Give God His Due
They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd,
for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them.
So they left him and went away. (Mk 12:12)
Jesus – 1 / Chief Priests, Scribes, and Elders – 0
Jesus definitely scored a point in today’s Gospel.
He told the story about the tenant farmers who leased land from a property owner but who refused to give the owner his share.
The owner sent all sorts of delegations to the tenants to receive the required produce. All the delegations were abused, beat, or killed.
Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking that his son would be respected.
The son was killed immediately.
Jesus said that, in response, the owner would dispatch soldiers to destroy those wicked tenants and give the property to those who would regard it properly.
While the chief priests, scribes, and elders wanted nothing more than to arrest Jesus, they knew that the powerful parable was aimed at them, that they were the wicked tenant farmers, that they had been accused of not giving God His due. So they left Jesus and went away.
Unfortunately, they went away to nurse their wounds and to get more reinforcements because they were not going to accept what Jesus was saying.
We are tenants on this world. God has given us all a patch of land to call our own, a family to call our own, a livelihood of our own. However, we are expected to do something with what God has given to us and to make a return to the Lord.
Are we like the miserable tenant farmers in the Gospel who withheld everything from the owner? or do we give God His due? His due is more than material gain. His due is also our time and talent.
FAITH ACTION: Reflect upon your many blessings. Ask yourself the question: how much do you give back to the Lord?