The Parables of Jesus: the Body & the Vultures, the Tender Branch, the Sleeping Householder & the Thief, the Wise & Faithful Servant

Matthew 24:

"[1] And Jesus being come out of the temple, went away. And his disciples came to shew him the buildings of the temple. [2] And he answering, said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed. [3] And when he was sitting on mount Olivet, the disciples came to him privately, saying: Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world? [4]And Jesus answering, said to them: Take heed that no man seduce you: [5] For many will come in my name saying, I am Christ: and they will seduce many.

[6] And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places: [8] Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. [9] Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake. [10] And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another.

[11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. [12] And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. [13] But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved. [14] And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come. [15] When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.

[16] Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains: [17] And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house: [18] And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. [19] And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. [20] But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath.

[21] For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. [22] And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened. [23] Then if any man shall say to you: Lo here is Christ, or there, do not believe him. [24] For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. [25] Behold I have told it to you, beforehand.

[26] If therefore they shall say to you: Behold he is in the desert, go ye not out: Behold he is in the closets, believe it not. [27] For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall the coming of the Son of man be.[28] Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together. [29] And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: [30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty.

[31] And he shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. [32] And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. [33] So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors. [34] Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. [35] Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass.

[36] But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone. [37] And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. [38] For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark,[39] And they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be. [40] Then two shall be in the field: one shall be taken, and one shall be left.

[41] Two women shall be grinding at the mill: one shall be taken, and one shall be left. [42] Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come.[43] But know this ye, that if the goodman of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. [44] Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come. [45] Who, thinkest thou, is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath appointed over his family, to give them meat in season.

[46] Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord shall come he shall find so doing.[47] Amen I say to you, he shall place him over all his goods. [48] But if that evil servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming: [49] And shall begin to strike his fellow servants, and shall eat and drink with drunkards: [50] The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not:

[51] And shall separate him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Image taken from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem.jpg

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Now and forever. Amen.


Today, I decided to combine several parables into one, because they're all part of the same discourse. Instead of breaking them up into four, similar posts, I'm just going to write one very long post.

Today, we'll be looking at the well known "end times" prophecy given by Our Lord, Himself, from Matthew 24. I put up the entire chapter so that you could see the discourse in full, and so that you could see the full context of the parables.

Jesus comes out of the Temple (this follows Jesus' triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, where He spends some time (days) teaching in the Temple), and the disciples were eagerly showing Him how impressive the construction of the Temple was. Jesus responds by saying that not a single stone of the Temple wouldn't be destroyed. When they went out to Mount Olivet, the disciples asked Jesus privately a somewhat strange question: "Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world?"

The reason they ask Jesus this is because in saying that the Temple would be destroyed, He reminded them of the prophecy made by Daniel in Daniel 9:26-27: "[26] And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people with their leader that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation. [27] And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fall: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end."

Jesus' response even references Daniel, and the abomination of desolation. So, He understands where they are coming from with the question--they're on the same page. But His answer is somewhat confusing.

Many read this discourse as a discourse about the "end times", when Jesus will return to establish an everlasting kingdom and the souls of the just will be rewarded with heaven and the souls of the wicked will receive their condemnation in hell. Others read this, however, as only a prophecy of the destruction of the Temple by the Romans under Titus in the year 70 AD. I happen to think it's both, and more.

So, in this prophecy, I see a three-fold vision. The first is a prophecy about the historical event of the destruction of the Second Temple. This is a well-documented event. It fits the description that Jesus gives it, and the Christians, following Jesus' warning, actually remain safe from Roman slaughter and slavery because they fled the city well in advance of its final sacking.

In 66 AD, there was Jewish unrest due to new Roman taxation laws--the taxes were going up. The Roman governor, Gessius Florus, raided the Temple, removing 16 talents of gold from the Temple to satisfy the taxes that the Jews were withholding. This action, the entrance into the Temple by the Romans--unclean gentiles--was the abomination of desolation that Daniel prophesied, and that Jesus referenced. It was an abomination because only ritually clean Jews were permitted into the sanctuary of the Temple, and only the High Priest was allowed in the Holy of Holies. It was a violation of Jewish Law laid down by God through Moses, and was therefore an abomination to Him. It was a desolation because the Romans emptied the Temple coffers of gold--part of a wider desolation of high taxation that was bringing the Jewish people to ruin.

Over the next four years, the Jews revolted against Rome, and the land was plunged into war, until Jerusalem was finally sacked in 70 AD, and the Temple was destroyed. So the historical fulfillment of the prophecy is easy to trace. But, we cannot stop here.

A strange phrase is repeated both in Daniel and in Jesus' own prophecy: consummation of the world. This is made even stranger when we hear Jesus say that "this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." If we take the historical perspective, this makes sense, except that the consummation of the world hasn't yet occurred. Or has it?

The Jewish understanding of the Temple went something like this: The inner sanctuary, where God dwelled, symbolized Heaven. There were interior courts, and also exterior courts. The interior courts were the places where Jews could enter into, who were not of the priestly class, and this area was divided into different sections for the men and also for the women and children. The interior courts symbolized the Earth. The exterior courts was the part of the Temple that the gentiles were permitted to enter. This is generally where the money-changing, etc. took place. The exterior courts symbolized the Sea.

In this sense, then, the consummation of the world--the completion, the end--may be said to be the consummation of the Temple. Or said differently, the destruction of the Temple may be said to be the consummation of the world. In this sense, then, yes Jesus' prophecy that all would be completed before that generation passed was fulfilled.

But, this opens the prophecy up to more possibilities. After all, we ourselves, our bodies, are said to be Temples of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the Church itself is the Temple of the New Covenant, which makes sense because the Church is the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is the perfect Temple of the Holy Spirit.

The inner sanctuary is the human spirit, this part of our being represents heaven, as it is where God resides. Our bodies represent the earth, and the exterior world, our relationships to the things outside of us represent the Sea. So, in a real sense, for the Christian, this prophecy of Jesus represents our own individual lives. The abomination of desolation is grave (or mortal) sin, and leads to our destruction.

This makes Jesus' teaching here personally relevant. Now, we can start to make sense of these parables in our own lives. At the time preceding the destruction of the Second Temple, there were those who wanted to liberate Israel from the Romans. They proclaimed themselves to be Christ, the Messiah--for that is what the Jewish conception of the Messiah at the time was: a liberator, a king who would free Israel from foreign rule. In our own time, we have many who claim to be "the true church" or "true christians", and they perform all kinds of miraculous feats (such as healings, exorcisms, visions, prophecies, tongues, etc.). Jesus warns us not to be deceived.

What is the sign that Jesus says reveals the coming of the Son of Man? That is, how do we know where the truth is? "Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together." The imagery is that of eagles surrounding and eating a corpse. Notice that Jesus didn't say they were vultures. The reason is clear, the eagles represent the Saints, or the members of His true church. What are they doing? They're eating the body. This is veiled language for the Eucharist. In other words, Jesus says that if we want to be certain of the true Church, we will find it in the one who teaches the true presence in the Eucharist, and who eats of this meal.

But the question His disciples asked Him is "when" will this happen? He doesn't give us a when. He promises us warning signs to indicate that it is imminent. "And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh." But what He does tell us though, is that we need to be ready, because He may come at any moment, like lightning. That quickly. The destruction of the Temple in our own context is sin and death. If we sin, we destroy ourselves, spiritually. Jesus' second coming, in this context is our bodily death, and that will come unexpectedly, and we will face our particular judgment.

Unfortunately, many of us, myself included, behave as though death is far off, that judgment is far away. "[T]hat evil servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming: And shall begin to strike his fellow servants, and shall eat and drink with drunkards: The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not: And shall separate him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites." This is a stern warning.

In our lives we will face many tribulations. In every age, there has been war, and disease, and famine, and in our hearts there has been war--anger, fighting with our friends and families--there has been disease--sin and death--and there has been famine--a feeling of emptiness, spiritual dryness, despair. All these tribulations accompany us throughout our Faith lives. We must attend to the Eucharist, and be ready and watchful against sin.

"But know this ye, that if the goodman of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open." If you knew that you were going to die tomorrow and face judgment, you would not let yourself fall into sin. You would pray, and repent, and slam the door shut to anything that could even tempt you to sin. We must live like this always, because we do not know the hour that our time will come. Like lightening.

So, I exhort myself, and I exhort you, along with Our Lord, Jesus: don't be counted among the hypocrites. Do not profess the Faith, but then live as though death is afar, and you have time to live freely, not warding yourself against sin. The destruction of the Temple is near, live as though it is. Jesus' second coming is near: He is in the Eucharist. Welcome Him, and rejoice. Live this way, and when death finally comes, it will be a joyful moment, not a fearful one.

One last word. This prophecy of Jesus, and all the signs and warnings that come with it, does have Eschatalogical significance, that is, it does refer to the end of the world as well, in a real sense, but as to that, for now, I will remain silent. If we live our lives as though we are going to die tomorrow, then we don't need to worry so much about the end times, because we will be ready either way.

God bless you, and thank you for reading.

The Parables of Jesus: Two Sons Asked to Work

Matthew 21:28-31:

[28] But what think you? A certain man had two sons; and coming to the first, he said: Son, go work today in my vineyard. [29] And he answering, said: I will not. But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went. [30] And coming to the other, he said in like manner. And he answering, said: I go, Sir; and he went not.

[31] Which of the two did the father's will? They say to him: The first. Jesus saith to them: Amen I say to you, that the publicans and the harlots shall go into the kingdom of God before you.

Image taken from: https://i1.wp.com/www.mcfloogle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/TwoSons.jpg?fit=450%2C236&ssl=1

Praised be Jesus Christ!


Now and forever. Amen.


We have a short parable today. Just before we start, I want to give the context for this parable. Jesus has completed His triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, and the people saying "Hosanna in the son of David: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest." Then Jesus went to the Temple, and kicked out all the money changers, and then all the sick and lame came to Him to be healed, and the people continued to cry out, "Hosanna to the son of David."

The chief priests and scribes, hearing all this, became indignant and confronted Jesus. After a brief exchange, Jesus left the city for the night, then returned in the morning. On His way into Jerusalem, He cursed the barren fig tree. He went into Jerusalem, continuing to teach the people, and again He is confronted by the chief priests and scribes. They question His authority, but, refusing to answer Jesus' own question to them about John the Baptist's authority, Jesus refuses to reveal His own authority. Then He gives the above parable.

Okay.

Jesus again uses the vineyard motif to represent the world, and the work that needs to be done in the vineyard is the work of salvation in the world. This sets the parable, then, in the context of the Kingdom--which Jesus expressly confirms at the end in explaining the meaning of it. The father of the two sons, therefore, is God, Himself, and the two sons represent we, the people of God, who respond to God in two different ways.

We will start with the second son, who said to his father that he would go to work in the vineyard, but did not. The chief accusation that Jesus makes against the Pharisees, chief priests, and the scribes, throughout the Gospels, is their hypocrisy. Therefore, the second son is the hypocrite. He is the one who professes the Faith, saying "I believe", but then fails to enact the meaning of that profession: he fails to do the work of salvation in the vineyard--the world. He is the barren fig tree, which represents a fruitless Israel, who the Lord curses with perpetual barrenness, granting the true desire of his heart to live for himself, and not for the Lord and the work that He calls us to.

The first son, therefore, is perhaps who we might want to emulate more closely. Not precisely, because we don't want to reject God from the start. But we should recognize that every time we sin, it really is us saying "no" to God. Not, one might be tempted to draw a false conclusion about this parable. 

Jesus says, "Amen I say to you, that the publicans and the harlots shall go into the kingdom of God before you." Well that's a hard saying if you happen to be like the second son, who says "I go, Sir". You might be afraid that you are indeed like the second son, and are not living up to the calling of your Faith. But it's a challenge to you, and that's not a bad thing, as long as you try to rise up to meet it.

The false conclusion one might make is that God is freely bringing the "publicans and harlots" into the Kingdom without making any demands on them, or perhaps that one doesn't even need to make any kind of profession of Faith as long as one simply does the good work of the vineyard (i.e., leads a "good" life).

Jesus clearly says this of the first son, "But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went." This is the most important part of the parable. Repentance isn't merely an interior regret. Repentance implies a declaration of regret and a determination to change one's choices from evil to good--to live according to the Will of God. The publicans and harlots will go ahead of the chief priests and scribes if they repent of their sins, turn back to God and go to work in His vineyard. And they were! We see that throughout the Gospels. Jesus calling sinners to repentance, and they responding.

And that is our hope--that God is calling us to work in His vineyard, and even though we are sinners, and have said no to Him on many, many occasions, perhaps daily even, He has told us that as long as we repent, turn back to Him, and say yes to His invitation, and go work in His vineyard, then we can be content in knowing that we are doing the Will of the Father.

Repent. Say yes to Him. Do not be a hypocrite.

God bless, and thank you for reading.

The Parables of Jesus: The Labourers in the Vineyard

Matthew 20:1-16:

[1] The kingdom of heaven is like to an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. [2] And having agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. [3] And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle. [4] And he said to them: Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just. [5] And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. 

[6] But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: Why stand you here all the day idle? [7] They say to him: Because no man hath hired us. He saith to them: Go you also into my vineyard. [8] And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward: Call the labourers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first. [9] When therefore they were come, that came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. [10] But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more: and they also received every man a penny. 

[11] And receiving it they murmured against the master of the house, [12] Saying: These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats. [13] But he answering said to one of them: Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst thou not agree with me for a penny? [14] Take what is thine, and go thy way: I will also give to this last even as to thee. [15] Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? is thy eye evil, because I am good? 

[16] So shall the last be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Now and forever. Amen.

Merry Christmas, dear readers, and happy new year, and happy Epiphany week! I know it's been a while, and for that I do apologize. Today we have a great parable to look at, but once again, it's a challenge to us. It also has a lot of layers, so let's dig in.

From a surface level reading, this seems to be teaching us some economic principles. First of all, we might notice that the workers actually work in the vineyard for all of the daylight hours, which is approximately 12 hours. Remember, in the Jewish understanding (coming from Genesis), the new day begins at sundown (around 6 pm), and morning is at sunrise (around 6 am). So, the householder goes out early in the morning, around 6 am, and hires workers for his vineyard, who work the whole day, until the 12th hour, or about 6 pm.

So we have a 12 hour work day, which, for most of us in our time, is a much longer work day than we're used to (for most it's about an 8 hour work day). Remember that the next time you feel bagged at the end of the work day. Then remember also that the Jews worked six days a week, not five. That's a lot of productive capacity!

Moreover, we see some form of contract law. The householder contracts the workers to work the day for a penny (a silver denarius, which was the usual daily wage). It's a verbal contract, but the contract is understood as binding. In addition to this, we also see property rights in this story, as the householder, being the owner of the vineyard, and the one hiring the workers, has a right to pay his workers whatever he wants, because it's his money, his vineyard, and therefore he can pay them what he chooses.

But notice, of course, that he does not defraud the workers. Now, it might at first glance appear that there is an issue of justice here, because the workers who work fewer hours get paid the same as those who worked more, which doesn't seem fair. Indeed, the workers who started at the beginning of the day express precisely this, and feel that an injustice has been paid to them. Jesus addresses this in the parable, though. The workers agreed to the daily wage, which is the normal, daily wage that workers work for. The implication here is that if they worked anywhere else, this is what they'd get paid. Therefore, it wasn't that the householder paid them less than they deserved, but rather he paid those who worked fewer hours more than they "deserved". It demonstrates generosity on the part of the householder, rather than stinginess.

The workers who started at the beginning of the day were hoping to take advantage of the generosity of the householder, in the same way that those who came late received his generosity. But, he paid them their agreed rate, which is just.

So, that's all on the surface of the parable--but let's go a little deeper.

Remember that Jesus, as with most of his parables, begins with the phrase, "the Kingdom of Heaven is like..." Therefore, we know that this also reveals something to us about the God's plan for salvation, and His Church. So, one level down, you might say, this is about the historical kingdom: Israel and the Church (the New Israel).

The Jews were God's chosen people for the transmission of the Old Covenants. The Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, and of Shem (Semites), the son of Noah, were the people that God worked His promise of salvation through. The vineyard in the parable is the world, and the Jewish people were the workers that God hired from the beginning to work His vineyard. Those who are hired later in the day are the Gentiles. They all receive the same reward: heaven.

In the early days of the Church, immediately following Jesus' departure, the work of evangelization began, first among the Jews, and then a little later the Apostles began their work among the Gentiles. Paul recounts in his letter to the Galatians that he had to correct Peter on one occasion, because Peter wasn't being consistent in his behaviour among the Jews as among the Gentiles. Without getting into the specific mistake, the only point I want to make here is that it would be an error if we were to hold that the Jews have a special place in heaven because they were God's chosen people. The gift of heaven is open to all, and what matters is the heart of man, and his responsiveness to the Gospel, not what group he happens to be born into--this is also revealed in the parable, but I'll touch on it in more detail later on.

So, the first will be last and the last will be first. Just because you're a Jew doesn't mean you get special place. Now, I should say, this doesn't mean we, as Gentiles, should hold the Jews in low regard. They are our elder brothers in the Faith, and to hold them in low esteem would be a violation of the commandment to honor your father and your mother. Nevertheless, the reward at the end of our lives is the same, Jew or Gentile: eternal beatitude in the glory of heaven.

We can go one step deeper into this parable, though, and understand what it means for us, on an individual level. I'll repeat Jesus' statement again, because He says it many times in the Gospels: the first will be last and the last will be first. This is a challenge to our pride, and an invitation to humility. If we are upset by the notion that someone who converts late in life gets to go to heaven just the same as I, who has worked for the Church and the salvation of souls since I was a young boy (or girl, as the case may be), then that reveals something about your heart: that it is proud.

Remember what Jesus says in Luke 15:7: "I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance." This is the attitude that Jesus expects from us. Rather than grumbling that the latecomers to get the same pay, the labourers in the vineyard should be filled with joy that those who came late received the same daily wage. Why? Because it isn't that they didn't want to work--but rather that nobody would hire them. So, the householder rewarded the desire of their hearts: which was to work the whole day.

So, when we see one repent of their sins and turn to God, our hearts should be filled with Joy, whether this conversion comes early or late. Such a disposition is that of humility, recognizing we are all in need of God's grace, and that our life in the Church was by God's work in us, and not our work in ourselves. God gives to all the true desires of their hearts, whether early or late. Do we desire to work in the service of God? Or do we desire only the reward for that work? That's a good question to ask yourself.

There is one final point I want to make about this parable. The question of work versus grace is strong in this parable. On the one hand, our reward is a free gift of grace, and is not dependent upon how much work we do. I think you can see that clearly in the parable. On the other hand, that gift is given only to those who respond to the householder's invitation to work. The householder doesn't just go around giving people silver denarii! He invites them to work, and by their generous response to his invitation, and gives his grace generously, irrespective of how much work is actually done.

So, yes, God's gift of grace is generously given, but it is only given to those who actually respond and come to work. The workers at the 11th hour say in response to the householder who asked them why they were idle all day, "no one would hire us." They want to work--but they have nobody to work for. They were probably not expecting a full day's wage, for one hour's work. But they responded generously to the invitation of the householder to work, happy to receive the wage, even if it was for only one hour of work.

We who are raised in the Faith often have no sense of the desperate desire that there is among non-Christians, or even non-Catholics, for truth, and virtue, and a righteous mission. We don't have this sense because we already possess it--even if we're not living up to it.

Many are called, few are chosen. The chosen are those who respond to God's invitation to work for His Kingdom. God will reward us for that generosity of spirit--not based on how much work we actually do, but based on our desire to do that work. His reward is generous, even if we don't deserve it. All He asks is that we be willing, and that we respond to His call when He makes it.

God bless you, dear reader, and thank you for reading.