FRIDAY MARCH 1, 2024
FRIDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT B
Genesis 37:3-4.12-13,17-28
Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46
PRODUCING THE FRUITS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Our task as Christians is to bear the fruits of the Kingdom of Christ. We have been called, chosen and commission in baptism to be bearers of Christ’s kingdom. We are already designed by the Father, supplied all that we need and given the best in life to bear fruits.
The question is what is stopping us from bearing fruits or how much fruits of God’s kingdom have we shown in our life?
The gospel of today brings to our awareness the reasons why we may not bear bear fruits of God’s kingdom. For indeed we are like those servants who punish God’s servants, kill some and maim others. We may have abandoned our mission and began enjoying the pleasures and gains in the kingdom and seem to pose threat to anyone who reminds us the mission we are assigned in the kingdom.
There is this greed in us, this urge to take over from God, this tendency to live and act to resist the God who called us and gave us the vineyard. Jesus reminds us in today’s gospel of these. That we are becoming masters and no longer servants, that we are beginning to pursue shadow and no longer living according to his designs. And that we have taken to possess the kingdom and no longer be tenants in them.
The Son of Jacob did the same thing to their own blood brother, Joseph as the first reading tells us. Instead of conforming to the brotherhood tie binding them, overlooking the great love given Joseph by their Father Jacob and never giving thought to the story of the dreams of Joseph, they manifested jealousy, hatred and resentment instead. This led them to think of first killing their brother Joseph to end his dreams until they eventually sold Joseph into slavery. But that will never stop the growth of Joseph. Being sold as slave was their greatest undoing because it made the dream of Joseph to actually become real.
We must never be greedy, jealous, and selfish in our lives to the detriment of the mission assigned us in life. Rather we must strive to build up the kingdom of God to the enviable status that befits the children of God by our character, lifestyle and ideal relationship with our God, like his servants working for him.
So, in this Lenten period, we are called to be intent in building the kingdom of God. To strive towards perfection and good relationship with our God. To seek compassion and be compassionate. To love God’s kingdom and seek its actualization and to be part of those who promote, foster and uphold the kingdom of God.
Heavenly Father, you called us to build your kingdom on earth. May we never be distracted by the pleasures, lure of wealth and power. May we always desire righteousness, purity of purpose, and to attend to the demands of our souls created in your image and likeness. Sanctify this new month of March for us. Give us life, good health, peace of mind, material sustenance and protection from every evil through Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
