Home 10 Minutes with Jesus 10 minutes with Jesus. Today: Mr. Colombo

10 minutes with Jesus. Today: Mr. Colombo

by 10 Minutes with Jesus
Mr. Columbo

10 minutes wih Jesus are group of Catholic priests who share friendship with Jesus, plus keenness to help young people of all ages to learn the art of loving Jesus and speaking to Him. You can find them in WhatsApp, Spotify, Ivoox, Telegram, Goggle Podcasts and Apple Podcast. Every saturday, we are going to share one meditation by 10 minutes with Jesus. Enjoy it.

My Lord and my God. I firmly believe that you are here; that you see me; that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of Prayer fruitful. My Mother immaculate, St. Joseph, my father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

Do you remember Colombo?

You might be familiar with a very popular TV show that ran for a good number of years called Colombo. Colombo was the central character in a TV police drama he played the role of the detective he was phenomenally successful. He always got the right man or woman for the crime and his secret it seemed was part of his personality, part of the way in which he was able to fool criminals into not really, understanding, what he was doing. A kind of a disheveled manner and look as if he didn’t really know what was going on. And so many people took him for a fool, those criminals who had masterminded this terrible murder or had committed some offense, thought this guy is certainly not going to catch me. And he would kind of bumble around the crime scene and he would look as if he really was adding 1 & 2 together in getting 16. And as if he wasn’t really going to ever solve the crime. And whenever he was interviewing, the suspects he would ask questions, which were seemingly innocuous, as if they weren’t really going anywhere. But the crucial line would always come whenever he would say just one more thing. And he would ask a question in such a way, in such a clever way, that he got the suspect to basically confess. And he was able to do it because he was able to trick the suspects because they were so full of themselves. So often they couldn’t see that he was really figuring it that, he knew exactly what was going on. And because they thought they had the upper hand. It completely disarmed them.  

Jesus, the detective

Now if you’re familiar with that technique of Colombo basically getting people to trap themselves and admit their own fault, then it might ring a bell whenever we come to read the gospel. Sumati tells us that Jesus told the chief priests and the elders of people a parable about a man who plants a vineyard, who builds a fence around it, who places a winepress and a tower in the middle of the vineyard.  And then he leases it out to tenants and he goes away for a long time. And when it comes the time for him to collect the produce, many years later, he sends servants. The tenants have become a little bit sneaky, and rather than giving over the produce for which they have worked even though, they are only tenants they thrash and beat the servants. They kill another one and the third servant that the landowner sends, they stone, not having received news of these three unsuccessful attempts of his servants, the landowner decides to send his son. And he says: “They will respect my son”. But when the tenants see the Sultan, they say to another one another: “This is the heir come on let us kill him and take over his inheritance”. In other words, they work out that if we get rid of this heir. Then, we can basically have all of the produce of the land for ourselves. So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now, Jesus asks those who are listening to this parable, what the owner of the vineyard will do? Whenever, he meets those tenants and they answer he will bring those wretches to your wretched end and leases a vineyard to other tenants, who would deliver the produce to him, whenever the season arrives. And so Jesus tricks them into confessing exactly their own crime in other words.

About us

The whole parable is about us. Parable is about God giving to humanity the capacity to plant within our hearts his word and that will bear fruit, and that we might share whatever message. God has put into our heart through his work with another person. So that fruit continues to grow and develop and expand throughout the whole world. Instead, the people of Israel had taken the Word of God and they kept it for themselves and whilst it was producing fruit, it wasn’t bearing fruit abundantly in the manner in which the landowner had wanted. And so he sends his servants to gain the produce what it is, that they’re producing and they don’t want to give it over now. These are the prophets and time and again God sent the prophets to say look reform your ways. You need to seek holiness of life and you need to share that message with the other nations to raise them up to the glory of God’s name. And having sent the prophets to no avail, God sends his only son. And now that we’re in this time of Lent, preparing for Easter, we see this whole drama of the sonn coming and his rejection from the people, lived out in the passion, and the death of You Lord. It is parable that Jesus tells the people is almost identical to another parable of a vineyard you can read in Isaiah, chapter 5.

The difference between Colombo and Jesus

In other words, this is a device which God has used before in the past, and his word to get people to see themselves in their own story. And to convict themselves to correct  them. Now the difference between what Colombo wanted to do and what Jesus wants to do is a Columbo wanted to convict the criminal and send them to prison. You, Lord, also want to convict us of our sins, that we will realize that we will come to the knowledge of how effective.  We’ve are for you and if there’s something that we need to change. Then we will do it. In other words, you’re often trying to convict us of maybe a lack of faith to give us another perspective on ourselves to turn us around and to warn us of the consequences. We sing a hymn, often during Lent, a traditional hymn, God of mercy and compassion, and it is our firm conviction. God that you are mercy and compassionate but we cannot pretend that tThere won’t be for each one of us a particular judgment, whenever we die, and for every single individual, you give us more than enough opportunity, in the course of our life, to correct ourselves to turn away from ways are sinful. They’re leading away from you, God, and to enjoy deeper and lasting friendship with your son. Now, when I read this parable, I have another question that I’d like to ask you Lord. And that’s about the landowner having seen his servants it’ll treat it. My question is why does he send his son, surely that’s madness, knowing that in the past those who were servants, those who were in his pay were not treated well. Is it logical to think that by sending his son that they will respect him? isn’t it a bit ridiculous for the landlord to put his son to that kind of risk? Well, he answered to the question that Jesus asks the chief priests and the elders as to how the landlord will approach those tenants. He’s obviously, he’ll be furious. He’ll be furious with what they have done to his son, not only to his son, but also to his servants before him. The landowner is God, the Father. I won’t God the Father be furious with what we have done to you his son through our sins. We have the conviction Lord that every sin that we commit has caused your death upon the cross. That we are guilty of the offence for which you are suffering the punishment. And so the account that each one of us will have to give for ourselves, for our actions, is directly related to how we have treated you as a son of the Eternal Father.

Lord, I want to treat you better

Lord I want to treat you better during this time of Lent. I want to treat you better in my prayer. I want to be more sincere when I speak to you. Sometimes it feels like I’m just talking to myself but I really want to reach out and hear you. Lord speak to me and I want to respond. I want to treat you better in your church in the sacraments when you come to give yourself to me in Holy Communion. For that moment of meeting you well with a good confession and I want to prepare well Lord. And I want to treat you well. Especially, in those around me, to see your face in the ones whom I struggle to get. Tto see your face in the face of those poor people who are up my door, who are asking for my help, who are very much in need of somebody else, to bring them closer to you help us. Lord, during this time of Lent, to realize that the account that we have to give for our conduct, relates directly to how we treat you and help u: Lord, in these little moments of conviction, where we realize, where we need to turn right to realize, that we have the courage to do so, and to accept you, Lord, to love you. Help us Mother Mary, during this time of Lent to be convicted of our own sinfulness to turn away from the things that distract us from your son Jesus. And to bring us to the loving embrace of our Heavenly Father.

It´s the end

I thank you my God for the good resolutions, affections and inspirations that you’ve communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into effect. My Mother immaculate, St. Joseph, my father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

Your contribution help us to continue with our mission
God Bless You!

 

Digital Missioners Donations

 

 

 

Related Articles

Leave a comment