At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants, that they should give him a share of the produce of the vineyard. The tenants, however, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! she who slays the Prophets and stones the messengers sent to her--Oh, how often have I wished to gather your children round me, as a hen takes her brood under her wings, and you would not come!
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that should remain, so that the Father might grant you whatever you ask in my Name.
And so with you, my Brothers; as far as the Law was concerned, you underwent death in the crucified body of the Christ, so that you might be united to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that our lives might bear fruit for God.