Reflection for June 1 Monday, Saint Justin, Martyr; Mark 12:1-12

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:

Do you know that all the things that you have right now is not yours?  All the things that you have right now are owned by God. God gave it to you, you may have worked very hard for it but at the end of the day it’s God who allowed you to prosper.

 It’s not through your own effort alone that you’ve achieved success its God who allowed you to have success and be where you are right now.  What have you given back to God in return?

Jesus in our gospel shares a story about a man (owner) who prepared his vineyard for it to be leased. The tenants had no problem of achieving growth and financial success in that vineyard for the owner had prepared it for them.

Then, harvest time came the owner was naturally asking for his share but the tenants were so greedy that they gave nothing to His messengers they all killed them including the very son of the owner of the vineyard.

Transplanting that parable to our present time we find that the man who owned the vineyard is God and we are the tenants. And as such we are expected to give back to God a certain part of what we have right now.

Life is short; let us therefore give back to God while we are still alive. Let us payback the generosity of God or let us move it forward by helping the poor. For example by adopting a poor relative and taking care of his/her education. There are a hundred more ways on how we can give back to God.

What have you given God in return? Have you given Him some of your talent, time and treasure? When you give back to God you allow Him to bless you more. – Marino J. Dasmarinas