Warning Against Hidden Danger within Us : A Seed of Murderous Violence - Friday of the Second Week of Lent

The Scripture reading of Friday of the Second Week of Lent (Genesis 37:3-4,12-13, 17-28; Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46) reminds us of why we need to seek God and His grace in the Lenten context. Both of these readings address psychospiritual pathologies rather inherent to the humans. In the First Reading (Genesis 37:3-4,12-13, 17-28), it is jealousy potent to murder, and in the Gospel Reading (Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46), it is envy turning into the desire for hegemony, akin to “Oedipus complex” projected to God the Father, who is almighty.

Both of these readings address a dark side of being human.

As a matter of fact, we have been reflecting various human psychospiritual problems, such as anger, grudges, revenges, indifference, untrustworthiness, and so forth, through Lenten Scripture readings, because these are what we need to confront and overcome for our penance and conversion.

In the First Reading of Thursday of the Second Week of Lent (Jeremiah 17:5-10), we are humbly reminded of our need to seek and trust God, not human wisdom or advice. Why cannot we trust humans?

Except Mary, who is the only fully human without any trace of the Original Sin, therefore, the Immaculate Conception, all human beings bear potential to betray, as we all have inherited the potentiality to sin from Adam and Eve.

Perhaps you may have been dismayed and betrayed by someone whom you completely trusted. If the humans’ trustworthiness were comparable to God’s, then, why do we have so many divorces and many other breaches of covenants and promises? Then, why do we need have a contract in which we put all these Lex Talionis factors in it? It is because both sides on a contrast do not trust each other. Had they trusted one another, then, all they need were a covenant. But then, how often we have broken God’s covenant with us and even covenant with one another, such as matrimonial vows?

If you have ever thought that God is not faithful to His promise because your prayer to God was not answered in the way you wanted, then, you need to examine your heart thoroughly, letting God probe your heart (i.e. Psalm 139:24-25; Jeremiah 17:10). In fact, Lent is a suitable time to submit yourself to God’s probe, for example, by means of examination of conscience, as the Holy Spirit scan your heart and bring up the harbored spiritual pathology. This way, you will be free from your spiritual ignorance or your spiritual blind spot. Otherwise, you may end up with God’s condemnation like the rich man who remained indifferent to poor Lazarus in his sight but selfish enough to expect Lazarus to serve him after his death for a respite from the torment, as reflected in the Gospel Reading of Thursday of the Second Week of Lent (Luke 16:19-31).

A dark side of being human that we need to confront through the First Reading (Genesis 37:3-4,12-13, 17-28) is our tendency for envy or jealousy. As the story of Cain’s sin of murdering his brother, Abel, reminds, jealousy can leads to murder (Genesis 4:8). Akin to jealousy, envy led to the killing of Jesus (Matthew 27:19).

The brothers of Joseph, the sons of Jacob, at first plotted to kill Joseph, because they were jealous of him for being their father’s favorite (i.e. Genesis 37:3), and they hated him for speaking badly about them to their father (Genesis 37:2) and having dreams of himself as if he were superior to them (i.e. Genesis 37: 5-10). The brothers just hated him (Genesis 37:5) and grew furious at Joseph but kept the matter to themselves (Genesis 5:11).

Joseph’s brothers’ envy and hatred projected to him led to their anger at him to the boiling point to kill him (Genesis 5:20).

Though, Joseph could have been literally killed by his brothers, Ruben, the oldest among them, called the brothers not to kill Joseph (Genesis 37:21-22) and Judah suggested to sell him for money when a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming to the scene (Genesis 37: 25-27). So they sold Joseph, and he was taken to Egypt (Genesis 37:28, 38).

Joseph endured his servitude as a slave in Egypt and gradually made his way not only out of the slavery but is way up into the Pharaoh’s trust (Genesis 39:1-41:57). As described from Genesis 42:1 to 47:26, eventually, Joseph will be the savior to his family as Jacob’s family in Canaan and the rest of the Israelites were on the verge of death by starvation due to famine. It was Joseph who allowed his family, Jacob’s family, and those who came with to find a refuge in Egypt, where Joseph managed to keep enough food during the famine. It was all possible also because Joseph forgave his brother’s potentially murderous plot against him, as he rather saw them in suffering with famine with compassion, not with grudge (Genesis 50:15-21). Lex Talianos was not in Joseph’s heart when he saw his brothers.

In a way, the life of Joseph reflects some aspect of Jesus. The way Joseph responded to his brother’s evil reflects the spirit of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:38-48.

The Gospel Reading (Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46; cf. Isaiah 5:1-7), which is taken from what is known as Jesus’ parable of the unfaithful tenant workers of the vineyard, reflects our untrustworthiness and potentiality of murdering for gaining the total control or hegemony. Our potential to kill someone out of envy or jealousy can manifest like what Freud described as “Oedipus Complex”, in which a son’s sexual fantasy desires to put his mother under the control of his sexual desire by murdering his father. It is to gain the hegemonic control over an object of one’s desire by murdering all obstacles.

Given that this parable was given as Jesus confronted the hypocrisy of those who were planning to have Jesus killed out of envy (i.e. Matthew 27:19) (Matthew 21:15-16, 23-27), together with another parable, the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32), Jesus was indicting the hypocrites of Israel in juxtaposing them to the unfaithful murderous vineyard workers, who killed the son of the land owner, who set up the vineyard, and all his servants.

Why? Why did these tenant vineyard workers had to murder all of the landowner’s servants and his son? Why they could not work as the landowner directed them for him? Why they were so egregious to take the vineyard to their control, as if they owned?

These tenant workers obviously failed to bring produce as the landowner expected. This reflects their unfaithfulness and untrustworthiness.

They knew that the servants of the landowner would rebuke for their unproductivity and misuse of the vineyard. So, they killed them all. They also murdered the landowner’s son so that nobody would annoy them for their unproductivity.

The wretched workers of the vineyard were indignant at those who would correct them. So, they murdered them all to shut off all the voices that would call for their conversion to be faithful to the landowner.

These wicked workers of the vineyard were referred to the hypocrites who turned the Temple, the sacred house of worship, into the market place for their own benefits (i.e. Matthew 21:12-17). They were to serve God but turned out to be a bunch of thieves, because they were not serving God but themselves by using the name of God and abusing their authority entrusted by God to them. Therefore, the vineyard indicates the place or object that they were entrusted by God to serve for Him, to make their service fruitful. The servants refer to the prophets sent by God to correct their misbehavior. And the son of the landowner means Jesus, who was sent by the Father in heaven (i.e. John 3:16; 5:37), to convert us to become faithful to God and to be fruitful. Then, the vineyard can be a metaphor for the Kingdom of God that Jesus, the Son, came to make us the coheir with him (i.e. Romans 8:17). Rather than becoming the coheir, the workers of the vineyard tried to be the sole owner by murdering the legal heir, the son. And, it is akin to “Oedipus Complex”..

Though they were to serve the landowner by making produce from the vineyard for him, they attempted to turn the vineyard at their disposal. For this, they eliminated all the obstacles.

Jesus’ act of cleansing the Temple (Matthew 21:12-17) is a prelude to his proclamation of destroying the Temple for rebuilding (John 2:19). And this is reflected in Jesus’ indicting confrontation against the hypocrites who were comparable to the wicked vineyard workers to be condemned (Matthew 21:42-43).

When the hypocrites realized (Matthew 21:45) that Jesus was speaking of this parable (Matthew 21:33-39), in addition to another one (Matthew 21:28-32), they were furious and wanted to kill Jesus but were afraid to arrest him (Matthew 21:46). This is similar to a boy who cannot speak of his “Oedipus Complex”, his desire in fantasy to murder his father to have the exclusive control over his mother for their sexual desire.

Perhaps, it is our “God complex”, our hidden desire to gain the total control over what God provides, that is implicated in the wickedness of the tenant workers of the vineyard. And this complex of ours may be traced to the trick that Satan used to have Eve fall, the prospect of becoming like God (Genesis 3:5). And this complex was manifested in building the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).

Through Jesus, God has given us the new vineyard, and we are called to work in this vineyard through our faith, trusting God the owner, who set everything up for us to work and bring produces. But, Satan has put a seed of evil that tempts us to be like God, as it was hos he tempted Eve to let the humans fall to temptation to sin against God. And this led to Cain a son of the original sinners, Adam and Eve, to murder his brother, Abel, out of jealousy. And this trace of the Original Sin has been passed on to us. In the past, it has manifested in Joseph’s brothers’ intent to murder him, as reflected in the First Reading (Genesis 37:3-4,12-13, 17-28) and in the vineyard workers’ egregious behaviors as described in the Gospel Reading ( Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46). And, the Gospel Reading also reminds us that we cannot become coheir with Christ to inherit the Kingdom – if we fail to overcome our potential to be like Joseph’s brothers and the wretched workers of the vineyard. This is why we need to trust God and let God probe us all the way down to the bottom of our hearts.