Based on the end of today’s Gospel, we know Jesus is speaking to a group of Pharisees. And, as we know, the Pharisees were a group of Jews who were focused on following the Mosaic Law with great detail, often in a way that was overprotective. Because of this, they viewed relationship with the Lord more so as a set of rules instead of what we are taught to do as Christians, which is to have a true relationship with Jesus out of love. God does not love us with the infinite compassion and mercy that we experience each day from Him because he has to, but He does it because He wants to. He deeply desires for us to know that we are loved. As we are each an image of God, we must strive to imitate His love. In this context, it means that we must treat our following Him not as a set of rules to be followed but ad a relationship to be pursued. Jesus explains that in today’s Gospel.
The landowner in today’s Gospel paid so much attention to the rules that he forgot to pay attention to what actually mattered. He was so focused on the fact that it was the right thing for the tenants to do to give him his produce that He forgot to love; he forgot to love the servants and his son. As a result, they ended up being killed. As for the tenants, they didn’t follow the rules enough to produce love. It is a two-way street. We have to follow rules in a way that cultivate love, not just a sense of
Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God will be given to those that produce its fruit. The community at this time followed rules so seriously that they ended up killing God’s Son because they thought he violated them. When we actually open our hearts to God, especially in this Lenten season, we can better receive Him into our lives and cultivate real love with Him.