Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

“The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.”

Gospel reading: Mark 12:1-12

1 And he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. 2 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them, saying, `They will respect my son.' 7 But those tenants said to one another, `This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8 And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture: `The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; 11 this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" 12 And they tried to arrest him, but feared the multitude, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them; so they left him and went away.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is addressing a group of Jews. The purpose of this discourse is to explain the history of man’s salvation. God created a the world that we live in for us. Everything he created was good, yet man found some way to corrupt the creation of God. Jesus uses the analogy of the vineyard. In this story, the master provides the workers with everything they need. He provides them good stock, protection from the outside, a place to make wine and a place to store the harvest. When it is time to reclaim some of the harvest, the master sends a messenger to claim some of the harvest. How do the workers repay him? They attack the messenger. This is the same thing that man did with all the messengers that God sent to help us with our salvation. But the master does not give up. Eventually he sends his beloved son. Humanity does not change. In response to the beloved son, they kill him. The Jews think that the master should come and destroy the tenants. But instead, the beloved son becomes the cornerstone of our faith and our salvation.

This same message is true today. God gives us everything we need. He provides us with many gifts and talents. How we use those gifts reflects on how we respect the master who gave them to us. The parable tells us how God deals with the sinfulness of man. God loves us and continually forgives us. His forgiveness is limitless. No matter what we do with the gifts he gives us, God will continually be there for us. He has entrusted us each with different gifts to help in the harvest. We are free to do as we will with those gifts. Not only does God trusts us to make our own decisions, he loves us so much that he will not force us to do things that are against our will. God entrusted us with the vineyard and it is our responsibility to reap the harvest. Jesus knew that he would be rejected and killed, but he also knew that his death would not be the end. Through his death would come the ultimate glory. He knew that he would be the cornerstone of our faith and our salvation. Jesus promises us a great harvest if we submit to his will. If we use the gifts he gave us to fulfill the wishes of the master, we will be rewarded abundantly in the Kingdom of heaven.

A Simple Prayer

Lord Jesus, you are the cornerstone of our faith.

Through you we find our salvation.

You provide me with many gifts and talents.

May I use these gifts for your glory and praise.

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon