Gospel
Mark 12:1-12
Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders 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. Have you not read this Scripture passage:
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?"
They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.



Reflection
The teaching of Jesus was radically opposed to the way the temple operated, often with judgment and condemnation.
And what Jesus does here is he doesn't attack these men for not seeing. He gives them something to ponder, to wonder about. And they get it. And they weren't attacked. They were simply enlightened. That's the way to work with those who need to see what they don't see. Not to attack them, but to open their minds to a new way of seeing.
And it calls upon that core in each one of us that knows the truth. We know who the cornerstone is. We know what life is really for deep inside of us. And Jesus would rather awaken that in us than condemn us. And we're asked to do the same.

Closing Prayer Father, when we're with people who disagree with our basic core understanding of life, give us patience and a gentle heart so we can call them gently out of the darkness they're caught in. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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