Parable of the Tenants

Today's Reflections

                                                      

Parable of the Tenants 

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Mk 12:1-12

¹[Jesus] began to speak to [the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders] in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. ²At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. ³But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. ⁵He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. ⁶He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹What [then] will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Have you not read this scripture passage:/ ‘The stone that the builders rejected/ has become the cornerstone;/ ¹¹by the Lord has this been done,/ and it is wonderful in our eyes’?”/ ¹²They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.

Reflection:

A man planted a vineyard. The vineyard in the parable is Israel, often depicted as such in the Old Testament. Israel was indeed God’s chosen people, shown many favors and given special protection by God. God had a right to expect and even demand a return for all the favors he had lavished on Israel. But the people whom he sent (the prophets) met with the people’s refusal. God, however, took a final risk in sending his Son. The parable is a prophecy of what they will do to Jesus.

We, too, are like God’s vineyard, given special care by him. What can we show for the graces that God has lavished upon us? Let us learn from what happened to God’s chosen people.

Do you give God a reasonable return

for God’s investment on you?