26 February 2027 · Latin Rite
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“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’?” Matthew 21:42
On the Fridays of Lent the Church sets before us the mystery of the beloved son who is rejected. Joseph is his father's favourite, “the son of his old age,” and Jacob makes him a long robe with sleeves. His brothers hate him and “could not speak peaceably to him.” When Jacob sends him to see how they are, they see him coming from far off and say: “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.” Reuben saves his life; Judah suggests a profit instead: they sell him to traders “for twenty pieces of silver,” and he is taken down to Egypt. Envy has done its work. But the Psalm sings what the brothers could not see: God “had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.” The one they threw into the pit would one day feed them in a famine and forgive them. Years later Joseph would say: “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good.”
In the Gospel Jesus tells the story of a vineyard owner who plants, fences, builds a tower and leases it to tenants. At harvest he sends servants for his share; the tenants beat one, kill another, stone another. Last of all he sends his son: “They will respect my son.” But the tenants say: “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” They throw him out of the vineyard and kill him. The chief priests and Pharisees realise he is speaking about them. Jesus is telling his own story, a few days before it happens: he will be sold for silver like Joseph, taken outside the city and killed. And yet, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing.” God turns the worst that sin can do into the foundation of our salvation. On this Lenten Friday we ask: do I welcome the Son, or do I want the vineyard for myself? And what fruit am I giving to the Lord of the vineyard?
Theme: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
The beloved son sold by envy, the son thrown out of the vineyard, and the God who turns evil into good.
“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.”” Genesis 37:19–20
““The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him,” Acts 7:9
Apply: Bring your envy to confession this Lent, and pray daily for the one you envy.
“he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.” Psalm 105:17
“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’” Matthew 21:38
Apply: Make the Way of the Cross this Friday, staying a moment longer at the second station, where Jesus takes up the cross.
“Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.” Genesis 50:20
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
Apply: Offer one rejection or hurt you carry, and ask God to bring good from it.
Joseph sold for silver is a figure of Christ betrayed.
The rejected Son is the cornerstone of our salvation.
Take-home resolution: Pray the Way of the Cross on the Fridays of Lent.
Dear friends, Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age (Genesis 37:3). His brothers hated him. When they saw him coming they said: here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him (Genesis 37:19–20). In the end they sold him for twenty pieces of silver.
Envy is a quiet sin, but it can lead to terrible things. It cannot bear another's good. Yet God was with Joseph. The pit led to Egypt, Egypt to the palace, and the palace to bread for his brothers in the famine. What they meant for evil, God meant for good.
In the Gospel the vineyard owner sends his own son, saying: they will respect my son. But the tenants say: this is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance (Matthew 21:38). Jesus is telling his own Passion. Like Joseph, he will be sold for silver and handed over.
And yet: the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing (Matthew 21:42). On this Lenten Friday let us stand at the cross and give the Lord the fruit he seeks: a heart without envy, hands that share, and lives that welcome his Son. Amen.
Children, Joseph's brothers were jealous and sold him far away. But God took care of Joseph and turned it all into good. Jesus was also rejected, but God made him our Saviour. When you feel jealous, ask Jesus to give you a happy heart!
Lord Jesus, beloved Son of the Father, you were sold and thrown out and killed, yet you became the cornerstone of our salvation. Free us from envy and greed, make us fruitful tenants of your vineyard, and turn all our sufferings to good. Amen.
In both readings a father sends a beloved son, and those he is sent to plot his death in almost the same words: “Come now, let us kill him” (Genesis 37:20), “come, let us kill him” (Matthew 21:38). Joseph, stripped and sold by his brothers, is on his way to become the savior of his family. The son of the vineyard owner, thrown out and killed, becomes the rejected stone that holds up the whole building. The Lenten path leads to Good Friday, and the reader of Genesis knows it will not end there. The key words are beloved, heir and cornerstone.
Setting.
The last section of Genesis (chapters 37–50) is one long story, the story of Joseph and his brothers. It tells how the family of Jacob, here called Israel, came to Egypt. Its great theme will be stated only at the end: human malice cannot defeat God’s plan.
The Lectionary leaves out Joseph’s two dreams (vv. 5–11), in which his brothers’ sheaves and then the sun, moon and stars bow down to him. These are what lie behind the mocking word “dreamer”. Jacob’s favoritism and Joseph’s telling of his dreams do not help matters. The family is real, and God works through it.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children,” (37:3)
The Bible does not hide the problem and does not approve of it. It shows how love given unequally can hurt a family.
“They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits;” (37:19–20)
Jesus’ parable uses nearly the same words, and that is surely why these two readings are paired.
“and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.” (37:24)
A small detail with a meaning: in that dry land an empty pit means slow death by thirst. The next verse says, “Then they sat down to eat”.
“What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?” (37:26)
Judah’s motive is unattractive: profit. He will have a long journey to make. In chapter 44 he will offer himself as a slave in place of Benjamin. Readers who stay with the story can see conversion happen.
“and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.” (37:28)
Twenty shekels was the valuation of a male between five and twenty years old (Leviticus 27:5). Christian readers think of the silver in Matthew 26:15.
How the Church reads it.
St Stephen tells this story in his speech: “The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him” (Acts 7:9). The Fathers often read Joseph as a figure of Christ: the beloved son sent by the father, stripped, sold, thought dead, and exalted to give bread to the nations. St Ambrose wrote a whole treatise on him. The Catechism draws from Joseph its teaching on providence and evil: “God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20; CCC 312). God does not will the sin, yet he can bring a greater good out of it.
Setting.
Jesus is in the Temple during his last days. The chief priests and elders have just challenged his authority (21:23), and he answers with three parables, of which this is the second. Everyone hearing it would remember Isaiah’s song of the vineyard: “the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel” (Isaiah 5:7). Jesus’ opening words are drawn directly from it.
In Isaiah, the fault lies in the vines, which produce wild grapes. In Jesus’ parable the vineyard is good, and the fault lies in those entrusted with it. That is an important difference. Absentee landlords and tense relations with tenants were a familiar reality in Galilee in those days.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower.” (21:33)
The owner has done everything that could be done. The list is drawn from Isaiah 5:2.
“Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’” (21:37)
Sending him is a foolish thing to do by any human reckoning. No sensible owner would risk it. That is the point: God’s patience looks like folly.
“So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.” (21:39)
Mark has them kill him and then throw him out (Mark 12:8). Matthew and Luke reverse the order, and many see here the fact that Jesus died outside the city: “Jesus also suffered outside the city gate” (Hebrews 13:12).
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes” (21:42)
From Psalm 118:22–23, a pilgrim psalm. The image shifts from farm to building, because the story of a dead son cannot end with death. The early Church loved this verse (Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7).
“When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.” (21:45)
Matthew tells us who the “you” of v. 43 is. The crowds, in the very next verse, hold Jesus to be a prophet.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism draws on this parable to show that Jesus is the Son, distinct from the “servants” God had sent before him (CCC 443). The Second Vatican Council uses the vineyard image for the Church itself (Lumen Gentium 6). So the warning now falls on us. The question to the Church in every age is: where is the fruit? The vineyard belongs to someone else, and no office or inheritance can excuse a harvest withheld.
Does this Gospel teach that God has rejected the Jewish people and given their place to Christians?
No. In its own context the words are addressed to the leaders who were challenging Jesus, as v. 45 says, and not to the people, who regarded him as a prophet (v. 46). The Catholic Church teaches that the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God (Nostra Aetate 4), and that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29; CCC 839). Nor does the Church inherit the vineyard as an owner. The parable’s warning now stands over Christian leaders and Christian communities, who will be asked for the fruit (CCC 597–598).