Today, 6th of December, we celebrate
Saint Nicholas
First Reading: Gen 37:3–4,12–13a,17b–28a
Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons,
for he was the child of his old age;
and he had made him a long tunic.
When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons,
they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.
One day, when his brothers had gone
to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem,
Israelsaid to Joseph,
"Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem.
Get ready; I will send you to them."
So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan.
They noticed him from a distance,
and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him.
They said to one another: "Here comes that master dreamer!
Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here;
we could say that a wild beast devoured him.
We shall then see what comes of his dreams."
When Reuben heard this,
he tried to save him from their hands, saying,
"We must not take his life.
Instead of shedding blood," he continued,
"just throw him into that cistern there in the desert;
but do not kill him outright."
His purpose was to rescue him from their hands
and return him to his father.
So when Joseph came up to them,
they stripped him of the long tunic he had on;
then they took him and threw him into the cistern,
which was empty and dry.
They then sat down to their meal.
Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead,
their camels laden with gum, balm and resin
to be taken down to Egypt.
Judah said to his brothers:
"What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood?
Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites,
instead of doing away with him ourselves.
After all, he is our brother, our own flesh."
His brothers agreed.
They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21
R./ Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
When the Lord called down a famine on the land
and ruined the crop that sustained them,
He sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.
R./ Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
They had weighed him down with fetters,
and he was bound with chains,
Till his prediction came to pass
and the word of the Lord proved him true.
R./ Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions.
R./ Remember the marvels the Lord has done.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
"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.
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 Godwill 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.
God does not seek revenge
We have stories of victimisation today. In the first reading, Joseph is victimised and expelled by his own family. In the gospel, the owner’s agents and his own son are rejected and murdered—the story refers to Jesus himself.
To the question raised by Jesus as to the reaction of the owner of the vineyard, the audience responds in terms of the “law of karma”—They want the evil men to be brought to an evil end. But Jesus disagrees. He speaks not of an-eye-for-an-eye but of entrusting the vineyard to more responsible people and of the rejected stone becoming the cornerstone for a new world!
Neither Joseph nor Jesus takes revenge; both become the cornerstones of the redemption of the very families that rejected them. This is why the Joseph episode was a mandatory reading for Easter in the early Syrian Christian liturgy.
The danger of chasing God’s Son out of the vineyard continues today in our Church communities. Think of the challenges that confront the sacraments of marriage and family, debates on abortion, and many other issues – many in the Church prefer to follow the values of the world. Christ and his Gospel are regarded as outdated and old-fashioned, and many Christians choose to ignore them.
What is the result of throwing the Gospel out of our lives? There are wars, crimes, destruction of creation, despair and loneliness. This parable is addressed to us today. Open your eyes, recognise the Son, don’t throw him out of the vineyard – out of our lives.
Bible Claret