Readings:
Genesis 37:3-28; Psalm 105; Matthew 21:33-46

His brothers saw him in the distance, and before he reached them they made a plot among themselves to put him to death. Here comes the man of dreams, they said to one another. ‘Come, let us kill him and throw him into some well; we can say that a wild beast devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams.‘
Genesis 37:18-20

Jesus tells the chief priests and the elders the parable of the landowner who built a vineyard, then sent his servants to collect the produce, but the tenants kill the servants. The landowner sends his son and the tenants say, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.’ Then Jesus said, ‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.‘
Taken from Matthew 21

The Gospel accounts of Jesus’ passion and death have the constant refrain, ‘as Scripture ordained’, or ‘now all this happened to fulfil the prophecies in Scripture’, strange phrases which, if taken literally, seem to do away with human freedom. If there is no human freedom, there is no guilt, no sin, no need of redemption or forgiveness.

The opening verse of Scripture includes, ‘There was darkness over the deep, and God’s Spirit hovered over the water.’ This is an eternal truth, for God’s Spirit is always hovering over the chaos, our individual and corporate chaos, bringing life and order out of it, a theme which runs through the whole Bible story. We are free, can freely reject God, but God is always greater and can bring good out of our evil. On Holy Saturday, the Church sings, in the ancient hymn called the Exsultet, ‘O happy sin of Adam, which brought us such a redeemer!’ When Joseph becomes chief steward in Egypt and his hungry brothers come looking for food, Joseph eventually reveals himself to them and says, ‘Do not grieve, do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here, since God sent me before you to preserve your lives’ (Genesis 45:5).

In John’s account of the passion, when human beings had done their worst and pierced the side of Christ with a lance. ‘there came out blood and water’, which John sees as the blood and water in which we are redeemed. The phrase ‘as Scripture ordained’ is, perhaps, a way of reminding us that no human action, no matter howevil, can ever overpower the creative power of God’s love.

We need to ponder the truth of this in our own lives. It is sometimes only in later life that individuals become aware of the damage done to them, usually unintentionally, by parents, or teachers, deep-seated damage which can cause lifelong affliction. There is also the damage done to us by people other than parents or teachers, and the damage we have done to them and to ourselves. We can spend the rest of our lives resenting the damage done by others and being full of remorse at the damage we have done. We have to acknowledge this damage done to us and the damage we have done, hand it over to God, let his Spirit hover over it and transform it. Our faith teaches us that no situation, no individual, no group, no circumstance is ever hopeless.

In the parable, the Jewish authorities, the chief priests and elders, are warned that the kingdom of God will be taken from them and given to a people who will produce its fruit. The parable is included in the Gospels as a warning to the Church, for the Church, too, can lose sight of its vocation, become more concerned with its maintenance than its mission, and fail to recognize God’s working in the signs of the times. In our own times, clearer messages and more effective action for world peace came from communist Russia and from humanists than from Western leaders, who claimed to be Christian. In championing the oppressed and defending human rights, the unbelievers have often been more compassionate than believers.

Prayer
God, in the beginning, now, and forever, your life-giving Spirit hovers over our chaos, bringing order out of disorder, light out of darkness, life from death. Deepen our faith in your unbounded goodness, so that finding hope in our own brokenness, we can encourage and support the afflicted to find hope when everything seems hopeless. We ask you this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.