10/5/08

We received new bibles at this week's RCIA class

As I stated in a previous article, the Our Lady of Sorrows RCIA team did indeed give us bibles. They're New American translation bibles which provide answers and insights into passages to help increase knowledge about the bible as well as the teachings of the Roman Catholic church.

This is
exactly what I need.

The first thing they taught is the parable of the tenants in Matthew 21:33-46:

"Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press 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 to one another, 'This is the 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 him the produce at the proper times."

Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this 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 that will produce its fruit. The one who falls on this stone will be dashed to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls."

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that 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 was not totally unfamiliar with the parable. The vintner is God; the son who was killed was, of course, Jesus Himself. The rlatter part of the parable foretells the conspiracy to rid Israel of Jesus, His rejection and His death.

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