Sunday, October 5, 2008

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus, in this parable of the vineyard, tells that the builder builds it and leaves it in charge of renters so that he can receive the fruits at their proper time. The renters had other ideas, though. They chose to ignore the owner. They became murderous, and in their twisted logic thought that if they kill the messengers and the owner's son, they would inherit the vineyard.

God is the owner, and we are the renters. Unlike the builder of a vineyard who plants for his own sake, God plants the world for the sake of love. God has no 'need' for the fruits as He in perfect. But we need to give Him the fruits. In gratitude, we give Him our service and praise. But we also pay attention to our own attitudes and assumptions. Just as illogical as thinking that we can inherit a son's wealth through his murder, it is illogical to rationalize our behavior and our sins. Yet we all do, some more than others. We think we can get away with continuing to act like we are the makers and owners of truth. We must humble ourselves, though. We bring our fruits to God, and receive from Him the truth. We let Him give us our mission.

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