Our Gospel this weekend seems, once again, to be a severe punishment being rendered. When no one came to the king’s celebration of his son’s wedding, he sent his troops into the byways to bring in guests … we can’t help but imagine some, at least, were brought in forcibly. And then someone is bound and thrown out for not wearing the proper garment? Ouch!

But let’s look deeper, as this is a parable, and in every parable Jesus is teaching something.

Are you ready for the ultimate wedding feast, the welcome into the Eternal Banquet of Heaven?

I think that is really the central point of Jesus’ teaching today; be ready, at all times, to be the servant of God. We heard the message a few weeks ago, “… let the dead bury the dead …” in references to being strong enough and committed enough to be a disciple.

For some of us, it is far easier to be a Catholic on Sunday than the rest of the week; we might feel that attending Mass satisfies the command to keep holy the Lord’s Day, and technically, it does. But that is not enough. You and I must be ready at any time to be called to Eternal Life.

Please, don’t take that as a message filled with doom and gloom. It is actually a glorious hope! We have all probably heard the polite/happy exchange between people: “What a great day to be alive!” “You’re right! It’s better than the alternative!” And we laugh together at the joke.

But is it? Don’t we, as chosen followers of Jesus actually yearn for “… the alternative?” I hope so! For Jesus, however, His teaching emphasized the “both-and” understanding of this teaching. Yes, we yearn for Heaven, but we also are invited to be filled with joy in this life on earth (John 15:11).

So make yourself ready for Heaven now; go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation if you haven’t been in a while. Practice witnessing the Gospel on Tuesday and Wednesday, too, not just on Sunday. When we live every day according to the Gospel, as disciples filled with Jesus’ joy, then we will in fact make every day sacred. We will have clothed ourselves in the wedding garment of our Baptism!

I could probably write about ten pages on this week’s Gospel passage, but then the bulletin would contain nothing else. Suffice to point out some very obvious elements included in the parable:

Vineyard → grapes → wine → Blood of Christ!  

Father sent his son→ son is killed → Jesus is killed on Calvary!

And this parable is spoken by Jesusbefore the Last Supper, andbefore His Passion! Jesus knew what would unfold. One Biblical scholar and researcher, Robert Dunne, places this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees on Tuesday of Holy Week. In 48 hours He would celebrate the Passover with His Apostles and be arrested. In 72 hours from this Gospel exchange, He would die on the Cross … for those same Pharisees, for His Apostles and disciples, for His Mother, for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … and for you and I.

If you visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, it contains within the massive site both the Empty Tomb of Jesus, and the hill of Calvary. Down below the elevated viewing shrine for Calvary is a small glass window, looking at the rock that lies below where Jesus was crucified. The window shows that the rock is fractured with fine cracks.

Calvary – Golgotha – was at that time outside the walls of Old Jerusalem. Today it is within the walls of the city expanded by both Crusaders and Muslims over history. In Jesus’ time, they would never kill and bury the dead within the city!

Where Calvary stood was originally a quarry area, where large stone blocks – the size of tractor trailers – were being cut to expand the Temple mount. But those rocks were unacceptable to the Temple builders because of the cracks; Calvary was, literally, the “stone rejected by the builders which became the cornerstone.”

Think about that; think about how much we become aware of hidden within the Scriptures, viewed through the lens of time. Jesus’ listeners when today’s parable was new could not conceive of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, nor even of Jesus’ enduring presence in the world today, 2,000 years after they tried to silence him.

We are the Body of Christ; we are the living stones, rejected by the builders of secular society. We are the hands and feet, the eyes and ears of Christ in the world today, on our street, in our town, in our home. Be Christ to one another!

Before I get into this weekend’s Gospel, how about the beautiful week ahead of us?! We will celebrate the Feasts of The Archangels (Tuesday), then Saint Jerome and Saint Thérèse, The Little Flower, both doctors of the Church (Wednesday and Thursday), then the Feast of the Guardian Angels on Friday! Let us be sure to praise God for His Saints and Angels!

Matthew’s Gospel this Sunday presents a parable in the form of a question: Two sons are asked by their father to go into the vineyard; one says “no,” but later goes, the other says “yes,” but never goes out. Jesus asks: “Which one actually does the work of the Father?”

His listeners answer, as we might, “The first son!” Which son are we?

We need to follow the repentance and actions of the first son, because we often say “no” to God with our words and actions, and later regret those failures; we can see ourselves as the first son, especially when we start out our decisions guided by the secular demands on our lives. We heap all kinds of things on our calendars before we ask,“What is the Father asking me to do for Him today?”

We also often freely choose the path of the second son. It is our intention to say “yes,” and to follow the Gospel teaching at every moment. One commentator mentioned that even as we are vocally saying yes to God, we know that we have interior intentions that won’t allow that to happen. Our internal guide is real, but we deny it to ourselves even as we are offering a hopeful answer to God. So what is really needed?

We need to be both sons! We need to admit that sometimes, perhaps often, we begin our plans as the second son, actually planning to do the will of God, but then we realize that we did not follow through. It is then that we need to allow the first son to take over, to say,“OK, God, I wanted to do your will, I really did, but I have failed to do so. Now, let my actions return to Your good grace, to be reconciled, by actually taking up my cross and following You.”

What Jesus is teaching in this parable is that even when our good intentions fall short, we should not give up on our plans. Not following through on those plans immediately does not mean that won’t follow through with them eventually. Over the past six months, I have been increasingly intrigued by the theological implications of the little word, “yet.”

Father, I have not done your will yet, but give me the grace and humility to seek your forgiveness, and to follow your commands now!

Power, vs. Powerlessness. Consider the military commander in Jesus’ time: ranks of Roman soldiers could line up and destroy what stood before them, and often, they took just such actions. They had physical power, they had frightening power, and yet they could not stop the powerlessness of the infant, born poorly in a manger in Bethlehem, from changing the world then, and even now, two-thousand years later.

Consider also the power of a story. We often get distracted when we are studying, when we are trying to learn something complex, and yet we quickly engage with a story. We listen to the speaker; when the speaker is telling a story, you will see that even they set down their notes. When they are telling their own story, they don’t need notes; instead their passion informs every word they share, with excitement at the climax, and with whispers at the gentlest times.

Jesus didn’t express power with physical might, but with passion in what He came to teach. It was His Story, His own life being presented. And He taught with stories, with parables. Why? Because His listeners remembered them, and isn’t that the real measure of “teaching,” that what you say is remembered?

Today’s Gospel parable is a story of justice and mercy, and yet when first heard, it seems a story about injustice. Surely those who worked harder and longer should receive a greater reward, a greater payment for their efforts.

Except for Jesus, Whose reward is beyond all cost. No one can purchase or deserve Eternal Life; our humanity is that of a creature, burdened by Original sin, so we simply don’t live perfect lives. Why should we expect the perfection of Eternity with the Perfect Love of Jesus?

We should expect it because of today’s parable. Those who turned to Jesus first, along with those who turn to Him last each earn an undeserved promise of salvation. Only God can make that offer, and only God, through His Only Begotten Son could have purchased that for us.

That, my friends, is Our Story. It was written for us by our perfectly loving God, and only He could make the promise which Jesus fulfilled. Jesus told His story and made it Our Story; He told the story of perfect love with our creation, our pilgrim life on earth as His Creatures.

Now, He asks us to simply repeat the story we know in our hearts with our daily lives. When you live Your Life’s Story, you witness His Love Story.