Mark 12:1-12 Gospel for Friday: Seventeenth and Thirty-second week after Pentecost 1 Then [Jesus] began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 2 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. 5 And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. 6 Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. 9 Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. 11 This was the LORDs doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes?’” 12 And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away. January 31, 2014 Friday of the Thirty-second Week after Pentecost Bearing Fruit: Mark 12:1-12, especially vs. 9: “The owner of the vineyard. . . . will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.” This parable contains a prophecy of the fate of God the Son. Christ Jesus is sent by the Father to win the respect of His people; they indeed will take Him and kill Him and cast Him out of the vineyard (vs. 8). As a result, the Lord Jesus will give “His people to other husbandmen, that is, to the apostles” (Blessed Theophylact, Explanation of the Holy Gospel According to Saint Mark, p. 102). We are God’s vineyard, charged with bearing fruit and offering “the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Heb 13:15). We are to abide in Him or risk being “cast out as a branch and . . .withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned” (Jn 15:6). Let us give God His due in the time allotted to us. Sin is around us and within us. Its allure deceives us so that we often fail to consider the consequences of not abiding in Him. It is easy to live for the moment, without thinking about what follows from our actions. However, our petty resistance and refusal to pay our dues only deepens the gulf between us and the Giver of Life. When we look at the fall of Adam and Eve, we notice how rapidly they descend after that tiny bite of forbidden fruit. They are driven from Paradise and foul murder soon follows (Gn 3:23; 4:8). Turning to the century only recently past, we find the latest chapter in this sordid human record: mass executions, genocide, the destruction of whole cities, and terror unspeakable. We dwell close to Life. We are united to the Lord in baptism, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and partake of Christ’s own life-bearing Body and Blood. “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11). Why should we hoard – or worse, squander – the fruit gained in the Orthodox vineyard? Let us consider the fate of the wicked vinedressers and share “some of the fruit of the vineyard” (Mk 12:2) garnered in Christ. First, we are to honor the servants whom the Lord sends – our pastors and bishops. We kiss their hands and offer them the fruits of our labors in the Lord’s vineyard. What are those fruits? Our God loves truth and wants to make us whiter than snow, turning His face away from our sins, if we simply offer Him “a broken spirit, a heart that is broken and humbled” (Ps 50:17). Let us heed Saint Makarios of Egypt: “Being bountiful and full of love, God awaits with great patience the repentance of every sinner, and He celebrates the return of the sinner with celestial rejoicing, as He Himself says, ‘There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents’” (Philokalia vol. 3, p. 315). The power to give lies with us; give Him the gift of true purity. Second, we are to resist every corrupting movement within our hearts and give freely, “for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7). Dag Hammarskjold, the famed secretary general of the United Nations, wrote: “Weep / If you can, / Weep, / But do not complain. / The way chose you – / And you must be thankful.” After all, God “didst bring us from non-existence into being, and when we had fallen away didst raise us up again, and didst not cease to do all things until [He] hadst brought us up to heaven” (Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom). When we meet Christ in the Holy Mysteries, He is looking for our respect. When He comes in the garb of the poor, we remember all He has given to us. We offer thanksgiving to the Life-giver in our words and actions: “We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, and we pray unto Thee, O our God” (Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great). Serve ye the Lord with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling. Lay hold of instruction. . . . Blessed are all that have put their trust in Him. – Psalm 2:11-13
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 15:16:29 +0000
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