Post-feast of the Exaltation of the Cross; Holy Martyr Sophia, and Her Three Daughters Faith, Hope and Love
Ephesians 4:17-25; Mark 12:1-12
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
Read Mark 12:1-12
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
The parable in today’s Gospel is directed at Jesus’s hearers who are the chief priests, scribes, and elders of the temple. The interpretation of this parable that comes to us through holy tradition is that the servants are the prophets, the tenants are the Jewish authorities, and the son is the Son of God Himself. The parable itself is prophetic as Jesus has just entered triumphantly into Jerusalem on the way to His glorious passion and He is stirring things up, giving the Jewish leaders signs, words, and actions (cleansing the temple and overturning the money changers tables) through which they might repent and come to embrace the fullness of the law through Him.
We can be stubborn, pig-headed, and often we find ourselves heading down the completely wrong path in our life. We can be so assured of ourselves and consumed by our belief in “my truth” that we fail to see the truth who is Jesus Christ. Coming to acknowledge Our Lord Jesus Christ as the fullness of truth, as the one true way, and as the answer to the question that is every human life can be a rude awakening as we cast off what is false and even what is wicked in our lives. Coming to fully embrace Our Lord through and in the life of the Church is joy, not loss. Embracing Christ is a decision we ourselves must make but we do not do so in isolation. Our Lord gives us the Church, the communion of the saints, His mystical body, to guide us into an ever fuller union with Him. Like the servants who are sent into the vineyard, are we going to welcome those who the Lord sends into our own lives to correct us, to struggle with us, to rejoice with us, to worship God in spirit and in truth with us? Let us pray that we are attentive to whom the Lord sends to help us on the path to salvation.