In the closing parable of Matthew's twenty-first chapter, we encounter the ongoing unfolding of the ancient struggle between the satanic forces at work in the world and the offspring of the woman. You may wonder: how is it that, when reading this parable in the Gospel of Matthew, we find ourselves back at the beginning? Hold that question for a moment as we turn our attention briefly to the third chapter of Genesis.

The prophecy of old foretells this unfolding: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). Within these words we can already see God’s saving purpose: the salvation of the world through his Son. For this reason, the Church has often called these words the “first gospel,” or the protoevangelium.

This struggle, of course, foretells the coming of Christ and his victory over Satan. But make no mistake: it also involves you and me.

What lies between Christ’s victory and its further unfolding in our lives is the vast landscape of the human heart, for it is there that this cosmic struggle wages on. This tethers us directly to the Gospel reading, especially to what Jesus is directing us to attend to: the human heart, represented in the tenants of the vineyard who presume upon the vineyard owner’s grace.

Here we see the possessive logic of pride. The tenants have been given the vineyard to steward, yet they presume that they might possess it for themselves—even to the point of killing the heir. Does that not sound absurd to you? It verily should. And yet, when I examine my own heart, I can notice a very similar pathology. I see it in the ways I offend Christ, both in the things I have done and the things I have left undone, as our General Confession puts it.

At the root of this is what the Church has named the sin of presumption: a heightened dependence upon self, a neglect of grace, a lack of love and reverence for God, and the tendency to treat God as a means to an end. The tenants forget that the vineyard is not theirs. They have received it as a gift, yet they begin to live as though they are its rightful possessors.

Today, Thursday, October 1, is the day when the Church remembers and celebrates the life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who shows us a very different path: la petite voie, the little way. Hear it in her own words:
“[S]o it is in the world of souls, the living garden of God... It pleases Him to create great saints. But... Our Lord’s love shines out just as much through a little soul that yields completely to His grace as in the greatest... What delights Him is the simplicity of these flowers of the field and by stooping low, He shows how infinitely great He is.”

Little, ordinary acts of devotion, done with extraordinary love—this is the path of Christ’s cross, the path of surrender rather than possession, of dependence upon grace rather than presumption upon it. It is the path of the One who has indeed crushed the head of the enemy and who teaches us to receive our lives not as possessions to be grasped, but as gifts to be faithfully offered back to God.

I hope to see you at one of our services this Sunday!
 
Guy+