Happy Friday! Today's gospel, what is it saying?
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Again, I need to read what is before and after to get a better idea of what is going on.
Before I do, My initial reaction/answer to the question Jesus asks in the gospel would have been the same as the chief priests and elders. Anger and revenge for the disrespect.
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After the group of tenants took out the second group of servants, I wouldn’t have sent my son. I would have gone and burned the whole thing down.
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OK time to read.
So it looks like Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem and has started really shaking things up. Just before this gospel Jesus is talking with the chief priests and elders. They are questioning Him and He is questioning them right back. You can clearly see (because we know the end) that the chief priest and elders just don’t get it. Just before the gospel below, Jesus tells them that the tax collectors & prostitutes (the “bottom of the barrel”) are getting into heaven because they understood what the baptism was all about. However, the chief priests and elders chose not to repent and believe so therefore the Kingdom will be taken from them and given to others.
Verse 44 says, "Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed." I guess because some manuscripts don’t have verse 44 they took it out.
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So what is Jesus saying to me? I’m not totally sure, yet. I do get that the parable is talking about God sending Jesus. Quite obviously God has greater love and mercy than me or the elders/priest, because he didn't burn the whole place down. He forgave.
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I thank God everyday for having patience with me and forgiving me. My life has been far more joyous and stronger, once I recognized Jesus and made Him my cornerstone.
I pray that when I hear His wisdom I’m able to understand it and make it part of me.
What is Jesus saying to you? What is he trying to teach you today?
Todays Gospel
Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/030218.cfm
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
"Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
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.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
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.
And although they were attempting to arrest him,
they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.