THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Friday of the Second Week of Lent

Gen 37: 3-4;12-13a;17b-28a

Ps 105

Mt 21:33-43, 45-46

The stone that the builders rejected

In this morning’s gospel reading (Mt 21:33-43, 45-46), Jesus tells a parable in which the son of a vineyard owner is killed by the tenants. In this way, Jesus points ahead to his rejection and death. Having spoken the parable, Jesus quotes from one of the psalms, ‘It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone’. Here Jesus points ahead to his resurrection. Although he was rejected by the religious and political leaders of the day, Jesus rose from the dead and in so doing became the keystone of a new temple, the temple of the church, the community of those who believed in him. 

The experience of Jesus teaches us that what is rejected can often turn out to be of crucial importance. What we might be initially inclined to reject can be the means through which God may want to speak to us. Those aspects of our own lives that we may be prone to reject and slow to accept may be the very channels through which the Lord can work most powerfully in our lives and, through us, in the lives of others. 

The experience of Jesus also suggests that God always has a purpose for what is rejected. God is not in the business of rejecting. Although we can reject God, God never rejects us.

Let us pray: Merciful Father, may our acts of penance bring us your forgiveness, open our hearts to your love, and prepare us for the coming feast of the resurrection. Amen.

+Remain blessed