Gospel: Mark
12:1-12
Jesus
began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. “A
man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a
tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper
time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce
of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and
treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others;
some they beat, others they killed. He had one other to send, a beloved son. He
sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those
tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the
inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out
of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will
come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not
read this Scripture passage: The stone that the builders rejected has become
the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our
eyes?”
They were
seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had
addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.
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Reflection:
There is
a story of a high and mighty government official who was asked to resign from
his post. For the reason that he engaged in high stakes corruption and abuse of
authority. Instead of voluntarily resigning he clung to his post because
according to him there is still much more money to be stolen in the coffers of
his government office.
Since he
was not willing to resign he was investigated and was found guilty it resulted
in the forfeiture of all his government benefits. This high government official
was so greedy that it became the instrument for his disgrace.
In our
gospel the tenant farmers are the greedy characters, they were the religious
leaders of Israel, they were not willing to give what was due to God which was
represented by the owner of the vineyard. They killed all of the messengers
(prophets) even the only begotten son of the owner they killed as well. At the
end, because of their greed the tenant farmers were severely punished by the
owner.
It
doesn’t pay to greedily amass immoral wealth. For whatever we have now that is
borne out of our greed will eventually be taken away from us. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
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