Genesis 37: 3-4, 12-13, 17-28; Psalm 105; Matthew 21: 33-43, 45-46
“Pit” is an operative word this week. Jesus was put in a pit, a deep hole just the size of a man, according to the tour guide in Israel who pointed out Jesus’ possible prison. Joseph is pulled from the pit by his brothers to be sold (greed again) as a slave. In the gospel, the son of the vineyard owner is killed by the tenants. “They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
Today pray for those who traffic human beings for work or for sex. Pray for parents who sell their children so “they might have a better life.” Pray for those who throw homosexuals, those who have divorced and remarried, those who choose abortion out of God’s vineyard. Pray that our church leaders and our own selves learn to stop judging. Who knows a person’s conscience? We are only tenants. Check out any prejudices lurking in your heart and offer them to Jesus for transforming.
We are only tenants. Thank you for calling us to work in your vineyard, God of all peoples. Forgive us our greedy grasping of the fruits, and our tendency to exclude