Twenty-seventh Sunday Gospel: A

Jesus said: "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. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants   to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. 

· Jesus is sharing with them how the prophets God sent to Israel were treated.

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

· Jesus is the Son sent by the Father. Jesus is the Son rejected by the leaders.

· This is another prediction of his own, violent death at the hands of the leaders.

What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?" They 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." 

· Jesus allowed them to judge their own actions.

· Recall what the prophet Nathan did in confronting David over the death of Uriah and the taking of his wife as David’s own to cover up the conception of their child. He asked his opinion and David gave the judgment against himself without knowing it.

Jesus 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'? 

· Jesus is quoting one of the psalms. He is the stone rejected by the leaders and yet he will be the foundation stone of the Kingdom of God.

Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit. 

· How has God blessed us? How have we responded to the blessings of God? Are we following the Lord’s plan or ours? Have we heard and acted on the word of God or rejected it?