Are humans basically good? Yes of course, because we were all created in the "image and likeness of God" who is "All Good". Why is it that we sometimes do what is contrary, that is, evil? Is it because of human weakness? We see this reality in the story that we have today. The adversaries of Jesus (the Scribes and Pharisees) are determined to trap Jesus so as to find something to accuse him of or to incriminate him. The trap was genuinely put in a question: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

What is peculiar with the Gospel of Matthew is that it has many parables. Today, we hear again another beautiful parable, the Parable of the great Banquet. In sacred scripture banquets signify God's blessings which he wants to bestow not only to the people of Israel but to all the nations. And God wants that his banquet hall will be filled with a lot of people. He wants the Kingdom of heaven be filled with a lot of people because his gift of salvation is universal. It is for all people.

Today we hear another parable which is the Parable of the fruitless vineyard. The first reading tells us about the people of Israel who are compared to God’s vineyard whom he cared for; yet they failed to produce good fruit. The same scenario has taken placed in the Gospel: the landowner is God; the vineyard is the people of Israel.