Lent: Day 9

“What do you think? A man had two sons. He came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ He answered, ‘No,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went. He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘Yes, sir,’ but he didn’t go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said to him, “The first.”

Jesus said to them, “I tell you tax collectors and prostitutes are entering into God’s kingdom before you. John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.

“Hear another parable. The master of a household planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country. When the season came near, he sent his servants to the farmers to receive his fruit. The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they treated them the same way. Afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect him.’ But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and steal his inheritance.’ So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

They told him, “He will utterly destroy those miserable wretches, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.”

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

‘The stone which the builders rejected,
    the same was made the cornerstone.
This was from the Lord.
    It is marvelous in our eyes?’

“God’s kingdom will be taken away from you, and will be given to those producing its fruit. Those who fall on this stone will be broken by it, but those on whom it falls, will be obliterated.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they understood he spoke about them. They wanted to seize him, but they feared the crowds who considered him to be a prophet.

Reflection

These stories were clear warnings to Jewish leaders that they would be held accountable for their failure to carry out God’s mission of being a light to the world. Do you see these stories as clear warnings to Christian leaders of the same thing? When outsiders look at the church today, do they see light or just more darkness?

Prayer: Point me to others, Lord, with whom I can join together in carrying your light into the darkness.