When parents are in deep distress after being let down or rejected by their children they may well voice the lament of Isaiah in the first reading: “What more could I have done for my children that I did not do?” There is no pain more intense or distressing than that of being rejected. Like a sword of sorrow it pierces our heart and leaves us deeply wounded. Rejection is something we all encounter on our journey through life and Jesus was no exception. The terrible truth is that the Son of God came to earth, showed his love in every possible way and was rejected. In this very hard hitting gospel we are exposed to the blunt truth that God has done everything possible for us as a people by sending his Son to live among us. In return we have turned our back and offered him nothing but black ingratitude and cold indifference.
It does not take a great deal of imagination to see ourselves in this parable. Each of us is a tenant, cultivating a small portion of God’s vineyard and when the harvest time arrives we are expected to produce the fruits of right living, by displaying a brotherhood of caring, sharing and showing forth the charity of the gospel in our daily lives. By doing this we put into practice during the week what we profess to believe at our Sunday morning celebration of the Mass.
The parable challenges us to keep working in God’s service and not to become complacent. We can examine our conscience to see if we are producing the gifts of God’s love. The Lord is bitterly disappointed when we lazily sit back and fail to appreciate the beauty of our lives, the joy of our families and his loving care. There will be a day of reckoning for all of us. A time will come when we will be answerable for the way in which we have carried out the task God has given us to do. What then if at the end of life we have nothing to offer the Lord but the sour grapes of a pagan lifestyle? We will have smothered a beautiful being with indifference, ingratitude, selfishness and neglect and have become useless to God. Christ is concerned that we respond to his appeal to bear fruit and become an immense and beautiful harvest.
Fr. Jojo Eloja
No comments:
Post a Comment