Commentary on the Gospel of
Becoming Cornerstones
We have stories of victimization today. In the first reading, Joseph is victimized and expelled by his own family. In the gospel, the owner’s agents and own son are rejected and murdered—the story refers to Jesus himself. To the question raised by Jesus as to the reaction of the owner of the vineyard, the audience responds in terms of the “law of karma”—They want the evil men to be brought to an evil end. But Jesus does not agree. He speaks not of an-eye-for-an-eye, but of entrusting the vineyard to more responsible people, and of the rejected stone becoming the cornerstone for a new world! Neither Joseph nor Jesus takes revenge; both become the cornerstones for the redemption of the very families that rejected them. This is why in the early Syrian Christian liturgy, Joseph episode was a mandatory reading for Easter—Joseph is essentially a Christological type. What type are you?
