All are welcome in God´s Kingdom

XXVII Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 21:33-43 Jesus 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. 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. 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. 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 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? 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."

A new week and we are still talking about the Reign of God as a vineyard. Two weeks ago it was the workers who were hired at different times of the day, but in the end they all received the same wage. Last Sunday it was the two sons, one who said that he was go and to work, but I didn't go and the other who said that he wouldn’t go but went. Today we find some heartless people who think that they have the right to the vineyard and when the owner sent his servants to collect their part of the vineyard they mistreated them and refused to pay the rent. Finally the owner sent his son and they killed him thinking that then they would be able to keep the vineyard themselves. I don't like parables of the vineyards because I don't like to think of the kingdom of God as going to work. I don't want to think of God as the owner and we are the workers. I like to think of the kingdom of God as a banquet, God is loving Father and we his children invited to the banquet. So why is it that Jesus keeps making this comparison to working in the vineyard as entering his kingdom? We have to remember who it was that Jesus was talking to. The parables are directed to the priests and elders of the people. And the thing is, they thought they had a right to the kingdom of God. They thought they were the good workers, faithful to the word of God, and so they had "won" the kingdom of God. They thought they had more right to God’s rewards than everyone else. Especially sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes. They didn't have belong, but the Pharisees did. That's why Jesus told these parables. Jesus’ message is that we can't earn the kingdom of God, we don't work to get the kingdom of God, it's not a matter of inheriting, no one has a right to the kingdom of God, no one is worthy to enter, no one owns it. So if we want to enter the kingdom of God, if we want to create the kingdom of God, what can we do? Now I want to ask those of you who are parents. What do your children have to do to earn your love? They don't have to work, they don't have to pay anything. The only thing they have to do to receive your love is accept it. Of course you want them to be hardworking, responsible, honest people and everything... but this is not how they earn your love. You love them just because they are your children. So, it is with the kingdom of God. To enter into the kingdom of God there isn´t an entrance fee, we don't have to work to get in. We don't have to pay anything. No! The only thing we need to do is accept it as a gift. And if we accept it, we will be good sons and daughters. The order is important... it is not behaving well, it is not working hard, it is not obeying all the laws that get us into the kingdom. No! It's accepting the kingdom and then we act differently we behave well, we work hard, were obedient. Why? Because we know that God loves us and we love God in return. Now comes the second part, and a great problem for the Pharisees. If we are not workers, but sons and daughters of God. What are we to each other? We are brothers and sisters. We have a relationship with each other. So we are not going to think that they are better than our brothers or we have more rights. We are all brothers and sisters and instead of comparing we are going to worry, we are going to love. This is what Pope Leo called empathy. We are going to love our brothers and sisters and worry that they all enter the kingdom of God. Like Pope Francis´ image of the kingdom. It is a big tent we all are welcome!