Through the eyes of God

"God writes straight with crooked lines."

33 “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,[a] 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. 34 When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants[b] to the tenants to obtain his produce. 35 But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. 36 Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 [c]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.’ 39 [d]They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” 41 They answered[e] 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.” 42 [f]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’?
43 [g]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. 44 [[h] The one who falls on this stone will be dashed to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.]” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees[i] heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.-Matthew21:33-46

The vineyard represents the house of Israel; the servants represent the prophets; the son represents Jesus; the produce represents the good works; the landowner represents God; and the tenants represent the Pharisees, scribes, teachers of the Law, Elders and other religious leaders during the time of Jesus and prior to that. As I reflected, I asked God, "What would have happened if Jesus was received accordingly? What if everybody repented like the people of Nineveh in Job's time? Will that make You happy? Is it then 'mission accomplished' for Jesus?" I believe God would have been happy to see the people respond to Jesus' invitation to repent and change. But since there are those who do not respond to Jesus, God still weaves His plan and will whatever our decisions may be until such time that we open ourselves to Him. "God writes straight with crooked lines." In today's first reading, Joseph was sold by his brothers to slavery. Later on, he was auctioned in the slave market in Egypt, accused by Potiphar's wife, sent to prison perhaps for a long time. A life of desolation, it was. Perhaps Joseph asked the many "Whys?" "What ifs..." and "How can this be?" while languishing the seeming misfortunes of his life. But a light came. An interpretation of one prisoner's dream (who happened to be Pharaoh's cupbearer) led to an audience with Pharaoh himself. Joseph successfully interpreted the dream of Pharaoh, and after that, was made governor of Egypt and second in command. Now that's a 360 degree reversal of fortune! Later on, the other nations suffered famine, but Egypt was able to survive because of Joseph's work through the message of the dream. And this abundance led his family to Egypt where they lived and survived the famine that could have perfectly killed them if Joseph was never in Egypt. Joseph would say later on, "Now don't grieve and reproach yourselves for selling me, because God has sent me before you to save your lives... God has sent me ahead of you to make our race survive there and to save many of you. So it was not you but God who sent me here..." It takes a great deal of faith and love to say that a misfortune is part of God's plan for a greater good. It is okay to cry. It is okay to weep and languish over life's misfortunes. But behind a misfortune is a multitude of blessing awaiting to happen at the right time and place. Jesus was - using our human language - a victim of a few men's jealousy, a victim of violence, an innocent man condemned to die. But if we have the eyes of God, faith and love, we will all see that this is part of the plan leading to a greater good - Resurrection and salvation for us all.

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