Homily for 8 October 2023 by Fr. Gerard Jonas

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Rejection and Frustration do us Good

Is 5:1-7; Phil 4:6-9; Mt 21:33-43

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) professor Moungi Bawendi is a co-winner of this year’s Nobel Chemistry Prize for helping develop “quantum dots” – those nanoparticles that are now found in next-generation TV screens and help illuminate tumors within the body.

But as an undergraduate, he flunked his very first chemistry exam, recalling that the experience nearly “destroyed” him.

The 62-year-old of Tunisian and French heritage excelled at science throughout high school, without ever having to break a sweat. But when he arrived at Harvard University as an undergraduate in the late 1970s, he was in for a rude awakening.

Today’s Gospel reading tells of rejection. Rejection is one experience we feel sorry about that we try to avoid it as much as we can. It gives us anxiety. It saddens and distresses us and oftentimes causes us to clam up.

Now the Lord tells that rejection is really part not only of His predicament but of His actual mission. Jesus said, “Did you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes’?

When we experience rejection, frustration, and disappointment; when we are mistreated or misjudged, let us take courage from the words of the Lord who Himself said that we are blessed when we are insulted or persecuted because of Him.

Both readings from the Prophet Isaiah and from the Gospel according to Matthew, speak about how God’s efforts for His people were rejected. But He never stops caring for his people. He never quits assuring the good of his people. He just starts all over again. He employs more deserving tenants. God just does not give up, even to the point of sending His beloved son… and the Son’s death brought about salvation for His People.

So let us take heart when things get rough – maybe we just have to look at the opposite direction. St Paul in his letter to the Philippians reminds us: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus… Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

So we can think and look forward to great things that come out of the frustration, the rejection, just like how Moungi Bawendi overcame his initial failure at MIT. He now exhorts: “Persevere,” and don’t let setbacks “destroy you.” It is what nature discards that makes the soil fertile. Decomposed organic debris rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, magnesium, and potassium supports and enhances new growth. Nature cycles failures into opportunities, so to say.

The Paschal Mystery of Christ shows that there could be no Resurrection and Glorification without first enduring suffering and death. Indeed, the stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. As Robert Ellsberg reminded us in last week’s retreat, failures and suffering also present opportunities.

So let us gather all our challenging experiences of failures and distress at the end of each day as we go to bed, or at the end of each week as we begin another new one at the Sunday Liturgy and allow God to transform us so good things can come out of these negative experiences. Let us look forward to the strength in character that they enhance in us, to the better person God recreates in us through them. Let our partaking in Christ’s Paschal Mystery truly bring us new life.