“The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people that will produce its fruit.” (MT 21:43)
When I read the last line of today’s Gospel, it got to me. As a type A perfectionist, these last few words seemed like an admonishing from God that I was not doing enough. Immediately I thought of all the ways that I had not produced enough fruit with all that God had given me.
My mind immediately went to productivity.
After admonishing myself for not being more productive in this life and producing more fruit for the Lord than I had, I took a breath and paused and reconsidered this line.
Perhaps my initial thought was wrong. Maybe instead God was saying: “If you do not produce fruit with the talents I have given just to you… if you don’t start believing that I have gifted you with particular gifts and a particular purpose in this life and start living into that with all that you are… then maybe I trusted these gifts with the wrong person.”
Maybe it’s not about doing more or being more productive. Maybe all that God is asking of me… and of you… is for us to live fully into the person God created us to be. The fruit of the Kingdom is different for each one of us. And the only way we will harvest it is if we start giving everything we have to… just being ourselves. When we start living into exactly who we were meant to be, greater fruit than we could have ever imagined will come.
So my prayer for us this week is that we stop admonishing ourselves for not being enough or not doing enough. Instead may we recognize the truth God is trying so hard to share with us… Just be who God created you to be!
Only then will much fruit be available. Only then will an abundant harvest be found!
