NB. Deacon preached tonight. Here's one from 2014. . .
27th Sunday OT
Fr.
Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA
Here's
a warning no servant of God ever wants to hear: “. . .the Kingdom
of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will
produce its fruit.” What's worse than living your life as an heir
to eternal life only to discover that—in the end—you've been
disinherited? When Jesus finishes telling the priests and elders the
parable of the murderous tenants, he quotes Ps 118, “The stone that
the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” By rejecting
Christ as the cornerstone of their relationship with God, the leaders
of God's people reject their inheritance. Their reaction to this
prophetic statement? They ain't happy. However, they are more afraid
than unhappy—afraid of Jesus' popularity, so they postpone
arresting him. They're not worried about losing their eternal
inheritance. They're worried about losing their power and prestige
among the people. When we think about the arduous demands of
faithfully following Christ, do we think first of our eternal
inheritance, or do we first consider how following him might look to
family, friends, or neighbors? Do we reject the cornerstone of our
faith in favor of not being noticed, in favor of never being
challenged or excluded from polite company?
Rejecting
God in favor of wealth, power, and fame is not new to the 21st
century. The parable of the tenants retells the history of the Jewish
people's stormy relationship with God. We know the story all too
well. It tells just like the history of the Church's relationship
with God: lots of disobedience and great moments of heroic virtue.
What the parable doesn't include is an explanation for our repeated
failures. We can hear greed
in the tenants' justification for killing the owner's son. But greed
never poisons alone. We can hear a little wrath
in the tenants' desire to wound their employer. Some pride
and class envy.
Why do the priests and elders reject Christ? Why do we so
consistently reject making Christ the cornerstone of our lives.
Making Christ the cornerstone of our everyday lives means risking one
of our most valuable treasures: being
a respected player in whatever social game that defines us.
Family, friends, co-workers, colleagues, neighbors, fellow
parishioners. If I make Christ my cornerstone, will I have to buck
popular political trends, go against the prevailing attitudes of my
peers, and risk losing real prestige for nothing more than a promise
of future glory?
Social
psychologists will tell you that there is almost nothing more
difficult for an individual to do than go against the crowd. The
psychology of the herd is infectious; it takes the single soul into a
massed spirit where deliberation and freedom are strangled for the
sake of frenzy. But few of us will ever be caught up in that sort of
mob. The mobs we belong to are much more subtle and more dangerous:
the workplace, the family reunion, movie night with friends, faculty
meetings, events where those whose opinions of us we honor gather to
socialize and strengthen the bonds of the group. When the opportunity
arises, do we choose Christ as our cornerstone; or do we choose our
standing in the group? When family, friends, co-workers express their
support for the culture of death, do you stand on Christ; or do you
back down to save face? When your peers start advocate undermining
marriage and the family; or expressing racist opinions; or defaming
the Church, do you stand on Christ, or back down? If Christ is to be
your cornerstone, then everything you are must find its integrity and
strength in Christ, regardless of the consequences. As baptized
prophets of the Church, you are sent out to live the truth of the
gospel. Even if and especially when it means your prestige must take
a beating. When the time comes, will you “remember the marvelous
works of the Lord,” most especially the marvelous work of your
salvation achieved on the altar of the Cross?
If
contemplating your willingness to remain faithful to Christ and his
Church is making you nervous, listen again to Paul: “Have no
anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God
that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus.” The peace of God will guard our hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus if we make known to him – in prayer with thanksgiving
– all that we need. If you need strength
to stand firmly on his cornerstone, ask for it with thanksgiving. If
you need patience
to stand diligently on his cornerstone, ask for it with thanksgiving.
If you need wisdom to stand knowledgeably on his cornerstone, ask for
it with thanksgiving. Nothing you need to stand upon the cornerstone
of Christ will be denied you if you seek it out and simply ask for it
with thanksgiving. Any anxiety you may be feeling b/c of who you are
in Christ is the product of the Enemy coaxing you toward silence,
toward defensiveness and silence. The peace that God gives us
surpasses all understanding, all anxiety, all hesitancy and guile.
When we speak up to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, it is not
our tongues that speak but his. Not our words but his. Not our time
and energy spent but his. As his faithful servants, we serve his
mission and ministry by continuing to speak his Word of mercy to
anyone who will listen.
Paul
not only tells us how to pray for what we need to stand on the
cornerstone of Christ, he also tells us how to go about training our
hearts and minds for the holy work that the Lord has given us to
complete. He writes, “. . .whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, pure, lovely, gracious, if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Just as we work to discipline our bodily appetites against
temptation, avoiding those occasions where we might be tempted to put
the things of this world before God, so too can we work to discipline
our hearts and minds against the invasive ideas and passions –
falsity, dishonor, injustice, impurity, ugliness, crudity,
mediocrity, and scorn. Look at the tenants who murder the vineyard
owner's son. They think about murder and talk about murder before
actually committing murder. They fail to resist greed and anger, and
they feed one another's passions until the deed is done. They would,
according to the priests and elders, suffer “wretched deaths” for
their failure to discipline themselves. When we make a stand on the
cornerstone of Christ and lay claim to our inheritance as the
Father's sons and daughters, our words and deeds must bring honor,
dignity, and praise to His name.
The
builders God raised up rejected Christ as their cornerstone, and
Christ says to them, “. . .the kingdom of God will be taken away
from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” We
stand with Christ in his Church to proclaim the Good News of
salvation. Whether this stand is popular or not; prestigious or not;
profitable or not. If we would be the people who produce the good
fruit of His kingdom, the people to inherit the Kingdom of heaven on
our last day, then we must stand with Christ as he died for us.
Follow HancAquam or Subscribe ----->
