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Daily Meditation: Matthew 21:33-43
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones. (Matthew 21:36)
As we consider today’s Gospel, we might be struck by the extravagant patience of the landowner. He carefully prepares a vineyard and leases it to tenants to cultivate the crops. But at harvest time, the tenants refuse to give him the produce. The first servants he sends to collect the crops are beaten and killed. A second wave of servants are treated the same way. And finally, when the landowner sends his son, the tenants kill him in an attempt to seize the vineyard for themselves! What more could he have done?
The landowner’s actions certainly don’t seem like the best way to run a business. But they do help us understand the loving perseverance of our heavenly Father. He holds nothing back in his attempts to bring his people back to himself. His love is relentless!
We can see this relentless love again in today’s first reading. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God depicts Israel as a “vineyard” (5:7). He speaks about tenderly cultivating and preparing the land so that his people could produce a bountiful “crop” of righteousness (5:2). And when they produced only “wild grapes,” he sent Isaiah to call them back to him. Then, over time, he sent Jeremiah and Ezekiel and more and more prophets to speak his word to them. No matter what happened, the Lord never gave up on them.
God never gives up on us, either. He cares for us even when we ignore him, even when we reject him, even when we are not fruitful. He is always extending mercy to us and giving us another chance. So welcome him in today. Let his love sweep you off your feet. Let it inspire you to respond with faith and trust to his invitation to return.
“Lord, help me to love you and bear fruit for you and your kingdom.”
