Holyrood Church 715 West 179 Street, Upper West side Manhattan, USA, 212-923-3770

Loving is a command to Divine

 

 

Good morning, happy Monday, and blessings.

 

The story of God's work among people is a story of hard work, followed by disappointment.

God is like a man, or a woman, who prepares carefully, planting a vineyard, putting a hedge around it, digging the wine vat, building a tower, then leasing it to stewards to care for the vines. Yet when He comes back to receive the fruit, He finds none.  The fruit is withheld.

 

Mark 12:1-12 is not strictly an interrogation story, although it does display the hostility between Jesus and the Jerusalem leadership seen in those stories. Instead, it takes the familiar form of a parable, in this case, an agrarian tale with a violent twist. A man plants a vineyard, fences it, builds a wine press and a watchtower, and leases it to tenants.

 

This simple, matter-of-fact description has both economic and intertextual significance. Economically, it indicates that the landowner in question has made a considerable investment. Planting, fencing, and building represent a significant financial outlay. This is not a casual endeavor; the vineyard constitutes a commitment. The landowner has put himself at risk, both in terms of the profitability of the vineyard and the integrity of the caretakers. This is what the story tells us.

 

The key to understanding this parable and what it says about the religious leaders is that Jesus makes their lack of obedience personal. Jesus tells the leaders that because of their disobedience they will be left out of the kingdom of heaven (individually and as a people); that they have let their opportunity for the time being slip away to be given to the Gentiles.

 

But what about the frustration element of disappointment? Is God angry or frustrated with us? Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, " Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He was not closed to the broken, rejected, and immoral. In fact, He went where the sick were, where the sinners were, and where the rejected were. Jesus didn't have a turnstile of moral obligation, but only open and nail-pierced hands to receive and restore all those who are weary, broken, and defeated. In other words, God is not disappointed with you when you openly, faithfully, and humbly come to Him. He receives us not as slaves, but as sons and daughters, as friends.

 

God is not disappointed with you. Yes, He will cause you to change. Yes, He will want you cleansed of the presence of sin. Yes, He wants to redeem you, but He also wants to affirm you, receive you, and love you.

 

We can approach God not as disappointments, but as those with weaknesses that have been made perfect through Christ. God’s primary emotion toward us today and each day is love, and we receive it knowing we have done nothing to deserve it. There is nothing we can do today to make Her love us more, and nothing we might devise to make Him love us less. He simply loves us because He loves us. That’s just who He is. And God does not dangle Her love on conditional strings like a divine marionette. Can I today love God, my neighbor and myself in the same way?

 

Blessings

 

Fr. Luis+

Date news: 
Monday, June 1, 2020 - 10:15

Ministry at the time of Coronavirus (Covid 19): Prevent, cure and accompany

Now we have to shape what some have started calling; The Church at Home. Although I keep asking myself; What do those who do not have a home do? For this reason, at the same time, I am declaring today in our Holyrood Church a Lenten day of prayer, fasting and reading the Bible in the Time of the Coronavirus.

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