The Kingdom of God is given to those who produce its fruit

February 26, 2016

Friday of the Second Week of Lent

Saint of the Day:  Saint Porphyry, Bishop, (+420)

Reading 1

Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a

3Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic. 4When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.

12One day, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem,

13aIsrael said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem. Get ready; I will send you to them.”

17bSo Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan. 18They noticed him from a distance, and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him. 19They said to one another: “Here comes that master dreamer! 20Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams.”

21When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from their hands, saying, “We must not take his life.[1] 22Instead of shedding blood,” he continued, “just throw him into that cistern there in the desert; but do not kill him outright.” His purpose was to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.

23So when Joseph came up to them, they stripped him of the long tunic he had on;

24then they took him and threw him into the cistern, which was empty and dry.

25They then sat down to their meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, balm and resin to be taken down to Egypt.

26Judah said to his brothers: “What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? 27Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. 28They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.[2]

Responsorial Psalm

Psalms 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21

R. (5a) Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

16When the LORD called down a famine on the land and ruined the crop that sustained them, 17He sent a man before them, Joseph, sold as a slave.

R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

18They had weighed him down with fetters, and he was bound with chains, 19Till his prediction came to pass and the word of the LORD proved him true.

R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

20The king sent and released him, the ruler of the peoples set him free. 21He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions.

R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

Verse Before The Gospel JJohn 3:16

God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son;

so that everyone who believes in Him might have eternal life.

Gospel 
Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

33Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.[3]

34When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.[4] 35But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned.

36Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way.

37Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’[5] 39They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.[6]

40What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”

41They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.”[7]

42Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?[8]

43Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”[9]

45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they knew that He was speaking about them.[10] 46And although they were attempting to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded Him as a prophet.

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Notes on Readings:

[1] Genesis 37:21-36 - The chapter thus far is from the Yahwist source, as are also Genesis 37:25-28a. But Genesis 37:21-24 and Genesis 37:28b-36 are from the Elohist source. In the latter, Reuben tries to rescue Joseph, who is taken in Reuben's absence by certain Midianites; in the Yahwist source, it is Judah who saves Joseph's life by having him sold to certain Ishmaelites. Although the two variant forms in which the story was handed down in early oral tradition differ in these minor points, they agree on the essential fact that Joseph was brought as a slave into Egypt because of the jealousy of his brothers.

[2] Genesis 37:28 - They sold Joseph . . . silver: in the Hebrew text, these words occur between out of the cistern and (they) took him to Egypt at the end of the verse.

[3] Matthew 21:33 - Planted a vineyard . . . a tower: compare with Isaiah 5:1-2. The vineyard is defined in Isaiah 5:7 as "the house of Israel."

[4] Matthew 21:34-35 - His servants: Matthew has two sendings of servants as against Mark's three sendings of a single servant(Mark 11:2-5a) followed by a statement about the sending of "many others" (Mark 11:2, 5b). That these servants stand for the prophets sent by God to Israel is clearly implied but not made explicit here, but see Matthew 23:37. His produce: compare with Mark 12:2"some of the produce." The produce is the good works demanded by God, and His claim to them is total.

[5] Matthew 21:38 - Acquire his inheritance: if a Jewish proselyte died without heir, the tenants of his land would have final claim on it.

[6] Matthew 21:39 - Threw him out . . . and killed him: the change in the Marcan order where the son is killed and his corpse then thrown out (Matthew 12:8) was probably made because of the tradition that Jesus died outside the city of Jerusalem; see John 19:17; Hebrews 13:12.

[7] Matthew 21:41 - They answered: in Mark 12:9 the question is answered by Jesus himself; here the leaders answer and so condemn themselves; compare with Matthew 21:31. Matthew adds that the new tenants to whom the vineyard will be transferred will give the owner the produce at the proper times.

[8] Matthew 21:42 - Compare with Psalm 118:22-23. The psalm was used in the early church as a prophecy of Jesus' resurrection; see Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7. If, as some think, the original parable ended at Matthew 21:39 it was thought necessary to complete it by a reference to Jesus' vindication by God.

[9] Matthew 21:43 - Peculiar to Matthew. Kingdom of God: see the footnote on Matthew 19:23-24. Its presence here instead of Matthew's usual "kingdom of heaven" may indicate that the saying came from Matthew's own traditional material. A people that will produce its fruit: believing Israelites and Gentiles, the church of Jesus.

[10] Matthew 21:45 - The Pharisees: Matthew inserts into the group of Jewish leaders (Matthew 21:23) those who represented the Judaism of his own time.