Why be envious because I am generous.
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sept.18th 2011
The heavens are as high above the earth as my ways are above your ways.
The heavens are as high above the earth as my ways are above your ways.
How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures.
Life to me of course is Christ but then death would bring me something more.
Gospel Mt 20:1-16a
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire labourers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o'clock,
the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.'
So they went off.
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o'clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o'clock,
the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,
'Why do you stand here idle all day?'
They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.'
He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
'Summon the labourers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.'
When those who had started about five o'clock came,
each received the usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,
but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,
'These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day's burden and the heat.'
He said to one of them in reply,
'My friend, I am not cheating you.
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?'
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."
"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire labourers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o'clock,
the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.'
So they went off.
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o'clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o'clock,
the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,
'Why do you stand here idle all day?'
They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.'
He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
'Summon the labourers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.'
When those who had started about five o'clock came,
each received the usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,
but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,
'These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day's burden and the heat.'
He said to one of them in reply,
'My friend, I am not cheating you.
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?'
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Not human reckoning
“There are no free lunches” sums up the way we think. If you want something you have to work for it. The principle works well. But God can’t follow it. No human being can earn what God wants to give. The joy of adoption into the family of God, sharing his life and living forever in the glory of God can only be given. No amount of prayer, good works and charity can earn it.
This is what the parable is telling us. No employer could work on the principle of this parable and still stay in business. The landowner doesn’t belong to this world. God’s ways are not our ways. It is out of love for us that he wants to share his life in heaven. What God has prepared for those who love him is a life, which no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no one has ever imagined.
While we are in this world what are we to do, because this world is the vineyard? We do our utmost to bring about the Kingdom of God. It is not that God needs our work, but because we are in the world. Notice that it is what God has prepared for those who love him that we can in no way imagine. What we are to do here is to show our love for God who is ‘Abba’. He is a loving Father and we are his beloved sons and daughters. We do what we can out of love for him using the gifts he has given us to bring about his kingdom. The more we love, the more we work. We do not work to win heaven – this makes us mercenaries and God wants lovers. Furthermore we cannot possibly win by our own efforts the glory of God. We believe in God’s promises manifested in Christ Jesus and we respond in love. With God, only actions done out of love have value – he doesn’t need your ‘mighty works’ he needs your love.
We to whom the secrets of the Kingdom have been revealed want to make the Father known and loved and we want his reign to be established in this world. We do this because we love him as our Father.
Are you envious or happy that God gives his kingdom to those who come in the last hour after a life of sin? What would you say if God were to forgive all sinners and welcome them into his kingdom along with those who had tried with difficulty to keep his law from childhood?
Father we praise the abundance of your love. Grant that we may respond to you with the love of all our heart shown in our good works.
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