Breaking and Building

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 

It’s quite tiring when you have to deal with incessant critics. There are loads of people who make it their life’s mission to criticise and find fault with others, few actually offer any solutions and even fewer would volunteer to make things better. Just like a house of cards, it is far easier to tear people down than it is to build them up. 

 

Today’s readings remind us that our duty is neither to maintain, defend and validate sick and evil behaviour and systems; nor should we be constantly tearing people and structures down just because they are not perfect. Yes, some things require dismantling. But there is also a corresponding obligation to build up and make things better. So, Christian growth requires a simple two-step approach - break and then build. 

Before we can “build back better”, it is necessary for us to break and tear down. It is quite alarming to think that it would be necessary to dismantle and destroy things before you can make a change. Sounds destructive, a favourite pastime for anarchists but not for ordinary folks. It would be destructive if we intend to destroy that which is good. But what is being destroyed here is actually vice - the ugly, sinful, unhealthy, destructive, and self-destructive behaviour that has warped our character. So, when you destroy what is destructive, you are actually being constructive. This is good: you’re negating the negative, destroying the destructive. 

This is what the prophet Isaiah is envisaging in the first reading. Using the metaphor of a vineyard that produces sour grapes, to represent Israel, the prophet speaks of the Lord having to make a radical transformative decision to tear down and undo everything, so that He can make a fresh start. The destruction is not punitive. The destruction is not final. It is therapeutic. It is meant to remedy the sickness that has taken hold of the moral root of the nation. 

We see a similar theme in the gospel. While clearly standing in line with Isaiah, our Lord offers a new and surprising twist to the story. He introduces a new set of characters – the tenants. Once again, it is the fate of the vineyard of Israel that is in question. However, here it is not the vineyard itself or the vine of Israel that is judged, but the wicked tenant farmers to whom the vineyard had been entrusted. The effect of Jesus’s reframing of the story is to shift the emphasis: it is not that the vineyard is failing to produce grapes, but it is the tenants who deny the vineyard’s owner his due and treat his emissaries (and son) violently. If the vineyard is a symbol of Israel, the tenants represent the religious leadership. 

The parable highlights one of the most common sins committed by leaders: the refusal of leadership to assume responsibility when things go wrong, to excuse themselves from all guilt by pushing the blame on the system. We often hear that a problem is systemic, which means that the problem is with the system and not with the persons in charge. Of course, no system is perfect but systems, we must remember, are amoral. It is the people who are involved in making decisions and acting upon these decisions who should be taking responsibility. If no individual wants to assume responsibility, can any system be reformed? 

But note that the parable also shows us that before radical steps are taken to tear down systems and structures, which includes removing individuals from offices of power and influence, there must be efforts at fraternal correction done with both patience and charity. The landowner sends his servants and then his son to reason with the wicked tenants, hoping to change their minds. The tenants are only removed after all reasonable efforts at reconciliation have been exhausted. 

But “breaking” is only the first step. If we merely stop here without any concrete plan to build back better, then our actions would truly be destructive. Constructive criticism is good. It is even necessary if we wish to make progress in spiritual life. But when criticism stops at highlighting the faults of others without providing a path of redemption and rehabilitation, then such criticism remains destructive and obstructive to growth. 

After tearing down the web of sin, we must be ready to build back, and we do so by building and cultivating virtue – the habit of good. You begin replacing the rotten stuff with good stuff. Each and every day, you come out of yourself to do a few little acts of kindness, of generosity; you give a bit of yourself to make someone else happy. St Paul provides us with an excellent blueprint in the second reading, “if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.” Notice that the wicked tenants in the parable were motivated by envy which eventually leads to their destruction. The remedy for envy is gratitude. Every day, our lives must be filled with prayers of thanksgiving, a reminder that all is grace. There should be no room for envy and resentment, but only gratitude and appreciation for everything that we have received from God. 

St Paul, adds this final advice to us, “fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise.” How often should we do this? St Paul tells us, “keep doing all the things that you have learnt from me and have been taught by me or have heard or seen that I do.” In other words, doing good must be a life-long commitment – no time for slacking off – we must keep on doing good, we must keep on loving and showing honour, we must keep on doing everything virtuous and worthy of praise. The moment we cease building back, we may end up tearing down the good that has been done. 

Ultimately, all our efforts in breaking with sin and building back with virtue would be in vain, if Christ is not made the foundation of our lives. For He is “the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone.” Remember, “unless the Lord builds the house, its labourers labour in vain.” (Psalm 127:1) No amount of good deeds, good thoughts, or good words on our part would be able to remedy the destruction wrought by sin unless we allow the Lord to use us “like living stones, being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)