XXVII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Grafted into the Promises of Israel

Readings: Is 5:1-7; Phil 4:6-9; Mt 21:33-43

In the Old Testament, the image of the vineyard or the vine is recurring to designate Israel as the people of God, his possession (first Reading: Is 5:1-7; cf. 27:2-6; Jer 2:21; 12:10-11; Ezek 15:1-6; 19:10-14; Hos 10:1-3; Ps 80:9…): and this metaphor is also taken up by the Synoptics (Gospel: Mt 21:33-43; cf. Mt 20:1-16; Lk 13:6-9). The first Reading and the Gospel announce that a new people, the Church, is called to “produce fruit in its season” (Mt 21:41), founded on Christ, “the stone that the builders rejected and that has become the cornerstone” (Mt 21:42).

But woe to us if we become proud toward Israel: first of all because not all of Israel rejected Christ, but only a part of it: Mary, the Apostles, the early Church indeed, like Jesus, belonged to the Jewish people. Furthermore, Paul, in the letter to the Romans, in a chapter that we have all too often neglected (Rom 11), with dramatic consequences in Christian-Jewish relations, reveals to us what the “mystery of Israel” and its destiny are, and what attitude Christians must have toward the chosen people.

Paul announces that, when all the Gentiles have accepted to become part of the Church, then all Israel will also be converted: “God has not rejected his people, whom he foreknew… Did they stumble so as to fall forever? By no means… For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:2,11,25-29). And the conversion of Israel will coincide with the final resurrection: “Now if their transgression means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean…! What will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” (Rom 11:12,15). If Israel’s rejection was the salvation of the pagan nations, their acceptance by God will be the end of time, the ultimate universal reconciliation, the eschatological messianic salvation (Rom 11:15).

The Church’s attitude toward Israel must therefore first of all be one of veneration: Paul addresses Christians who are not of Jewish origin and warns them not to boast against the Jews: the Church originating from paganism has not supplanted Israel, but it is Israel that welcomed the Gentiles into itself and allowed them to share in its Promise. The Gentile Christians are the wild olive shoot grafted onto the cultivated olive tree that is Israel: it is Israel that supports even the Church made up of former pagans (Rom 11:17-18).

Furthermore, the Church must relate to the Jewish people with deep humility (Rom 11:19-22): if God did not spare the Jews who are the natural branches, how will he not punish the pagans who become unfaithful? The pagan who became Christian, if he loses faith, is no longer anything. The Jew who does not believe in Christ nevertheless continues to be God’s authentic olive tree. This does not prevent us from strongly condemning political Israel when it becomes an aggressor or even genocidal.

Yet the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council warns us: “The Jews, for the sake of the fathers, remain most dear to God, whose gifts and call are without repentance. Together with the Prophets and the Apostle himself, the Church awaits the day…, on which all peoples will address the Lord in a single voice and «serve him shoulder to shoulder» (Zeph 3:9). Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this Council wishes to foster and recommend that mutual knowledge and respect on their part which is acquired especially by way of biblical and theological studies and through fraternal dialogue… Furthermore, in her memory of the patrimony she shares with the Jews…, the Church decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone” (Nostra Aetate, no. 4).