19 April 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’” Luke 20:13
Paul is near the end of his first letter to Timothy, the young bishop of Ephesus, and he gathers everything into one solemn charge. He does not give it in his own name alone. He calls two witnesses into the room: “In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The first witness is the God who gives life to all things: in this Easter season we hear that name with new ears, for the God who gives life is the God who raised Jesus from the tomb. The second witness is Jesus standing before Pilate. He was bound, mocked and alone, and yet he spoke the truth calmly: he was a king, and his kingdom was not from this world. That quiet answer is what Paul calls “the good confession”. One verse earlier Paul reminded Timothy that he too had made the good confession “in the presence of many witnesses”, most likely on the day of his Baptism. Every Christian has stood where Timothy stood. At the font we, or our godparents for us, renounced Satan and confessed the faith; at every Holy Qurbana we confess it again in the Creed. Paul's charge is that we keep that confession clean until the Lord appears.
Then the letter breaks into praise, as if Paul cannot mention the coming of Christ without singing. God “will bring about at the right time” the appearing of his Son: “he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” These lines sound like a hymn the Church at Ephesus already sang. They tell us two things at once. God is utterly beyond us: no eye can bear his light, no mind can hold him. And yet this same God has made himself known, for the One who stood before Pilate is the image of the invisible God. In the Risen Christ the unapproachable light has come near. On Easter evening the disciples touched him and ate with him. Our Syro-Malabar Qurbana keeps both truths in its prayers: it adores the hidden majesty of God with deep bows and veiled gifts, and in the same celebration it gives us the Body and Blood of the Lord to eat and drink. Holy fear and holy nearness belong together.
In the Gospel Jesus tells a parable in the Temple during his last days in Jerusalem. A man plants a vineyard, leases it to tenants and goes away. At harvest he sends a slave for his share, then a second, then a third; each is beaten and sent away empty-handed. “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’” The tenants reason coldly: “This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.” They throw him out of the vineyard and kill him. Jesus tells this story a few days before he himself is led outside the city wall to be crucified. The parable is aimed at the leaders who were plotting against him, and Luke says they understood it; it is not a charge against the Jewish people, whom the Church honours as the first tenants of God's vineyard and to whom God's gifts and calling remain irrevocable. The story is a mirror for us. The vineyard is now the Church, and we are its tenants. God still sends his messengers, still asks for the fruit of faith, mercy and justice. The rejected Son is now the Risen Son: the very next line of the Gospel recalls the psalm, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Easter is God's answer to the tenants. What men threw out of the vineyard, God set at the corner of a new house, and he has given that house to us. The question for this Monday is simple: when the Owner sends for the fruit, what will he find in my part of the vineyard?
Theme: “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’”
The good confession before Pilate, the King who dwells in unapproachable light, the beloved Son sent to the vineyard, and the rejected stone made cornerstone.
“You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.” Isaiah 43:10
“In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you” 1 Timothy 6:13
Apply: Say the Creed slowly once today as your own confession of faith.
“You are clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as with a garment.” Psalm 104:1–2
“It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” 1 Timothy 6:16
Apply: Make a slow, reverent bow before the altar the next time you enter the church.
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” Psalm 118:22
“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’” Luke 20:13
Apply: Choose one fruit to give God this week: prayer, mercy or a gift to the poor.
The Son whom the tenants rejected is risen, and the vineyard is now in our hands.
Let us keep our confession clean and give the Owner his fruit.
Take-home resolution: This week, renew your baptismal confession in the Creed, speak the truth gently when it costs you, and give God one clear fruit of mercy.
Dear friends, on this Monday of the fourth week of Easter, Paul gives Timothy a solemn charge, and Jesus tells a story that is hard to forget.
Paul calls two witnesses: the God who gives life to all things, and Christ Jesus, who made the good confession before Pilate. Jesus stood bound and alone, and spoke the truth calmly. Timothy made his own good confession at his Baptism. So did we. Paul's charge is for us too: keep that confession clean until the Lord comes.
Then Paul sings: God is “the King of kings and Lord of lords”, who “dwells in unapproachable light”. No one can see him. And yet in the Risen Christ that light has come near: the disciples touched him and ate with him. In the Holy Qurbana we bow before the hidden majesty of God, and we receive the Lord himself.
In the Gospel the owner of the vineyard sends servant after servant, and at last he says: “I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.” They kill him. Jesus told this story days before he was led outside the city to die. It was a warning to those who plotted against him; it is a mirror for us.
Today we are the tenants. The vineyard is the Church. God still asks for fruit: faith, mercy, justice. And God has answered the tenants with Easter: the rejected stone has become the cornerstone.
So let us ask ourselves today: what fruit will the Owner find in my part of the vineyard? Let us give him a good share this week. Alleluia! Amen.
Children, Jesus told a story about a vineyard. The owner sent his own dear son, but the farmers did not welcome him. Jesus was talking about himself!
God has given us his vineyard, the Church, to look after. Every kind thing you do is a sweet grape for God!
God our Father, you give life to all things, and you raised your beloved Son whom the builders rejected. Make us faithful tenants of your vineyard, the Church. Keep our baptismal confession clean until the appearing of our Lord, give us courage to speak the truth as he spoke it before Pilate, and let our lives bear the fruit you seek. To you, King of kings and Lord of lords, who dwell in unapproachable light, be honour and eternal dominion, with your Son and the Holy Spirit, for ever. Amen. Alleluia!