Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time / Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
The Book of Ezekiel provides the first reading for Mass this weekend. Pivotal in Jewish history was the time spent by Hebrew captives and their descendants in Babylon, the capital of the then powerful Babylonian Empire. This empire conquered the promised land, ending the two Hebrew independent kingdoms. Many survivors were taken to Babylon.
The exile, as the Hebrews came to call it, took place six centuries before Christ. It was a heartbreaking time. The Hebrews were far from their homeland. The exile seemed as if it would last forever. Indeed, it lasted for four generations. Many Jews likely fell away from the traditional religion of their ancestors.
They were like people in any other time. Religion seemed for many to have failed. God had failed them.
The prophet Ezekiel wrote during this time. He responded to the fury and despair of the people. The prophet turned the tables by confronting the people with their own sinfulness. Where was their devotion to God? How faithful had they been in being God’s people? No one could realistically argue that there had been no sin. Who deserted whom?
St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians is the source of the second reading.
Many early Christians were Jews, in practice or at least by birth. Many Jews, such as Paul himself, had been pious in their religion, determined in Judaism. Many other early Christians were from pagan backgrounds. In many Christian communities, people from both these traditions lived side by side.
Such was the case in Philippi. Jewish symbols and references appear in the letter, but the city in no sense was Jewish. Jews were there, but Philippi was thoroughly pagan, an important military base in the Roman Empire, situated in what now is Greece.
Considering that Christians were a minority, Paul had to reinforce their commitment to the Lord and challenge them to withstand paganism.
Paul magnificently proclaims Christ, the Lord, the Savior. This weekend’s reading is an example. Scholars think that this passage may have been an ancient hymn, sung by early Christians when they met for the Eucharist.
St. Matthew’s Gospel furnishes the third reading. It recalls an encounter between Jesus, priests and elders. Since religion was everyone’s favorite topic at the time, even priests and persons learned in Judaism were interested in what Jesus said.
God is the father in the parable. The vineyard represents the people of Israel, God’s own, God’s chosen, borrowing a well-known image from the prophets. Scholars suggest several possibilities regarding the sons, but one suggestion is that the first son represents Israel, the other son represents gentiles and sinners.
The second son, not the heir, is true to God. Gentiles and sinners, represented by the second son, can hope for salvation. No one is beyond God’s love. Every sinner can repent.
Reflection
The readings this weekend very much follow the stream of readings heard during the weekends of late summer and now early fall. The Church is calling us to genuine discipleship.
We hear this call, realizing that we are sinners. Our sin shames us, cunningly convincing us that we are strangers in God’s kingdom. We feel overwhelmed, trapped by our weakness created by our deliberate estrangement from God.
Anyone can repent. Our voluntary sinfulness has crippled us, but it cannot be allowed to remove from us hope in the power of God’s mercy.
The answer is simple. Turn to God. Ask for forgiveness. God will help us. Christian history is glorious in its stories of repentance and forgiveness.
If we are as contrite as the second son in Matthew’s story, as wholehearted in our love for Jesus as is shown in the hymn in Philippians, we personally can write another chapter in that history. †