Related to the current violence that is occurring in and around the Gaza area:
Please join us in praying that there is a de-escalation, and that the root causes of violence and oppression may be confronted and challenged, so that a new understanding of peace prevails.
Matthew 21:33-46
33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Stewards not Owners
Jesus continues to teach with parables. This time, He targets the heads of the spiritual leadership, whose duty is to set an example for the people in word and deed. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” Matthew 23:13.
Those who have been commissioned to fully teach God's ways with integrity and honesty are compared to stewards or tenants who work in God's vineyard. They are not the owners of the vineyard, known in the Biblical context as God's people. Rather they are entrusted with the vineyard owner’s property to cultivate it and give its fruits to the vineyard owner.
The worthy steward must possess the following basic values:
1) Trust, which is the fundamental element needed to carry the responsibility of the vineyard.
2) Confidence, which is granted by the owner of the vineyard.
3) Humility to accept his charge as a worker for someone to whom he has to pay account.
4) Loyalty and gratitude to his master, which is shown through the fruits of his work in the vineyard.
5) Working in healthy fear and respect, considering that the observer of his work is God.
6) Respectful of those who work with him and share responsibilities to produce the best of fruits.
7) Obedient to his master's commands, doing His will and not his own without consulting or referring to the owner's will.
8) Worthy of trust, who, with joy, delivers the fruits of the vineyard to the owner at the appropriate time.
These are the stewards that the Church needs today, those who are faithful to the Gospel's teaching without giving priority to their own interpretations. By doing so, they become the owners of the field instead of remaining stewards, and are commissioned by the Lord to do His will.
Today we are invited to be aware of Christ's teaching and to pray for those who were chosen to teach God's ways according to the Gospel. Let us pray for the good fruits that Church leaders may offer to the Lord.