The Gospel for Friday of the second week of Lent is taken from Matthew 21st, chapter 33, 43rd verse, and 45 to the 46th verse. Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants, and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned again.

He sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, thinking, they will respect my son. But when the tenants saw the son, they said, this is his heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance. They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?

They answered him, he will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give them the produce at the proper times. Jesus said to them, did you never read the Scriptures? The stones that the builder rejected has become the cornerstone. By the Lord, this has been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes. Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew he was speaking about them.

And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet. I wonder what the Pharisees felt when they’d hear words of Jesus condemning their life. Many of them must have felt somehow that they were guilty of what Jesus was saying. But when they’re all together, when they’re trying to protect what has been their way of life for so long, they are so resistant to hearing the truth. He reminds us that we have to be radically open to transformation and change if we’re serious about following the Christ. We’re to leave so many ways in which we’ve seen life to enter into the true work that God has called us to.

Let us not be like the Pharisees. Let us be open to hearing exactly what Jesus is saying and knowing what needs to be changed in our life and not feeling responsible to be the one who changes it, but to allow him to do his work to transform us into his son. Foreign CLOSING PRAYER Father, when we see or feel that the words you speak are directly to us and we can know that we are not yet where we should be. Help us always to be excited about the possibility of change and not wallow in shame or guilt that will get us nowhere to admit. To see our darkness is essential. And until we do, we will never be able to feel the healing power of your presence.

And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.