Praise be to Jesus Christ
Once a teacher told her students a story about a river. She began by saying that when a river flows through a valley it brings life to everything. Trees begin to grow tall; flowers bloom and animals flourish because of its life-giving water. But if rocks and rubbish block the rivers flow, the river becomes stagnant over time and the once flourishing valley, dry and lifeless. Although the river had not disappeared totally, nevertheless it could no longer give life to the valley.
In today’s Gospel Jesus speaks of a vineyard where the owner expects fruit but the tenants refuse to comply. Jesus tells them; “The Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people who are willing to produce fruit.”
Jesus words are a warning for us all and we must take it seriously. God has entrusted each one of us with a special role in His vineyard. A priest, for example, is expected to bear much fruit through his ministry by preaching the truth without fear, offering the sacraments with devotion and leading souls to holiness. Sadly, in today’s world priests often seek their own personal comfort and strive for power, wealth and influence. Some even silence those who do preach the truth in the same way the tenants who actually killed the owner of the vineyard.
Parents have also been given a vineyard; their family. They too are called to bear fruit by raising their children in faith, teaching them to love God and how to lead lives of holiness. Again, in this day and age, this parental responsibility is being neglected and they leave their children to be shaped by others in a society that does not always adhere to God’s laws and truth. The result is that many Christian families are losing their faith, while other religions are growing stronger even converting those once pledged to Christ. We are indeed witnessing what Jesus warned about in the Gospel passage. In many places churches are closing because of poor attendance, faith is declining and the Gospel values long forgotten. The shepherds have forgotten their responsibility to their flock.
Those who are responsible to nourish and defend their faith must remember the final consequence of the parable. Jesus affirms that the vineyard owner will come, cast out all those who are neglectful and unfaithful and entrust his vineyard to others. By the time the previous tenants realise their mistake, it will be too late. Everything will be given away.
The apostles also faced a similar challenge, and that we see in Acts 6:2 when there was a complaint that some of their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. This was an important issue, but instead of getting distracted, they concentrated on their duty saying:
“It is not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to serve tables.”
They could have focused on temporary concerns, but they chose to prioritise their mission enterested them by Christ. They appointed deacons to handle the distribution, so that they could remain faithful to preaching the Word of God. Because of this, “The Word of God continued to spread, and the number of disciples increased greatly” (Acts 6:7). Even today, if we critically examine, how many ordained priests, consecrated men and women, become mere administrators rather than preachers of the Gospel?
Are we deeply reflecting on what Jesus expects from us today? Instead of being overly concerned with material things, possessions, or power, we must focus on bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God through preaching, teaching, and witnessing to Christ. If we fail in this mission, the vineyard will be taken from us.
Hence it might be good to reflect deeply; are we producing the fruit as God expects? Or have we allowed ourselves to become stagnant rivers, receiving grace but not sharing it, given responsibility but not fulfilling it? Let us not wait until it is too late. Let us be like the apostles who were eager to bear fruit, faithful to our mission, and ready to give God what He rightfully expects from us.
Let us pray : Jesus help everyone of us to be faithful in our mission that we may produce the fruits that you are expecting from us . Amen
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God Bless
Wonderful message keep it up may god bless you