Cornerstones

Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a
Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic. When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.

One day, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem, Israel said to Joseph, "Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem. Get ready; I will send you to them."

So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan. They noticed him from a distance, and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another: "Here comes that master dreamer! Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here; we could say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall then see what comes of his dreams."

When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from their hands, saying, "We must not take his life. Instead of shedding blood," he continued, "just throw him into that cistern there in the desert; but do not kill him outright." His purpose was to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.

So when Joseph came up to them, they stripped him of the long tunic he had on; then they took him and threw him into the cistern, which was empty and dry. They then sat down to their meal. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead,their camels laden with gum, balm and resin to be taken down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers: "What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh."His brothers agreed. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.

Ps 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21
When the LORD called down a famine on the landand ruined the crop that sustained them,
He sent a man before them,Joseph, sold as a slave.They had weighed him down with fetters,and he was bound with chains,
Till his prediction came to passand the word of the LORD proved him true.
The king sent and released him,the ruler of the peoples set him free.He made him lord of his houseand ruler of all his possessions.
Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

Mt 21:33-43, 45-46
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: "Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, 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. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' 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.' They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?"
They answered 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."
Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone that the builders rejectedhas become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,and it is wonderful in our eyes?

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."

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.


Both of the readings today and the Psalm are tales of cold-blooded evil and how God uses this evil for the eventual greater good.

In the case of the tenants of the vineyard, greed was the reason they wanted to kill the owner’s son. They didn’t want to give up what they thought was theirs, even though they knew it wasn’t.

Joseph’s brothers were envious of the attention their father paid to him, and they were probably afraid of losing their inheritance. So greed probably played a part in their evil as well. And how cold-blooded were they? After throwing Joseph into the cistern, they sat down to lunch as if nothing had happened!

The chief priests and Pharisees didn’t get it. The brothers didn’t get it. They thought that getting rid of the “troublemakers” would make their lives easier and they could go back to the way things were. What they didn’t know was that God sometimes allows evil acts to occur so that His love and mercy can become greater!

In Joseph’s case, we all know the end of that story. Israel undergoes a great famine and Jacob’s children are forced to go to Egypt for food. Who has God blessed and made the high mucky-muck in charge of the graineries in Egypt? God has humbled the aggressors, but shown them mercy at the same time, allowing the family to reunite.

As for the Pharisees and chief priests who got rid of Our Lord by crucifying him, look at the good that came out of that! All sins erased once for all, everlasting happiness for all who believe in Him and follow His commandments, and extending His Covenant to all people, Jew and Gentile.

So for any of you who worry about the evil in the world today, remember that Christ’s mercy is already at work for us. Our job is to spread the word and help one another obtain that mercy. The cornerstone has been laid.