"You too, go into my vineyard . . . "
Matthew 20: 1-16
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092026.cfm
A hard-working parish priest, after a lifetime of ministry, died and went to heaven. When he got there, he was assigned an attractive two bedroom house to serve as his heavenly abode. He was rather pleased with his house until he took a walk around the neighborhood and ran into a parishioner who had been a cab driver and now was living in a mansion with a swimming pool and tennis courts. The priest went directly to St. Peter to complain. He said, “I’ve worked my whole life long serving God’s people. Now this parishioner of mine is a very good person, but he was a cab driver! Why is he living in so much bigger a house than I am?” St. Peter said, “Here’s how it goes. When you preached, people slept. But when he drove, people prayed.”
God’s ways are not
our ways indeed. We seek justice and
fairness from the time of our childhood: “That’s not fair! Don’t punish me, he
started it!” etc. How familiar does that sound to the ears of a parent for that
parent themselves, when younger, likely claimed the same injustice. In the end,
and we learn this from the time of our childhood, life is not fair. Despite the wheels of justice upon which our
nation’s legal system is founded, in the end stuff happens, innocent people are
exploited and evil often goes unchecked or is at least allowed to wreak
destruction upon those who are clearly innocent victims, we get sick, some are lost in disasters and others are not, some die young others live to a ripe old age. Life is not fair, still justice remains a
cherished virtue that should be pursued.
Our Gospel this
Sunday, the well-known parable of the workers in the vineyard, seems to
illustrate this clearly. From a purely
justice level, this story about the workers who labored all day or only for an
hour, yet all got the same equal pay for a whole day’s work, is clearly unjust.
But is it fair? Well, the master payed
everyone what they agreed to, "what is fair," the usual daily wage ( one denari). as the master promised. Yet, those who worked all day in
the hot sun, assumed they would get more but got only what they contracted for,
which seems fair, sort of.
The one’s who made
out very well, are those one-hour workers, who not only got paid but were
covered for an entire days work, rather than only one hour. Who was most grateful? Those who seemingly
benefitted from the master's generosity.
Well, we can become
stuck on this justice level only but remember how Jesus began this parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like . . . “
Thereby telling us that he will not speak on earthly terms but rather on
Godly, spiritual terms. God is like the
master in the story – generous, merciful, kind.
Though we may measure
all things as if in a scale, God is extravagant in his mercy. He desires all to be saved, even those who
come at the eleventh hour, yet are faithful in his kingdom. So, this parable is not about justice but
about mercy; God’s excessive mercy in the kingdom of heaven to which we are
called.
God’s mercy and love know
no limits. All are called to his kingdom
and we are all invited to receive his grace and mercy especially at a time we
may need it the most. Another indicator as to how Jesus came to reverse the material order in order to insert the power of the spiritual and bring about its conversion.
When we fall into
sin, we return to the vineyard repentant and God forgives. If we’ve wandered away from his house, even
for many years, and now come home, like the prodigal son, we find his mercy and
welcome.
The wages paid
represent the fact that God can give equally to all of us at the same
time. Unlike money and all material
goods of this life, some have more and some have less. We should not tolerate injustice and work
towards equality, especially with those are treated unfairly and exploited but
with our God we not only receive justice we receive overflowing mercy from an
endless source.
So the challenge for us is to respond to God's unrelenting effort to seek us out like the master in search of workers and to serve in his kingdom. Despite our limitations and our own lack of mercy at times, he still invites us to his live by the values he has revealed to us. To imitate this mercy towards others. To make it concrete and visible in our families, marriages, parish life. That others will find a unique welcome through the Christ centered lives we offer.
As Isaiah reminds us
in our first reading: “Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call his while
he is near . . . let him turn to the Lord for mercy; to our God, who is
generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways
my ways . . . “
O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred law
upon love of you and of our neighbor,
grant that by keeping your precepts,
we may merit to attain eternal life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
(Collect of Sunday Mass)
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