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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Monday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
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Gospel text (Mk 12:1-12): Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. "A man planted a vineyard... Then he leased it to tenant farmers... 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... many others... He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them... But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'... 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?"...

Men usurp the creation (“Parable of the wicked tenants”)

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today, the words of Jesus show us the work of the creation as “God’s vineyards” and man as its administrator. In the parable, the vineyards produce good grapes but the farmers keep it for themselves. They don’t want to give it to the owner. They beat and murder their messengers and kill their Son.

These farmers, who do not want to have a master, are also a reflection for us. Men usurp the creation which has been given to us to administer it. We want to possess the world and our own life in a unlimited way; God is a nuisance for us.

—Where man becomes sole ruler of the world and owner of himself, there can be no justice. Free will becomes the only power. Certainly one can get rid of the Son out of the vineyards and kill him to enjoy selfishly the fruits of the earth. But then, it soon becomes a barren trampled by wild boars as taught in Psalm 79.