Today’s parable tells us that God pursues us, and God’s mercy & thinking are beyond anything we can imagine. Think about the Gospel Parables of the Prodigal Son, the Woman at the Well, the Sower, the Rich Young Man just to name a few, God’s actions confound us. The bottom line in today’s Scripture Readings is God’s Grace is a gift, not a reward. God gives that Grace to whom He wants, for His purposes.
Leave your notion of fairness to the umpires and referees at our athletic competitions and leave your economic and management theories to that realm of thinking. Isaiah tells us, God’s ways and thoughts are not ours. God gives us Grace so we can be the best person we can be. St. Francis de Sales said, “Be who you are and be that well, to serve the Master Craftsman whose handiwork we are.”
Listen to this prayer: “God of all good things transform our hearts into vessels of gratitude, that we may find joy in your blessings to everyone. Do not let jealously or envy, anger or resentment, be a wedge between us and others, but let their success and happiness help us realize your countless blessings to us ….”
[Table Talk, Cycle A, 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, p.193]
Today’s parable was used by Jesus as He was headed toward Jerusalem.
So, it gives us an eschatological perspective, a look at the final judgement, the end of history. Jesus wants the Apostles and us to adjust our thinking to the thinking of THE Kingdom, to adopt God’s Kingdom view, rather than our personal worldview.
We get closer to understanding the parable of the landowner when we realize “the daily wage” is not money but heaven. In the previous chapter of Matthew’s Gospel [19], Peter asks Jesus what’s in it for us, how will we be rewarded? Jesus answers if you are the first or the last to love me, the reward is heaven.
Maybe
this story can aid us in understanding the parable. “Timothy
Thompson’s play based on this parable depicts two brothers vying for work. John
is strong and capable; Philip is just as willing but has lost a hand in an
accident.
When the landowner comes, John is taken in the first wave of workers, and as he labors in the field, he looks up the lane for some sign of Philip. Other workers are brought to the field, but Philip is not among them. John is grateful to have the work but feels empty knowing that Philip is just as needful as he.
When it comes his turn to stand before the landowner and receive his pay, instead of complaining as the others, John throws out his hand & says with tears in his eyes, "Thank you, my lord, for what you've done for us today!"
[Philip W. McLarty, The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Sermons.Com 9/20/2020]
A powerful insight into God’s way of thinking. Often we are tempted “… to measure life by what we imagine we deserve. But in truth, God is always giving us far more than we deserve, even in calling us to labor in his Kingdom!”
[The Magnificat, 9/20/2020, p.292]
For a few moments, in silence, reflect on heaven, on gratitude, and on God’s love for you.
May God Be Praised!
Continue to pray, Hear my cry! “Lord, listen to my prayer: turn your ear to my appeal.” You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to you during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession. In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….”
[Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic]
Provide strength to the first responders, compassion to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders. End this coronavirus scourge. Send Your light to me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me hope in Your eternal love today and every day. Amen. [Dcn. George Kelly]
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