March 5, 2021

Friday of the second week of Lent

1st Reading: Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13 17-28

Jacob’s sons envy their brother Joseph, and sell him into slavery

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.”
The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the desert, but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his rob, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

Responsorial: from Psalm 105

R./: Remember the marvels the Lord has done

When the Lord called down a famine on the land
and ruined the crop that sustained them,
He sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave. (R./)
They had weighed him down with fetters,
and he was bound with chains,
Till his prediction came to pass
and the word of the Lord proved him true. (R./)
The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions. (R./)

Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

Greedy for property, the wicked tenants kill the landowner’s son

Jesus said to the crowds, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Divine providence at work

The story of Jacob’s sons is told in some detail (Gen 37-50) in the final chapters of the Book of Genesis. Its main theme is made clear when Joseph calmly tells his brothers: “While you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve his purpose, the survival of many ” (50:19-20). God can use even a misguided and violent action to a positive end, even to the benefit of those who cared little for us. It was through Joseph’s perseverance that his family survived, to flourish in Egypt where they developed their distinctive religious traditions. In Jesus. case, his rejection by the Jewish leaders led to a gloriously new Israel, joining Jew and Gentile into one, worldwide family (Romans 11).
The survival of Joseph and the destiny of Jesus are splendid examples of divine providence at work. A divine plan permeates our existence. At times we may barely glimpse it, and some times we feel it clearly, yet always we are being directed and guided by a merciful providence. In his frequent use of the Hebrew scriptures Jesus was referring to his Father’s guiding plan. The early Christians firmly believed in this saving plan, that culminated in Jesus. They fully embraced the idea in today’s parable that, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the keystone. It was the Lord who did this and it is marvellous!”
Lent puts us into closer touch with divine providence, and helps us to begin again to desire our highest ideals, planted in us by God. It offers serenity even in the face of problems and disappointments if we can believe in a providence that directs everything towards some final good. If this belief of the patriarch Joseph becomes our own, it will have a marvelous effect, a truly rich harvest of grace.
The parable about the vineyard-owner’s son killed by his tenants was a graphic pointer to the Lord’s own passion and death. At the end of the parable, he quotes from the psalms, “It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone,” a prophecy of his resurrection. The One who was rejected by the religious and political leaders, rose from the dead and in so doing became the keystone of a new temple, the community of people who faithfully believed in him.
What may initially be repugnant to us can become a therapy by which God heals us. Parts of life that we tend to reject may be the very channels through which Christ teaches and draws us to himself. Our faith tells us that God always has a purpose for whatever happens. Although we may neglect God, God never neglects us.