He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to tenants, and went into another country.
When it was time, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them his share of the fruit of the vineyard. They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty. Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. Again he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some. (12:1-4)
As the time was coming for me to leave this earth, to give my life as a ransom for many, I revealed through this parable what had happened. Many leaders and kings had persecuted the prophets sent by my Father, to remind our dear people Israel of their purpose, to bring fruits of love and healing for their people and for all the nations. They were not to eat the fruit of their service to God themselves, but were supposed to bring it to the Father, for him to share it with the whole world. That is why the Father was so angry with the money changers who were taking the place in the temple where the nations were supposed to come worship the Father.
As long as people focus on dry principles and not on the living relationship with God, they will seek to silence those who speak of the Father’s call to love and serve, they will beat and kill our prophets. This problem was very clear in Israel, it is still very clear today. In many parts of my church, people are self-serving. They focus on their little problems and desires, forgetting that their purpose is to be a blessing for the other parts of my body, the Church, and for the whole humanity and the whole creation. It is so painful for me to see the lack of grace between the different parts of my Church, some saying that they are the true ones (implicitly saying that the others are false), others stressing their identity as a criticism of others. So many focus on their little agenda, and not on my goal for the world. I gave one ‘commission’ to my disciples, to bring the good news to all the nations. Yet, this good news has often become a dry intellectual assent, or an emotional moment, or a traditional repetition without passion, and not the ongoing love relationship that I want with each of my disciples. My heart is heavy for my Church, I want so much to see the children of the Father discover the depth of His love, the tenderness of His embrace. I did not come to judge but to save, I did not come to condemn but to deliver. Learn from me, release people through the good news. I am the good news, through me and in me people can find the deliverance they seek, the peace they long for, the happiness they desire.
So often, people fight for theological ideas, instead of learning to love. Love is not a theory to expound, it is a relationship to live, in faith and obedience to us. We want to teach people to love, first by sharing our love through the Holy Spirit coming in them, to enable them to respond to our love. Then we want them to share this love with their neighbors. Our plan has always been very simple, yet many escape this simplicity by fighting for theories or judgments. We want fellowship with humans, to teach them to speak and listen to us, to ask and receive, to seek and find us, to knock so that we can open the doors of our grace to many. This living fellowship with us is what transforms the world, not the abstract analysis of what this fellowship should be.
Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. (12:6-8)
What these self-centered leaders did to prophets, they also did to me, because I came to remind them that they should not be self-serving. The purpose was not to build a community of faith that was united behind dry principles that separate them completely from the rest of the world. The goal of the Father was to teach our dear people Israel to love, so that they could pour my love into the whole world.
This problem of self-centeredness is still so prevalent today, in other religions and in my Church. It is so hard for many to submit to the love of God. We want to teach each person, through a living fellowship with us, that you can learn what true and pure love is, a generous love that is ready to offer itself for the good of the other. I told to my disciples that I would be with them up to the end of the age, that when two or three are united in my name I am in the midst of them. Yet, they consider me so often as distant or as an abstract idea. When I was resurrected, I showed my disciples that I did have my body, that I could even eat. I wanted them to realize that I wanted a real fellowship with them, that they could speak to me and hear me, that I could still act in your world. since I went back to the Father, I want to touch this world through each believer in me, through the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to dwell in you and you in me, so that as I did the works of the Father during my life, we will be able manifest our works of love through you to many.
What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and will give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone. This was from the Lord, it is marvelous in our eyes’?” (12:9-11)
I did not come to judge but to save. Those who came to trust in me are not judged. Those who reject me reject the Father and will come to judgment, because they did not believe in me, because they rejected the life and the love of the Father. If you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind, if you reject my love and the life with God, you will reap despair and death. This is not our desire, yet it is a direct consequence for those who reject me. Those who refuse to learn to love through the Holy Spirit, who don’t bring the fruits of our tender mercy in this world, who reject me and my path of holy love, will be rejected and destroyed.
The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. I was rejected by the builders, and I became the cornerstone, the foundation of my Church, of my body on earth. I want to act through you, I want to breathe my love to the world through you. That is the way we decided to redeem this world, and we want you to take your place in our plans of love. Build on me as your cornerstone, the foundation of your life. Let us transform you fully in our image, that was the plan since the creation of the first human, so that you may learn to live in joyful fellowship with us. Let the Holy Spirit pour our love in you and through you, this is our desire, and it will be marvelous in your eyes and a blessing for many.
They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. The left him, and went away. (12:12)
The Jewish leaders realized that I was condemning them, as through me the Father was condemning them, and they wanted to silence me. Yet, the time had not yet come, and their fear of the crowd was still for me a cloak of protection for a few more days, before I would be brought to the cross. The Father would bring the destruction of the temple, the destruction of Israel as a nation only a few years after my death.
Don’t blame Israel but pray for our dear people. Do not think that this attitude is unique to Israel or to this time, it is widespread in all the countries and all the religions. You can find this violence toward me and my followers in many places. So many in the world kill my disciples in the name of the love of God, to their shame. We love all nations and all the creation. Israel still has a key role to play, as Paul understood well (see Romans 11). Do not try to uncover secrets or the date of my return or to battle about human theories of my return, but rather learn to live in communion with me, to listen to my voice and to learn to express our love in all you are and in all you do. This is the right way to wait for my return. I am coming. Learn to welcome my love through the Holy Spirit, to live in communion with me, to spread this love to those you meet. I have still so many sheep to bring to the sheep pen, be one of my disciples, be one of my assistant-shepherds.
No comments:
Post a Comment