates the aforementioned vineyard allegorically with Israel, and as an expression of God’s judgment on his people. The message of the first reading serves almost as the prophesy of the Gospel passage. God had his vineyard on a fertile hill, he cleaned and cleared it of stones, he even built watchtower in the midst of it (to ensure there is security), but instead of producing grapes, it produced wild grape. What a disappointment? Let us not be a disappointment to God. The underlining message is that God expects fruits from each vine in His Vineyard. We are called to yield a harvest of kind thoughts and good deeds.

           Equally in the Gospel passage (Mt. 21:33-43) allegory was used especially with particular reference to the Christological upgrading of the son, as Jesus Christ, and the murder as the crucifixion. The parable of the homicide tenants that is presented to us today from the version of Mathew is collocated in the context of the ministry of Jesus in Jerusalem, few days before his passion. And it is a strong warning to the people of Israel to be conscious of the grave responsibility for rejecting the salvation offered by God, through His Son, Jesus Christ. In the parable narrated in the Gospel, the tenants did not worry about the consequences of their actions. The landowner sends for his rent; and the tenants beat, stone and kill the messengers. They felt nothing will happen. In the story that Jesus narrated, the landowner represents God the Father; the tenants are the people of Israel and those who ignore God.

          The beginning of the parable is connected with the allegory of prophet Isaiah, about “the canticle of the vineyard”, in which the prophet emphasized on the love and the care that were shown to the beloved vineyard, the people of Israel, by the owner of the vineyard himself, God. In fact, to express the density of love and care He has demonstrated, He asked “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?” (Is.5:4). The prophecy of Isaiah presents the vineyard as a symbol of the people of God (Israel), a well cultivated and planted vineyard, from which God was expecting an abundant harvest, instead it produced sour grapes. The Parable of Jesus instead has as protagonist tenants, to whom the Landowner entrusted his vineyard, after planting and securing the vineyard he travelled to another country, this indeed, is a wonderful sign of love and trust, and that is what God does for us. But when that stipulated time came, the landowner sent his servants to get the fruits of the vineyard but the servants got an aggressive response from the tenants. They had one beaten, killed another and yet another was stoned. Afterwards, the landowner now decided to send his only son, hoping that they will respect him. Contrary to the thinking of the landowner, the tenants saw the killing of the son as an ocassion and a possible means of having complete ownership of the vineyard. And the Jesus asks: “When the landowner comes what will he do to those tenants?”. He will “make them to die miserably and he will give the vineyard to other tenants that will give him the fruit of the harvest at the proper time”, this was the response of the listeners of Jesus, the chief priests and the elders of the people. And Jesus concludes saying, “Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of heaven will be taking away from you and it will be given to a people that will make it to bear fruit” (Mt.21:43). Remember his words in John. 15:16: “I chose you from the world to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last”.

          The wicked tenants represent the people of Israel, who rejected the messengers of God (the prophets) and even killed the Son, and as such attracted upon themselves divine punishment, for “the vineyard will be taken and given to other tenants”. The chosen people will no longer be only the people of Israel, because she failed in her mission and calling. They are like those described by Jeremiah, “For my people have committed two crimes: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug water-tanks for themselves, cracked water-tanks that hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). Secondly, the tenants represents all of us who are brought into this earth by God for the purpose of bearing fruits: “be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth” (Gen.1:28). This parable serves as a reminder to us that our stay here on earth is temporary. Are we bearing fruits in due season? When we do not work for the development of God’s Kingdom and when we do not live respecting the teachings of Christ, the values and the virtues he brought to us, we are like those wicked tenants.

           Who are the “other tenants”, that will “give the fruits at their proper time”, the new people that will fructify the Kingdom? It is the messianic people, the Church formed by Jews and pagans together. The true Israel, the true chosen people or people of God will be constituted by all those that truly obey God, that do his will and welcome his Son (cf. Jn. 1:11-12). God as the landowner has done everything to make this a wonderful world for us to live in. So we have to ask ourselves: How can we be good tenants? What do we do to show appreciation to this God that loves us so much? First and foremost, we are called to be custodians, good tenants of God’s vineyard.

          Furthermore, we can read the stories on the vineyard (first reading and Gospel) in two different ways, from the historical or narrative dimension and from the dimension of its actuality. Even though, the second approach is of more interest to us, but we need the first in order to grasp the second. Historically the vineyard that is being thought about is the Jewish people. God chose them, He liberated them from Egypt and led them to the Promised Land, he planted them in the Promised Land like a vine. He gave her all necessary cares, but instead of producing vine, it produced wild grapes. It paid God back with disobbedience, infidelty and betrayal.This was the story the Psalmist revoked in the responsorial psalm. The chosen people abandoned the ways of the Lord, instead of producing the fruits of justice and faithfulness; they paid God back with disobedience, disappointment and infidelity. Indeed, as Isaiah affirmed in the first reading: “He expected justice, but found bloodshed”. Till today this bloodshed continues in variegated forms.

          In the parable of Jesus, the story of the vineyard becomes more transparent. In its actuality, it is the history of the people of Israel and our own history too, we are the new people the Lord has entrusted the vineyard to. The vine pressers (tenants) rebelled against the landowner, not the vineyard (like in the first reading). Here, men rebelled and not the land. What will God do? In the first reading, Isaiah says God will destroy the vineyard. The psalmist described God’s destruction of the vineyard, as manifested in the fall of Jerusalem and the exilic experience. But Jesus in the parable does not speak about destruction of the vineyard. It is not only the promises of God that will change, but also the recipients. The Kingdom of God, the vineyard remains but it will be given to another people. It is indeed an allusion to the destiny of the people of Israel: having rejected the prophets and killed “the Son”, they will be substituted with another people. And indeed, the Good News is that the new people that the Kingdom of God has been entrusted to are we Christians.

       We are now, in a particular sense, the vineyard of the Lord. Here begins the actual dimension of the parable. The deeper significance of the word of God for us today will be found in the Gospel of John thus: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). The condition of bearing fruit is remaining in Him. God has planted each and everyone of us where we are today, what type of fruit am I bearing? We can personalize the message of the parable and see ourselves as the vineyard of the Lord, and ask ourselves, what type of fruit do I produce? Or as tenants that God has placed incharge of his vineyard, are we like those wicked tenants or we are good tenants? We are sometimes like the wicked tenants who killed the only son of the landowner. We are like them when we hear the word of God and refuse to allow it to become relevant and fruitful in our lives. We kill the servants and the only son when we wilfully stifle the truth. How are we living as the new chosen people of God? If we do not live in faithfulness and justice before God, there is a risk for us Christians today, as individual and as a group, and that is the danger of losing the vineyard (God’s Kingdom). St. Paul one day after seeing the resistance of the Jews in accepting the message of Salvation exclaimed: “here and now we turn to the gentiles” (Acts 13:46). Are there not some tendencies of the rejection of the Son in us or in our society today? We too may lose the vineyard!

           For St. Mathew there is a precise time for producing fruits, and our Christian life implies also the ability to respect the quantity of time at our disposition, it is not unlimited, because we are journeying towards judgment, and the fruits expected of us will be that of Charity, on which the final judgment will be based (cf. Mt. 25:31-46). This in deed is an important admonition to the Church, to the Christian communities and to each and every one of us.

            In the second reading (Phil.4:6-9) St. Paul assures us that nothing can destroy the peace and joy of a Christian, if he remains united to God through prayer. He gives us a list of virtues that Christians must imbibe in their lives in order to bear good fruit, a vine planted by God that bears fruit at the proper time and season, and he says: “finally, brothers, let your minds be filled with everything that is true, everything that is honourable, everything that is upright and pure, everything that we love and admire – with whatever is good and praiseworthy” (v.8) but not only this, he invited them to the imitation of those virtues they have seen in him: “Keep doing everything you learnt from me and were told by me and have heard or seen me doing” (v.9). He presented himself as a real model for them. Again in 1Cor. 11:1 he courageously invites “be my imitators, as I am of Christ”. With our minds focused on God, we will be good tenants.

          The parable reveals that our God is a God who trusts his workers, he trusts us. He creates possibilities for us. But do we recognize and appreciate the opportunities and the resources God has placed in our hands or has used to bless us? Are we responding responsibly to God’s kindness or we are like the wicked tenants? Indeed, our God is a patient God, like the landowner who sent several servants to collect the produce from his vineyard, God also seemingly gives us chance after chance to respond to his unique call to us. Do we recognize and appreciate the patience of God? Or we take God’s patience for granted? Do we recognize the impending judgment of God? Jesus ended his parable with a warning thus: He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants.” The bad and wicked tenants will lose the Kingdom, for God will give His Kingdom to those who will produce fruits. We cannot but conclude with the words of the Psalmist in the responsorial Psalm thus: “We shall never forsake you again; give us life that we may call upon your name”. O Lord , help us to bear good fruits, fruits that will last and stand the test of time and eternity! Amen!!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)