First Reading

Reading from the book of Genesis

Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28

Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he had begotten him in his old age. For him he had made a long-sleeved tunic. His brothers, seeing that he loved him more than all of them, came to hate him, to the point of not speaking to him.

One day when Joseph’s brothers took their father’s flocks to Shechem, Jacob said to Joseph: «Your brothers are pasturing my flocks in Shechem. I am sending you there.» Joseph went in search of his brothers and found them in Dothan. They saw him from afar, and before he could come near them, they plotted against him to kill him and said to one another: «Here comes that dreamer. Let us kill him and throw him into a cistern and say that a wild beast devoured him. We shall see what becomes of his dreams.»

Reuben heard this and tried to save him from their hands, saying: «Let us not take his life. Do not shed blood. Rather, throw him into that cistern in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.» He did this to save him and bring him back to his father.

When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic and threw him into an empty cistern. Then they sat down to eat, and looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with camels laden with spices, resin, balm, and myrrh, on their way to Egypt. Judah then said to his brothers: «What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood? Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, so that our hands remain unstained. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.» His brothers agreed. They pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him to the merchants for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants took Joseph to Egypt.

Gospel

Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew

Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

At that time, Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people this parable: «There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, and 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 they seized the servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. He sent other servants, more numerous than the first, 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 rejected has 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. They sought to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.