Jesus told a parable “to the chief priests and the elders,” “There was a landowner who planted a vineyard… Then he 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 the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned.” Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But “the tenants said, Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’”
The tenants in Jesus’ parable are Militarists. Militarists demand the right to dominate, to own, and to kill to fulfill their desires. The militaries they develop and maintain, institutionalize their demands, their rights, and their desires. All of it culminates in Militarists’ waging war, against people and the earth. Militarists claim the right to use the people they want, as well as the resources they want so they can dominate, own, and kill. A Militarist will always normalize and, worse, sanctify the ethic of the tenants, “Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.” Militarism describes Francesco di Bernardone. He was enamored of Militarism. He desired its supremacy, financial gain, and killing ethic. He became a soldier for the War Lords of Assisi to take what they desired from the people of neighboring Perugia. He was captured by enemy soldiers and rather than the glory of fighting, he experienced the wretchedness of captivity. He spent a year in a dungeon prison that began a Spiritual conversion in Francis. He was eventually ransomed with the money his wealthy father could afford to pay his captors. Francis was not yet fully free though. He was still a captive of Militarism. As such, he soldiered for a neighboring War Lord Count, desiring yet again to dominate, to own, and to kill. Like the tenants in the Gospel, the Count said to all the young men captivated by Militarism, ‘Come, let us kill the people and gain our inheritance.’ But on his travels to the battle, he had a vision. It compelled him to ask why he was following another warmaker and not the peacemaker Jesus? Francis would no longer be held captive by Militarism and the warmaking desires it spread. He turned toward freedom as a peacemaker. Francis joined with others also seeking the freedom of peacemaking who were on a pilgrimage. Along the way, Francis met a beggar and felt called to change clothes with the man. His Spiritual conversion intensified when back in Assisi he encountered a leper. Moved to overcome his disgust, Francis embraced the man, and in doing so embraced all humanity as Christ – equal to all, loving all, healing all. Francis was thus fully free from Militarism. He was free from Militarism’s desires, that it masquerades as rights. It meant Francis rejected domination to live as an equal in communion with others. It meant he rejected ownership of people and things, to live in simplicity, sharing with people the resources of the earth freely given. It meant he rejected killing and lived as a healer. Across the centuries, people seeking freedom from the captivity of warmaking, have been inspired by Francis to live free as peacemakers. For those people held captive by warmaking, we offer Francis’ prayer…
“Make me a channel of your peace Where there is hatred let me sow love Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is discord, union. Where there is error, truth. Where there is doubt, true faith. Where there is despair in life let me bring hope Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may never seek so much to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand. To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that one receives, it is in pardoning that one is pardoned, it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.”
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, make me a channel of your peace.
Question: Why do we follow warmakers and not peacemakers?
October 04, 2026 Gospel Matthew 21:33-43 Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time / St. Francis Feast Day
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