St Justin, Martyr
Readings
2 Peter 1:2-7
Mark 12:1–12
Reflection
At the entrance to the Temple in Jerusalem, there was a magnificent golden vine, a symbol of Israel as God’s beloved vineyard. It reminded people that they were planted, cared for, and cherished by God. Israel was not an accident. It was a people loved into being.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus stands near that symbol and tells a painful parable. The vineyard is loved, but the tenants forget that it is not theirs. They begin to act as owners, not stewards. They reject the servants, and finally they reject the son. It is a story about power, pride, and the danger of forgetting who we are before God.
Jesus knows what is coming. He speaks of the son being killed and thrown out of the vineyard. Yet rejection is not the end of the story. The rejected stone becomes the cornerstone. What human beings throw away, God uses as the beginning of something new.
The cornerstone is where two walls meet. In Christ, Jew and Gentile, insider and outsider, familiar and stranger, are brought together into one holy temple. This is both comforting and challenging. We often imagine that we are the only ones close to Christ, the only ones who truly belong. But from our little place in the wall, we cannot see the whole building.
This Gospel asks us to become humble tenants, not proud owners. The vineyard is God’s. The Church is God’s. Grace is God’s. We are simply invited to care for what has been entrusted to us, and to remember that Christ is larger than our boundaries, wider than our imagination, and stronger than every rejection.
The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. And on him, God is still building a home for all.
Giltus Mathias CPÂ