To Be and Be Received
Perhaps Lent invites me to look honestly at my own heart in today’s stories. Joseph’s brothers could not bear the presence of the one who exposed their jealousy, just as the tenants in the Gospel rejected the son rather than surrender the vineyard. It is easy to recognize their hardness of heart, yet harder to admit how often I resist God in similar ways—clinging to my own fears, resentments, or pride.
Yet the psalm reminds us: “Remember the marvels the Lord has done.” Even betrayal and rejection did not prevent God from bringing life through Joseph’s suffering. The same God continues to work patiently within our wounded histories.
This Lent becomes an invitation to repentance—not as shame, but as turning again toward mercy. When I allow God into the painful places of memory and family, I begin to see that grace was already present there. Perhaps the fruit God asks of us is this: a heart humble enough to repent, and open enough to receive God’s mercy that has been offered all along.
Randy Naku