20201004 THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO AN UNREQUITED LOVE
04 October, 2020, Sunday, 27th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading | Isaiah 5:1-7 © |
Against the Lord’s vineyard
Let me sing to my friend
the song of his love for his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
He dug the soil, cleared it of stones
and planted choice vines in it.
In the middle he built a tower,
he dug a press there too.
He expected it to yield grapes,
but sour grapes were all that it gave.
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
I ask you to judge
between my vineyard and me.
What could I have done for my vineyard
that I have not done?
I expected it to yield grapes.
Why did it yield sour grapes instead?
Very well, I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge for it to be grazed on,
and knock down its wall for it to be trampled on.
I will lay it waste, unpruned, undug;
overgrown by the briar and the thorn.
I will command the clouds
to rain no rain on it.
Yes, the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts
is the House of Israel,
and the men of Judah
that chosen plant.
He expected justice, but found bloodshed,
integrity, but only a cry of distress.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 79(80):9,12-16,19-20 © |
The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
You brought a vine out of Egypt;
to plant it you drove out the nations.
It stretched out its branches to the sea,
to the Great River it stretched out its shoots.
The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Then why have you broken down its walls?
It is plucked by all who pass by.
It is ravaged by the boar of the forest,
devoured by the beasts of the field.
The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
God of hosts, turn again, we implore,
look down from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and protect it,
the vine your right hand has planted.
The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
And we shall never forsake you again;
give us life that we may call upon your name.
God of hosts, bring us back;
let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.
Second reading |
Philippians 4:6-9 © |
If there is anything you need, pray for it.
There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn15:15 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends, says the Lord,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.Jn15:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I chose you from the world
to go out and bear fruit,
fruit that will last,
says the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 21:33-43 © |
This is the landlord's heir: come, let us kill him
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
It was the stone rejected by the builders
that became the keystone.
This was the Lord’s doing
and it is wonderful to see?
‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’
THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO AN UNREQUITED LOVE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISAIAH 5:1-7; PHILIPPIANS 4:6-9; MATT 21:33-43 ]
It is the constant teaching of the bible that God loves us tremendously and that His love is unconditional. His love cannot be merited nor earned. God gives us His love freely without conditions. Justification or salvation is faith in His love and mercy alone. Yet, there is a danger when this proclamation is over-emphasized to the extent that a response is not necessary; and that all of us can be saved, whether we respond to His love or not, or whether we do good or evil. When this happens, love that is received is unappreciated. Worse still, the gospel of Christ is reduced to cheap grace. This is precisely what happened to the Israelites in the first reading, and the Jewish leaders during the time of Jesus. Ingrates are of two kinds, namely, those who do not appreciate what they have, and those who are not only unappreciative but would even repay kindness with evil.
In the first instance, in the parable of the Vineyard from Prophet Isaiah, we hear the aching words of God who was disappointed at the lack of response from Israel. In spite of the fact that God had given everything that Israel needed, instead of growing to become more like God in love, the people lived a life without integrity, justice and love. Israel took the unconditional love of the Lord for granted. They did not respond by living a covenanted life with God and with each other. Instead of living as a community, the people were destroying each other. This was certainly not the kind of community that God intended for Israel.
In the second parable of the Wicked Tenants, we have the case of ingrates who returned evil for kindness. These ingrates were worse than those who abused their privileges. These were the people who would bite the very hands that feed them. Instead of repaying the kindness of the owner by settling their dues; the tenants had his servants, messengers and even his own son murdered. This was the height of greed and ingratitude. Of course, this parable was directed at the Jewish leaders. Instead of being grateful to God, they became so self-righteous and blind to their pride and selfishness.
Of course, we too can easily identify ourselves with God. Often, people whom we have loved or nurtured forget us when they become successful in life. These are the people whom we have loved, cared for and helped financially, materially and emotionally. And yet these same people would be the ones who will one day become our enemies and turn against us. They will slander and plot against us. This is perhaps the greatest kind of pain that one can suffer. Indeed, I have come across numerous cases where parents were driven out of their house after having given all their savings to their children. Instead of being grateful to their parents for paying for their education and even their house, they make life difficult for them and eventually evict them from their their own house. Such sad stories are common and heart-breaking. It is really tragic.
In the face of such ingratitude, what is the appropriate response? The instinctive reaction is to retaliate. An eye for an eye is the principle that many people live by. That is why some of us can become very vicious because of unrequited love. Some become so vicious to the extent of plotting to destroy the people that they love. Others demand the return of gifts that have been given. Retaliation however is certainly not the way to resolve and heal the situation. Vindictiveness and revenge would only breed greater misery, not only for those who hurt us but also for the aggrieved party as well. It would be self-defeating. To react to situations make us slaves of others. It means that others are dictating our happiness and our lives and how we act. Thus, instead of reacting, we must choose to act and to act rightly. We are called to be actors, not reactors.
What, then, should our response be? We should take heed of the advice of St Paul. He asked us not to worry but to seek the peace of God. This peace of God “which is so much greater than we can understand”, will guard our hearts and thoughts. Unless we pray for this peace of God within ourselves, then it is not possible to make any response. The truth is that when we are hurt, we cannot love. Indeed, a person who is hurt can only think of his pain and nothing else. So long as we nurse our pain and hurts, we cannot love others who have hurt us. We would only react and not act on the wrongs that we encounter. In any case, to bear grudges and nurse our anger is to hurt ourselves even more. Truly, until we are at peace, within and without, we cannot think rightly, much less to talk about forgiveness.
How can we maintain our peace? St Paul says that we must pray for it with prayer and thanksgiving. Only in prayer can we come to understand ourselves better and look at the problem from another perspective and look at life the way God sees others. We must also pray with thanksgiving in our hearts. Only a thankful person can look at life objectively. A thankful person is one who is able to see the goodness in every situation even when it is an unpleasant event. In thanksgiving, we learn to be grateful for all that we already have and the opportunities given to us to grow to become stronger and more loving. Through prayer and thanksgiving, we find peace within ourselves because we eventually acquire the mind and heart of Christ.
With the mind of Christ, we can now speak of a redemptive love. We will come to understand that revenge and retaliation is not the way to heal the situation. The fact that a person is ungrateful to us already implies that he is sick at heart and in his mind. He is more to be pitied than to be blamed. Hence, we must take the cue from God Himself. He allowed His Son to suffer a tragic death so that His death can be redemptive. For God knows that the only way to conquer evil and selfishness is through love unto death. It is the way of unconditional love. This is the cornerstone of life that Jesus speaks about. The way of foolish love is the keystone by which God will win us over to His love. When we experience the forgiving love of someone whom we have been unjustly wronged, we cannot but feel ashamed and be transformed in our lives.
Furthermore, when we reflect on our own lives, we also recognize how often we have been ungrateful to others as well, especially to God who has loved and blessed us so much. None of us can claim that we have responded totally to the love of God. None of us can boast that we have given a total response. If that is so, then it behooves us to have compassion on others who have not given the full response to the love and goodness that we have showered on them. Like us, they too need time to grow in gratitude and be sensitive to the goodness and kindness of others. In this respect, Paul is the perfect example. He himself understood how he had failed to respond to God’s love. But God had been merciful to him by giving him a new start.
In the final analysis, we must not take matters into our own hands. If ungrateful people do not change their selfish attitudes, then ultimately, they will only harm themselves. We must realize that if God wants us to respond to His love by living a good, holy, loving and righteous life, it is not for His sake but for ours. For without a life of justice, love and peace, we cannot be truly happy. We will only hurt ourselves and destroy ourselves when we fail to respond to God’s love by being transformed into this likeness. This, precisely, is the warning of the first reading and the gospel. It must not be seen as a threat but rather as a warning when Jesus said, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants.” For if we do not appreciate what we have, then one day when our privileges will be taken away from us. We will have no one to blame except ourselves. And we cannot blame those who take away our privileges since love cannot be imposed.
This is our challenge today. Will we become reactors when others are ungrateful to us in love; or will we be actors and respond to ingrates with compassion, forgiveness and patience? Because if we do, then perhaps with God’s grace, they will one day come to their senses. And if we are the ingrates, then we need to conscientise ourselves lest we suffer the foolishness of our indifference and selfishness. Instead of bearing fruits for us, we will turn sour and become bitter with life. The choice is ours.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment