Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Matthew 21: 33-46

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 God will 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.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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In his book, The Disappearance of God, Richard Freidman notes that the greatest temptation human beings face is pride. 

Deep down, he argues, every human being desires to be equal with God. We want to set our own destiny; be in control; make our own decisions.

Although God tries intervening in our world – coming to our aid! – we fight back.

Strangely enough, this is the logic we find unfolding in the Old Testament leading up to the Gospels and the death of Jesus, as the Lord predicts in today.

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In the beginning, when Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden, they converse freely with God. After their disobedience, they are expelled from the garden, costing them the intimacy that once was.

As a result of their rebellion, God becomes increasingly veiled in his communication with humanity.

Instead of speaking face-to-face, God hides under the guise of creation – speaking with Moses through a burning bush, or guiding Israel through the desert for 40 years under the veil of a cloud.

But like Adam and Eve, Israel disobeys, causing God to become increasingly distant. 

No longer speaking directly himself, God uses the prophets to proclaim a message of repentance. But Israel kills these anointed messengers.

Finally, God goes “all in”, sending his Son in the flesh… and we nail him to a tree.

“Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit,” Jesus says. 

A people that will listen and heed his commands.

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Christians interpret Christ’s words today to mean that God now speaks through his Church – Tradition, the Gospels, the Catechism, Saintly writings, ministers, prayer, etc.

In what ways do I hear the voice of God speaking through my parish? Or through the Church?

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“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 4:11).

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Image credits: (1) Subsplash (2) Guideposts (3) The Wesleyan Church

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Gospel: Luke 16: 19-31

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen
and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man’s table.
Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,
he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me.
Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
for I am suffering torment in these flames.’
Abraham replied, ‘My child,
remember that you received what was good during your lifetime
while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established
to prevent anyone from crossing
who might wish to go from our side to yours
or from your side to ours.’
He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him
to my father’s house,
for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them,
lest they too come to this place of torment.’
But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets.
Let them listen to them.’
He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
Then Abraham said,
‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded
if someone should rise from the dead.'”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Jesus does not condemn this man for being rich; wealth is not a sin. He condemns him for being selfish.

Whereas the rich man dressed in fine purple linen, feasted daily at his home, and guarded his property with a rod-iron fence, Lazarus was a poor cripple covered in sores. The only creatures willing to make contact with him were dogs licking his wounds, adding insult to injury.

In fact, the rich man doesn’t even acknowledge Lazarus until they are both dead. From the depths of the netherworld, he calls upon Lazarus to be his servant, maintaining his sense of superiority.

“Father Abraham,” the man cries out from the flames, “send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue.”

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Since the rich man preferred to separate himself from Lazarus in this life, the stakes are raised in eternity. As the Lord describes in the parable, “Between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing.”

Lazarus, on the other hand, is helpless, so God comes to his aid, granting him the gift of eternal life. As the Lord foretold in his first public sermon, the Beatitudes: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” 

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So, what does this parable mean for us?

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The rich are not universally condemned. Nor are the poor universally blessed. 

What matters is the state of our heart, evidenced by how we treat our neighbors.

In terms of the rich man, what he did not do to Lazarus, he did not do to Christ.

Appropriately, that mattered in the end.

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Image credits: (1) Pemptousia (2) The Rich Man and Lazarus, Fedor Bronninkov (3) Pinterest

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Gospel: Matthew 20: 17-28

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem,
he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves,
and said to them on the way,
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death,
and hand him over to the Gentiles
to be mocked and scourged and crucified,
and he will be raised on the third day.”

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her, “What do you wish?”
She answered him,
“Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”
Jesus said in reply,
“You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”
They said to him, “We can.”
He replied,
“My chalice you will indeed drink,
but to sit at my right and at my left,
this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the two brothers.
But Jesus summoned them and said,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Some years ago, archeologists discovered a trove of coins dating back to the Roman Empire. These coins offered a unique insight into the life and culture of that society.

One coin had an ox on it. The ox was facing two different things: an altar and a plough.

Beneath the ox was an inscription, “Ready for either.”

The ox – and by extension a faithful Roman citizen – lived ready for either the moment of supreme sacrifice or for life-long labor. Whatever was needed for the preservation of Rome.

The altar or the plough. 

Ready for either.

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Christians are called to live in a similar way: ready to offer our lives in testimony to the Lord, or more commonly, to labor for the Gospel year after year.

This is the “cup” that Jesus tells his Apostles they must be ready to drink in today’s Gospel – the altar or the plough.

Be ready for either.

The Apostle James will be the first Apostle to drink the cup of martyrdom, only a few short years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Meanwhile, his brother John will plough the fields of ministry until he’s nearly 100 years old.

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Two brothers with two different “cups” to drink. 

One the altar, the other the plough.

May we live ready for either.

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Image credits: (1) Bible Hub (2) Coin Talk (3) AnaStpaul