Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is a strong word that is full of mercy and love for the people Christ is trying to reach. The language of the world is filled with hate, violence as we can see in the gospel. It also includes division, gossip, killing, abuse, and many other evils. God doesn’t love violence; he loves peace and the humble man or woman. He even allows that violent, angry, proud world to destroy him and even kill him. When we live in the world, we kill Jesus Christ.
The tenants in the gospel say: Come, let us kill the son and acquire his inheritance. It is a prophetic word for us since we have been like these wicked tenants. We have also destroyed the Lord, perhaps in more subtle ways than murder, nonetheless, we did not want him to enter our lives and change our plans. We rejected this corner stone, this cross, that God wanted to give us. We built a life, planned it perfectly, but left no room for suffering and so Christ cannot enter it.
We have designed what we believe is good for us and that is why you cheated on your spouse or desired to, that is the reason you stole, or whatever evil you did, because you thought it would make you happy. You made yourself a god and therefore you think yourself better than the others, you might even despise them, you can’t forgive them; you think they don’t deserve your forgiveness; you don’t love them because you think they don’t deserve your love.
In these ways, we have all killed Christ. We have discarded the rock, but the gospel reminds us that he always treated you with great care, with mercy and with love. He sent so many people to you to win you over, but you rejected this stone that was to be the cornerstone of your life. It could be your confused sexuality or your slowness or your difficult personality or your poor health or your financial situation. This killing of Christ by the Jews, and by us, has brought us back to life, in many cases. This was a marvelous miracle that only God can do. He resisted evil until the last degree, even the evil that you and I do to him, and he responds with mercy and salvation.
Killing the son gives us, the tenants, this inheritance. It is a prophecy fulfilled by God and in his infinite love has given us this inheritance. He made us his children and gives us only good things, the greatest of which is himself. We have all been murderers as St. Paul said even calling himself an abortion, the worst of the apostles, who persecuted Christ in his followers, and he approved the death of many Christians. Paul says the Lord has changed me and I even preach the gospel and make Christ present for others. The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone and it is wonderful in our eyes.
Another point caught my attention in the gospel. The owner of the vineyard who is God sent his servants to obtain fruit from the tenants. There were fruits that were due to him; some fruits belong exclusively to God. You created everything, including us, out of love. It is so amazing that the only reason God created us was so that he could love us. God is so happy in loving us. God loves to love you and it is the reason why he created you. He also created you to bear fruit. The world could see the fruit and be able to recognize the tree that bears fruit and that the tree is Christ. He is the tree that bears fruit which is a Christian.
The fruit that the Lord comes to gather from us is love. He created us out of love, so that we could also love. Isaiah said they planted the choicest vines, and it yielded wild grapes, sour grapes. There was no fruit, no love or mercy. We cannot be happy if we don’t love. It is the reason for our existence, the reason we have been created.
Are you producing good fruits? A dry tree cannot produce fruit like the fig tree that Christ will curse, and it will shrivel up. It wasn’t even the time for figs. What does this mean? We must always be ready to die to ourselves so that we can bear fruit, at all times and seasons. The world doesn’t bear fruit because it is full of hatred. A Christian bears fruit by allowing himself to be killed. This is love to the nth degree. This is the meaning of this parable. We are the high priests, scribes, and elders that Jesus is speaking to. We are the ones who impose heavy burdens on others that we cannot carry, and we do nothing to help them to love. We are these high priests.
How I wish that we could place our lives on this cornerstone that we always discard. How I wish we could place it so that the Lord can build this wonderful building everywhere. Faith is built on the cross of Christ. Your life of faith is anchored in your cross, which you often despise. The sufferings that arise in your life help you to find yourself so your faith can flourish. You will bear fruit of love when you are anchored and supported by this rock, which is Jesus Christ.
Don’t be afraid. The Lord will find much fruit on your tree. The fruit of love or forgiveness. But all your sacrifices will come to nothing if you don’t forgive. You will have wasted your time if you can’t forgive your brother or sister. Russia doesn’t forgive the Ukraine, no one forgives Iraq, nor Afghanistan, nor Venezuela. No one forgives your father or your mother-in-law or your spouse or your children or your neighbor or your boss. But Christ always forgives. Ask him these days to give you the grace you need to forgive so we can bear fruit.