Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Jun Perez SVD (South Korea)
Monday 9th Week in Ordinary Time
Everybody looks in front of the mirror everyday, especially before one goes out of the house. When you look at the mirror, you want to see if there’s any problem especially with your face.
What if you see a mole that, you notice, has been getting bigger? Would you want to go to the doctor immediately for it? Or just deny that there is something wrong?
The parable for today is Jesus’ attempt to make the Pharisees and scribes look at themselves and realize that they need to change for Judaism to be true to its calling. The parable is somewhat a short and sad history of how God wanted to reach out to his people through the prophets only for them to be rejected and eventually killed.
Until finally, God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ in a last ditch attempt to reach out to his people. And like in the parable, Jesus also knew that he would be rejected and killed outside the walls of Jerusalem. Then God would give his vineyard to the people that would give him produce and those were the Gentiles.
Now if we think we should be complacent because of what God has given us, we should realize that we might also turn into Pharisees and scribes and start denying that something is wrong with us. Then we might end up like them.
The parable is a somber reminder that while the Lord has given us so many blessings, the gift comes with an expectation that we must also produce fruits out of these blessings. Hopefully, through this parable we may continue to be thankful and faithful to what God has given us.
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