“Finally, he sent his son to them,
Matthew 21:37
thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’”
Reflection
Jesus tells the elders and chief priests a parable about a landowner who plants a nice vineyard and lets tenants take care of it. He sends servants to collect the produce, but the tenants kill the servants. The landowner then sends his own son, but he is also killed. Jesus then says that just as the vineyard will be taken away from the wretched tenants, so will the Kingdom of God be taken from the chief priests and Pharisees.
God sent his only Son into the world as a man so that he might save us. But just as the landowner thinks his evil tenants will respect his son and not kill him, the same thing happens to Jesus. Of course, God knew that Jesus would be killed, but the sentiment can still apply. We might think people will respect Jesus, but the world shows this is far from the case many times.
How often do you hear people take the Lord’s name in vain, or say something heretical about Christ? Jesus is not respected the way he should be, and for our part, we must defend him. We are disciples of Christ, called to bear witness to his name and his saving grace. While we cannot always stop others from disrespecting Christ, we can make sure that we ourselves do not do so.
Reflect on how you can grow in your relationship with Jesus, not only respecting and loving him more, but showing others how to do so as well.
Saint of the Day
St. Mary Ann of Jesus of Paredes: 1618 – 1645
| “If our self-denial does not lead to charity, the penance has been practiced for the wrong reason.” St. Mary Ann of Jesus of Paredes |
The Healing Word 