Gospel Reading: Matthew 21:33-43
Today’s Gospel is the familiar parable of the owner who leased his vineyard to tenants who beat the owner’s servants and ultimately killed his son. While the parable is a thinly veiled description of how ancient Israel treated the prophets and Jesus, I found myself drawn to why the tenants behaved as they did. Was the reaction of the tenants due either to their not wanting to hand over the fruits of their labor, or was it that there were none to give back to the owner?
In this parable, I see two different ways we can fail to give God his “due.” One is to claim whatever we have achieved is solely the result of our own efforts. This is failing to recognize that it was God who gave the means necessary to grow and cultivate the harvest, yet through selfishness we are unwilling to give God the glory and share our “bounty” with others. The second way is even more troubling. We have wasted the means given to us to produce a bountiful harvest, and we have nothing to show for our efforts, or lack thereof.
Creation (the vineyard) belongs to God. As stewards, we are responsible to care for His creation and to give God what is due to Him. Have we been faithful stewards and reverenced what we have been entrusted with? Have we developed the gifts and talents God has blessed us with? Or have we squandered them or selfishly kept everything for ourselves? We will ultimately need to give an account of our stewardship. How blessed we will be if God calls us good and faithful stewards.
Sister Marcella Louise Wallowicz, CSFN
