Find Inspiration in the Word of God — Your Weekly Reflection from CMMB
In last week’s Gospel, we read about Jesus’ confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders. In today’s reading, we find a similar situation unfolding.
Jesus shares another parable with the religious leaders. In it, a landowner sends his servants to collect rent from his tenants. But upon arriving to collect what’s due, the tenants beat and kill the servants. After sending more servants, who are met with the same fate, the landowner sends his son. But he too is killed. With no heir to inherent the landowner’s vineyard, the tenants believe it will become their own.
It’s here that Jesus poses a question to the religious leaders: “What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” Their response is logical: “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” But like we observed in last week’s reading, the leaders’ response demonstrates their inability to heed the word of God.
Just as the vineyard will be taken away from the tenants, the Kingdom of Heaven will be taken away from the religious leaders and given to those who truly believe in the word of God.
As people of faith, we are we are challenged to recognize the different ways God delivers his word and accept the call. Maybe you recognize God’s word in the friend who offers advice that is hard to accept, or the spouse who offers help during a moment you wish you didn’t need it. For our volunteers, it’s their discontent with the inequality in the world that compels them to leave home and serve.
Accepting the word of God is not always easy. But the reward of doing so outweighs any challenge you may face along the way. We will conclude today’s reflection with the words of volunteer Beverly Farinelli. After serving on one of our medical mission trips to Zambia, she shared with us what compels her to serve. We hope her answer inspires you to take God’s word as an opportunity to act.
On a medical mission trip, Beverly and her fellow volunteers, donated “spa” supplies to a local home for elderly and disabled communities. They spent the day treating these deserving people to a spa day!
When I was a little girl, I had five dreams. All I did as a little girl was dream, because growing up I didn’t have much of anything. But, one of my dreams was to come to Africa. When my dream came true and I came to Africa for the first time, I was just incredibly grateful that God gave me that opportunity. God’s given everybody opportunities to do things, but so often we are selfish and we reject the call that we have or don’t answer it to the degree that we should. So, I am also inspired and directed by the word of God.
In grace and peace,
CMMB