Gospel MT 20:1-16
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o’clock,
he 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,
he 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 laborers 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.”
Reflection:
“Summon the laborers 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…”
The laborers who worked the entire day were thinking of justice in human terms.
They came to the fields early in the morning and worked all day. Human logic and justice dictated that they should receive more than those who began working later in the day.
But God’s thinking is not like ours.
Today’s parable is not an analogy of human logic or justice; it is an example of how God thinks.
“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?”
The parable reminds me of an old story.
Three women who had been friends since grammar school died in a tragic accident. They had lived good Christian lives, regularly attending church, participating in charitable events, and volunteering at the local food pantry.
Following their untimely death, they found themselves standing in line to the gate of Heaven.
Ahead of the them in line stood a man from their town who had been known publicly as a notorious sinner.
Scandalized that he was standing in the line to heaven, the women gossiped about the man’s past sinful exploits. They speculated how St. Peter would abruptly drive the man away from Heaven’s gate.
When the man reached the gate, he and St. Peter stood talking in low tones with their heads close together. Then St. Peter patted the man’s shoulder, opened the gate, and waved the man inside.
Aghast that the man had been admitted to Heaven, the women said among themselves, “What kind of place is this that would allow such a sinner to enter?”
At that very moment, the three women were cast away from Heaven’s Gate for having passed judgement on the man.
“Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
In God’s eyes, justice is always tempered with love and mercy. – – Unknown