By William Selvaraj csc –
Readings: Gen 37: 3-4, 12-13, 17-28; Mt 21: 33-43, 45-46
The first reading of the day portrays the cruel way in which Joseph was rejected by his own brothers out of jealousy. Later, he becomes the saviour for them in
time of severe drought.
Through the gospel of the day, one can clearly see the rejection of Jesus by his own people. In both the readings, we can perceive bearers of love and peace being rejected by their own. Often, we take things for granted in our life. The more we do not pay attention and care; it leads us to destruction. That is what we see in the gospel passage.
The servants of the vineyard beat the supervisor and son of the owner to grab his inheritance; similar to the attitude of Joseph’s brothers. Joseph was considered to be a favourite child of Isaac. But his brothers were envious of Joseph because of Isaac’s love for him, which led them to sell their own brother as a slave.
Let us examine ourselves: Did we reject any ideas and opinions of others without analysing it? Did we judge the advice given by the elderly in our society?
Today, Jesus invites you and me to be responsible and show loyalty to the master who has trusted and entrusted us with bigger responsibilities. All that I possess as a seminarian in formation is given with deep trust. I should be generous to include others in my circle of life rather than rejecting them on the basis of caste, colour, race, language, and so on.
Sometimes we may also have been rejected by our own friends, teachers, friends, and relatives. But we should never give up in life because we are children of God. He has designed us to go through this process to shape us and grant us bigger responsibilities like Joseph had to save his family members and like Jesus, to save the needy and the poor in society. Let us pray that we may be loyal and responsible towards God and our own selves to do the will of God.