Lent Week 2: Friday
Come, let us kill him…
An ominous sentence links the two readings for today. The brothers of Joseph, his own flesh and blood see him coming and say: Let us kill him. In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus recounts the parable of the landowner and his tenants. After refusing to give to the owner his rightful harvest, the tenants, after repelling his emissaries, now turn to the landowner’s only son and say among themselves: Let us kill him.
What is the root of this murderous intent? In the first reading it was envy at the special treatment Joseph received from Israel his father. His brothers resented his privileged position and so decided to get rid of him in order to bask once again in their father’s attention. In the Gospel, the motive was both greed and spite against the master who thought that by sending his only son, his tenants would respect and obey him.
Today we are repulsed by stories of killings all around. People die for the most trivial of reasons like petty theft, road rage, or altercation and misunderstanding. People also die due to wars of aggression and power-tripping by those who are in positions of influence.
We however also kill each other, albeit softly, when due to envy or resentment, we slowly destroy them by defamation, fake news, bashing, utter lies, and bullying. Killing is not only physical but can be acts that are targeted at emotional or psychological destruction of people we do not like.
This Lent, let us take some time to gaze at the Crucifix of our Lord Jesus Christ and ponder how our sins have led to his painful death on the Cross. In our prayer, let us ask him for the grace to contribute in putting a stop to the mentalities and practices that kill people’s confidence and hope. Inspired by his great love, may we instead learn to die to ourselves so that in charity and kindness, others may live.
