Another controversy this week in the Gospel attempts to trap Jesus. He is asked to identify the greatest commandment of the law. Jesus’ summary of the law points to two commandments, to love God and love neighbor as yourself. Jesus proves his fidelity to the Jewish tradition and “his commitment to a spirituality that emphasizes the essentials.” The Pharisees in this part of the Gospel are attempting to trap Jesus and a scholar of the law, believes this question would trip him up. Apparently, Jesus answers the question with ease.

The selection from Exodus, extends the concept of the justice in the Decalogue to a broader obligation to love one’s neighbor. The example of an alien is used, because a foreigner did not enjoy full civic rights as did the Israelites, however, they were to be treated fairly with justice. The example used calls to mind the exile of Israel and its own uncertain existence in Egypt. The insistence that love and charity are the pinnacle of living the law in this passage strengthens Jesus’ response to the legal scholar’s question in the Gospel.

The selection from First Thessalonians lays out a two part process in their conversion to Christianity: 1) worship and obedience to the living and true God, instead of paganism and false gods and 2) awaiting the arrival of God’s Son from heaven. The mention of Jesus’ resurrection is the first written record of the event in existing Christian literature. It serves the purpose of showing why the historical person of Jesus can be expected to come as God’s Son from heaven, which is because God raised him from among the dead.

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The selection from Isaiah has the prophet emphasizing the oneness of the true God. There is no God beside Yahweh, neither in Israel or beyond. The only power behind Cyrus the King and behind Jacob is Yahweh, who “is the Lord” for there is no other.

The selection from First Thessalonians is no doubt from the earliest authentic letter of St. Paul. After an extended greeting of peace and thanksgiving, Paul states for the community that the Gospel of Christ has come to them, not only in word, but in power and in the Holy Spirit. This very formal greeting situates the word of Paul in the context of the broader salvation history and grounds the preaching of the Gospel by Paul as powerful and bearing fruit in their midst.

The selection from Matthew’s Gospel this Sunday turns from the parables to a second controversy, that of paying taxes. The Pharisees resented paying taxes, while the Herodians may have administered the system of taxation in Palestine. They sought to trap Jesus. If he agrees that taxes should be paid, he will lose the respect of the religious leaders (Pharisees), if he denies that taxes should be paid, he would be subject to arrest as a political revolutionary. Jesus moves the debate to another level by challenging his opponents to be as observant “in paying their debts to God as they are in paying their debts to the emperor.” His opponents’ hypocrisy is revealed as not really religious, and Jesus gains the moral high ground in eluding their trap.

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The first reading and Gospel today both describe images of a great feast. The passage from Isaiah is quite familiar as a favorite selection for the Order of Christian Funerals. The description of the banquet in succulent terms suggests a celebration after a victory. On Mt. Zion (presumably), all peoples are invited to this great feast and all people are encouraged to eat their fill. Most probably, the mouth watering description of the banquet reflects the “desire of an impoverished people for a bountiful meal.” Above and beyond the feast, though, it is stated that God will destroy death forever. The implication is that God will remove all threats that terrorize humanity including the ultimate one, death.

The passage from Matthew’s Gospel speaks of the wedding feast as an image of life in the kingdom of God. The king and his son clearly represent God and Jesus. The first invitation that is refused points to the prophets. The second invitation (John the Baptist and Jesus) encounters indifference and hostility to the point of those servants being executed. A further piece of the parable tells of a man improperly dressed for the banquet who is thrown out by the host. The moral of the story is that an invitation to the kingdom must be accepted and acted upon so that when the banquet begins, one will be properly prepared to participate. The invitation has been offered to all kinds of people, but only a few of them have acted upon it in such a way to be allowed to participate in the banquet of the kingdom. Later Christian writers would see the image of a “proper garment” as a symbol of baptism. The selection from the Letter to the Philippians situates need and abundance in the life of the disciple…both states shall be known by those who follow Jesus.

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In the Gospel today we hear the parable of the vineyard and its “wicked tenants” who beat up and killed the owner’s servants and son. The evangelist obviously uses images and language from Isaiah which is the first reading for today.

Isaiah’s “song” of the vineyard offers a double allegory pointing to infidelity in the covenant. The speaker does not at first disclose his true subject but leads his listeners to pass judgment before they realize that they are condemning themselves. The fact that this is portrayed as a “love song” sung for a friend suggests that the friend’s vineyard is really his “wife”. With a hint of marital infidelity, the parable explicitly evokes the judgment on Israel and Judah which is a result of their infidelity to the covenant with God. There is more nuance to the allegory. One commentator writes, “The vineyard was very valuable property that contributed greatly to the life of luxury. It symbolized the wealth of the land. The parable suggests that this wealth has not produced a just society. The threat that the vineyard would be overgrown by thorns and briers was fulfilled rather literally after the Assyrian invasions.”

The Gospel parable very clearly draws from Isaiah, yet changes the allegory. The “wicked tenants” are the people of Israel that did not listen to the words of the prophets (servants) and those sent by God. When the vineyard owner sends his only son (Jesus), they beat him and killed him. The conclusion of the Gospel story points the finger back at the scribes and Pharisees that rejected Jesus as the Son of God. The “stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone,” and so the kingdom of God would be taken away from the “professional religious” and given to a people (the world) that would produce much fruit. The parable and explanation throws light on the tension in the early Church between the universal salvation brought to the world in Jesus and the limited reach of Christ’s salvation that the early Judeo Christians believed.

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