SCRIPTURE
MARK 12:1-9
Parable of the Tenants.
He began to speak to them 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.
THIS IS THE HEIR COME LET US KILL HIM AND THE INHERITANCE WILL BE OURS!
REFLECTION
God created the world and set mankind stewards of this world. We are the tenants tending to God’s vineyard. God gave his tenants guidelines, commandments, for how to care for this world and each other. God sent teachers and prophets into his vineyard, many rebuffed and even killed.
God saw this was not working out so well and we wouldn’t get it right on our own so He sent his only begotten Son. Surely He would be accepted but no, the religious leaders and pagan leaders of the time crucified Him.
Before His death, Jesus wept over Jerusalem. .“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Matthew 23:37
Jesus the Christ rose from the dead and Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire and throughout the whole world even to today. The Holy Spirit moves where it wills! Many are called but few are chosen. “Just as in the time of Noah so it will be in the coming of the Son of Man.” Luke 17:26
When the LORD saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil. The LORD regretted making human beings on the earth, and his heart was grieved. So the LORD said: I will wipe out from the earth the human beings I have created…. But Noah found favor with the LORD….Genesis 6:5-8
The wicked will be dispensed with in the coming of the Son of Man on Judgment day. Let us be good and faithful stewards that we may hear, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Father.”
SCRIPTURE
MARK 12:13-16
Paying Taxes to the Emperor
They sent some Pharisees and Herodians to him to ensnare him in his speech. They came and said to him, Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?”
Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” They brought one to him and he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They replied to him, “Caesar’s. Jesus said to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” They were utterly amazed at him.
RENDER TO GOD WHAT IS GOD’S
REFLECTION
Some Pharisees and Herodians came to trick Jesus. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” They want to trap Jesus in no win question that will either make him an enemy of Rome or an enemy of his Jewish followers who are oppressed by Rome. Jesus replies, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a coin.”
Jesus answers their question with a question, “Whose image is on the coin.” Stunned they answer Caesar. Jesus says give to Caesar what is Caesars (coins) and to God what is God’s (everything else) including our bodies and souls.
We are all made in the image and likeness of God. “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female* he created them.” Genesis 1:7 God not only stunned the Herodians and Pharisees but gives us a stunning message as well. Give to God what is God’s. Pray about it.
Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. Take to heart these words which I command you today. Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up…Deuteronomy 6:4-7
SCRIPTURE
MARK 12:41-44
The Poor Widow’s Contribution.*
He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”
SHE GAVE ALL THAT SHE HAD!
REFLECTION
I am reminded of the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. While the Pharisee boasted in front how great he was, the tax collector knelt in back beating his breast, “O God be merciful to me a sinner!” Jesus tells his disciples the tax collector was the one who went home justified. “The one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:14
Jesus points out to his disciples the widow who places a few coins the treasury. She gave not from her surplus but from the heart. In material possessions, the widow returns to God her heart and devotion.
This widow is a model to us all. She is humble and acknowledges all that she has comes from God and in return she will share what she has with God and the temple treasury, God’s house. This is how she gives back. Though small in the eyes of the world, God sees her heart and ours too.
What do we give back to God? What should we give back to God? What do we have that God hasn’t given to us? Yes, our sins. May God have mercy on us and forgive us our sins! Heavenly Father and giver of all good things, give us your grace to be merciful and generous with each other as you are generous and merciful.