28 February 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“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
“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.” The people settle on a plain in Shinar, discover how to bake bricks, and decide to build: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” The story is full of quiet irony. The tower that is meant to reach heaven is so small that “The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.” The project to avoid being scattered ends in scattering, and the city of the great name is remembered only as Babel, confusion. In the very next chapter God calls Abram and promises to “make your name great” (Genesis 12:2): the name we try to make for ourselves divides us, the name God gives unites. At Pentecost the confusion of Babel is healed. The crowd from every nation says, “in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power” (Acts 2:11). The Syro-Malabar Church now prays her Qurbana in Malayalam and Syriac, in English, Hindi, Tamil and many other tongues, wherever her children have gone; the languages remain many, but the faith and the altar are one. The Great Fast asks us a simple question at its midpoint: for whose name am I building?
The second reading follows the fall of Jericho. Israel goes up against the small town of Ai and is routed, and Joshua lies on his face before the ark until evening. God's answer is blunt: “Stand up! Why have you fallen upon your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their own belongings.” One man, Achan, had hidden plunder in his tent, and the whole people could not stand. The judgement in this ancient story is severe, but its lesson is lasting: no sin is purely private, and what is buried in the tent weakens the whole camp. The people must sanctify themselves before they can go forward. The Great Fast is our time to search the tent. In the Church of Christ the hidden thing brought to light is not punished but forgiven, for “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Paul then shows the new life of those who have been set free: “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” We do not fast like slaves afraid of a master: “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” By that Spirit we cry “Abba! Father!”, and we are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”, “if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
The Gospel is one of the most dramatic parables Jesus told, spoken in the temple a few days before his death. A landowner “planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower.” Every detail recalls Isaiah's song of God's vineyard, Israel. He leases it to tenants and, at harvest time, sends his servants for the fruit. They are beaten, killed, stoned. More servants, the same treatment. “Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’” The tenants reason with terrible clarity: “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.” Jesus is telling his own Passion: he would be led outside the city and crucified. Then he quotes the psalm that the Church sings at Easter: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.” And he adds a warning: “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.” The tenants tried to seize the inheritance by killing the heir; in Christ God gives it freely, and makes us joint heirs with the Son. We too are tenants and not owners. The faith of the St Thomas Christians, our parishes and families, our gifts and our years, are a vineyard leased to us, and the Lord sends his servants for the fruit. Halfway through the fast he asks: what fruit will you give me?
Theme: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.”
Babel and Pentecost, the hidden sin in the tent, the Spirit of adoption, and the rejected Son who became the cornerstone.
“Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”” Genesis 11:4
“And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.” Acts 2:6
Apply: Do one good work this week for God's name alone, and tell no one.
“Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their own belongings.” Joshua 7:11
“If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Apply: Make a thorough confession before Palm Sunday, and return anything taken unjustly.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” Hosea 11:1
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” Romans 8:14
Apply: Pray the Lord's Prayer slowly every evening this week, as a child speaking to the Father.
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:22–23
“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.” Matthew 21:43
Apply: Offer one concrete fruit to your parish before Easter.
The name we make for ourselves scatters us; the Son whom the world rejected gathers us and holds everything together.
Search the tent, cry Abba as children, and give the Lord of the vineyard his fruit.
Take-home resolution: This week, do one hidden good work, make a careful examination of conscience, and pray the Our Father slowly each evening.
Dear brothers and sisters, the people of Babel say: come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves (Genesis 11:4). Their tower is so small that God has to come down to see it. Their project ends in confusion and scattering.
At Pentecost the Holy Spirit undoes Babel: people of every nation hear the apostles in their own language. Our Church prays in many languages across the world, but with one faith at one altar. Halfway through the fast, let us ask: for whose name am I building?
After Jericho, Israel is defeated at Ai, because one man has hidden stolen things in his tent. God tells Joshua: stand up; Israel has sinned (Joshua 7:10–11). One hidden sin weakened the whole camp. The Great Fast is the time to search our tents and bring what is hidden into the light of confession.
We do not do this as frightened slaves. Paul says: all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God (Romans 8:14). We have received a spirit of adoption, and we cry: Abba! Father! We are heirs with Christ, if we suffer with him.
Jesus tells of tenants who beat the servants and kill the son of the owner, to seize the inheritance. He is speaking of his own death. But the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone (Matthew 21:42). What men threw out of the vineyard, God made the foundation of everything.
We are tenants, not owners. Our faith, our families, our parishes are God's vineyard entrusted to us. This week, let us search our tents, pray the Our Father slowly as children, and give the Lord one real fruit. Amen.
Children, people once tried to build a tower up to heaven to make themselves famous, but they ended up unable to understand each other! God wants us to build for his name, not ours.
Jesus is like a stone that the builders threw away, but God made him the most important stone of all. Let us build our lives on him!
Lord Jesus Christ, rejected stone and cornerstone of our salvation, you were thrown out of the vineyard and killed, and the Father raised you up. Heal the Babel of our pride and gather us into one people that praises your name. Search the hidden places of our hearts and forgive what we bring to the light. Lead us by your Spirit, so that we may cry Abba, Father, and bear the fruits of the kingdom in the vineyard you have entrusted to us. Glory to you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen.
This Sunday’s four readings ask what we are building, and for whom. At Babel people build a tower to make a name for themselves, and they end in confusion. In Joshua one man’s hidden plunder leaves the whole camp unable to stand, until the truth is brought into the open. Paul tells us that we owe nothing to the flesh: the Spirit has made us children of God, who may call him “Abba”. And in Matthew tenants take over a vineyard that is not theirs, and throw out the son, whom God then makes the cornerstone. Each page shows the human wish to own what can only be received, and God’s answer. The key words are name, hidden, children and stone.
Setting.
This is the last story of the opening chapters of Genesis. From the sin in the garden through Cain and the flood, each story shows sin spreading and God’s mercy continuing. The next chapter will begin something new with the call of Abram. Genesis 10 has already listed the nations “with their own language” (10:5), and it has repeated God’s word to “fill the earth” (9:1). This story tells the other side of it: why peoples cannot understand one another.
Shinar is Babylonia (compare Daniel 1:2). Its cities had great stepped temple towers of baked brick, since stone was scarce in the river plain. The author, from a land of stone, describes the method as a curiosity (v. 3). The people of Babylon took their city’s name to mean “gate of the god”. This story gives the name a very different sense.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves;” (11:4)
They do not mention God at all. Bricks and cities are not the problem: the problem is the wish to be secure and famous without him. It is also a refusal of the command to spread over the earth (9:1).
“The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.” (11:5)
Here is the writer’s quiet humour. The tower that reaches to heaven is so small that God has to come down to see it. “Mortals” in Hebrew is “the sons of Adam”, the sons of dust.
“Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there,” (11:7)
God answers their “Come, let us” with his own. Scholars explain the plural as God speaking with his heavenly court, or as a form of solemn self-address. This is judgement, and also mercy: it limits what a united pride could do (see the question below).
“Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth;” (11:9)
Babylon, the proudest city the writer knew, is remembered as the city of confusion.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the division into many nations was meant “to limit the pride of fallen humanity”, which was united only in its perverse ambition to forge its own unity as at Babel (CCC 57). It calls the gathering of the Church God’s reaction to the chaos that sin provoked (CCC 761). At Pentecost the crowd says, “in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power” (Acts 2:11). The languages do not vanish: they are gathered. St Augustine says that if pride caused the diversity of tongues, Christ’s humility has gathered those tongues together (Tractates on John 6; in substance).
Setting.
After the victory at Jericho (Joshua 6), Israel goes up against the small town of Ai and is put to flight (7:2–5). Joshua tears his clothes and lies on his face before the ark until evening, asking God why he has brought them over the Jordan (7:6–9). The reader already knows what Joshua does not: Achan of the tribe of Judah has taken some of the devoted things (7:1). Today’s reading is God’s reply.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Stand up! Why have you fallen upon your face?” (7:10)
Joshua’s prayer is real, but God sends him to deal with the truth. Prayer is no replacement for honest action. Sometimes the answer to “Why, Lord?” is “Get up, and look in the camp.”
“Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I imposed on them.” (7:11)
One man did it, and God says “Israel”. The Bible knows that we are bound together in both blessing and guilt.
“Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow;” (7:13)
Before the people can go forward they must prepare themselves before God. The Great Fast is this “tomorrow”: a time to make ready for the Pasch.
“And the one who is taken as having the devoted things shall be burned with fire,” (7:15)
This is severe, and the story that follows includes Achan’s family in the punishment (7:24–25). We read it as a page of a harsher age. Scripture itself moves further: “A child shall not suffer for the iniquity of a parent” (Ezekiel 18:20). Its lasting lesson is the seriousness of sin against the community, not the penalty.
How the Church reads it.
Joshua urges Achan, “make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me” (7:19). What was punished by fire there is healed in the Church by mercy: “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). The Catechism teaches that sin is first an offence against God and that it also damages communion with the Church (CCC 1440). “Every sin harms this communion” (CCC 953). So no sin is purely private, and the sacrament of Reconciliation reconciles us with God and with the Church (CCC 1468–1469).
Setting.
Paul has opened this chapter with “no condemnation” (8:1) and has said that the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus lives within us (8:11). Now he draws the conclusion. The Letter was written around AD 57 to a community in Rome that included both Jews and Gentiles. For that reason the word “adoption” would have spoken to both: Paul uses it for Israel as well (9:4).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (8:13)
“By the Spirit” is the key. The Fast is no contest of will-power: it is the Spirit’s work in us, and we cooperate with him. See the question below.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” (8:14)
To be led is to walk behind someone. The mark of a child of God is that he allows himself to be led.
“you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”” (8:15)
The Greek word for “cry” is strong, a loud call. Liturgical prayer may be in the background. Paul sets it against fear: a slave is afraid, a child calls out.
“it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” (8:16)
Our hope as God’s children comes from the Spirit’s own witness within us, and not from our own feelings on a given day. It is hope, not a certainty that makes perseverance needless (compare CCC 2005).
“and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (8:17)
The verse goes on: “if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” The way of the heir goes through the Cross. This is why the Great Fast leads to the Pasch.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that grace makes us adopted children of God (CCC 1996), and it cites this passage. Baptism begins this life (CCC 1265). When we say “Our Father” we adore the one who has caused us to be reborn by adopting us as his children (CCC 2782). The call to share Christ’s suffering is open to everyone (CCC 618). The Great Fast is among the Church’s special times of penance (CCC 1438).
Setting.
Jesus is in the Temple, in the last days of his life. The chief priests and the elders have asked about his authority (21:23), and this parable is spoken directly to them. Afterward “the chief priests and the Pharisees” understand “that he was speaking about them” (21:45). Mark and Luke also tell the parable (Mark 12:1–12; Luke 20:9–19).
Jesus’ hearers knew the opening at once. It takes up Isaiah 5:1–7: “the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel”. Isaiah’s fault lay in the vines, which gave wild grapes. In Jesus’ story the vineyard is good, and the fault lies with those in charge of it. Absentee owners and tenant farmers were a familiar part of life in the Galilee of that time, and tenants paid rent with part of the crop.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’” (21:37)
The owner’s hope seems almost foolish, and this is the patience of God. The Catechism notes that Jesus here calls himself “the Son”, as distinct from the “servants” God had sent before (CCC 443).
“So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.” (21:39)
In Mark the son is killed and then thrown out (Mark 12:8). In Matthew and Luke he is thrown out first, perhaps to recall that Jesus “suffered outside the city gate” (Hebrews 13:12).
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;” (21:42)
The story of the son ends in death. Jesus does not stop there: he turns to the psalm, which says what God will do. Rejection is not the last word.
“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.” (21:43)
“You” here is the leaders who are questioning him (21:23, 45). The same warning is addressed to the Church, which may also stop bearing fruit. Matthew’s Gospel gives the same warning to Christians (7:21–23; 22:11–14).
“The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” (21:44)
A note on the text: some ancient manuscripts do not have this verse, as the NRSV’s footnote points out. Most include it, and it is read here. No one can stay neutral about this stone.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism uses this parable to speak of the Church as God’s vineyard, whose true vine is Christ (CCC 755), and of the Lord as the stone that the builders rejected, and which has become the cornerstone (CCC 756). St Irenaeus argues from it that one and the same God sent both the prophets and his Son (Against Heresies IV, 36; in substance). St John Chrysostom dwells on the owner’s care: he planted, fenced, built, and left nothing undone, and he sent servant after servant (Homilies on Matthew 68; in substance).
Does this parable mean that God has rejected the Jewish people?
No. The parable is aimed at those leaders who were questioning Jesus, as Matthew says (21:45). Many scholars think that the sharp wording also reflects painful disputes of Matthew’s own time between his community and synagogue leaders. The Second Vatican Council says plainly that the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures (Nostra Aetate 4). The Catechism repeats that the Jewish people as a whole cannot be held responsible for Jesus’ death (CCC 597), and that the gifts and call of God to them are irrevocable (CCC 839). The warning applies to us as well: we too work in a vineyard that is not our own.
Is God afraid of what people can do? Is the Babel story against progress?
God’s words in Genesis 11:6 are written with irony: the tower he had to come down to see is hardly a threat to him. The danger is to the human race, which, united in pride, can do terrible harm. The Bible is not against bricks or cities. The Church honours science and technology, and asks that they serve the human person and respect moral limits (CCC 2293–2294).
“Put to death the deeds of the body”: does Paul mean that the body is bad?
No. The body is good; God created it, and it will rise. Here “deeds of the body” means the habits of a self closed against God, such as Paul lists elsewhere. Fasting does not punish the body. It disciplines desire and opens the heart to prayer and to the poor (CCC 1434, 1438).
On this Fourth Sunday the Great Fast (Sauma Ramba) is drawing toward its midpoint. The story of Babel touches us closely: the East Syriac liturgy we have inherited grew up in Mesopotamia, the land this story calls Shinar. In that same land the Spirit gathered a Church of prayer and mission. Today, our Holy Qurbana is offered in Malayalam, Syriac, English, Hindi and many other languages, wherever our people have gone, around one altar. Syriac, too, is a form of Aramaic, the language in which Jesus said “Abba”, so that word is not far from home. During this week we may search the tent, as Israel had to: a good confession is the honest way forward.