#HolyWeek2021 – Holy Tuesday: Jesus Teaches in the Temple
Welcome to the Clincarthill Parish Church Holy Week Reflections. My name is Pamela. Today is Holy Tuesday, and we reflect on the theme of “Jesus Teaches in the Temple”. We read about this in the Gospel according to Mark, chapter 12:
1Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: ‘A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall round it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and beat him shamefully. 5He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
6‘He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, “They will respect my son.”
7‘But the tenants said to one another, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” 8So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
9‘What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:
‘“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes” ?’
12Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away. AMEN.
Jesus told this parable, this story, to make a point. He is trying to get us to understand why He came into our world. The man who planted the vineyard is God. The servants who came are the Prophets, who spoke the Truth of God. The son of the vineyard owner represents Jesus. And what Jesus wants to help us see is that we are the people. We are the ones who have rejected God, His prophets, and His Son. Our rejection comes from the way we live: selfishly. Selfish living is so often the root cause of many of the problems in our world.
The worst part of all this is that, by rejecting God, we are now separated from Him. We don’t have access to His goodness, His kindness, His love. We cannot gain access ourselves. But that is why Jesus came. As He went on to explain, “the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone”. In other words, Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s plan to save us from our rejection of Him. Despite being rejected, Jesus is the way back to God. In fact, that is the very thing we remember this Holy Week.
Take a moment and reflect: can you think of a time when you have rejected God, because of something you said, thought or did? Be honest with God about this.
If you are taking part in building a Holy Week display, today’s symbol is the Bible. Add your Bible to the display, as a reminder of Jesus’ teaching, and a reminder of God’s plan to save us, which is written in that very book.
Our Holy Week journey continues tomorrow, so please join us for that. To conclude, let us share in a prayer:
Dear God: I am sorry for the times when I reject you through the things I think, say or do. I am sorry that I do not live in the way You would want, causing hurt and sadness to others. Thank you for Jesus, that through Him, You put these things right, and I do not need to live feeling the weight of these wrongs. Help me, as I journey through Holy Week, to better understand how you rescue me through Jesus. I ask these things in the name of Jesus, my Saviour; Amen.