25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle “A” – Sunday, September 20, 2020 - Matthew 20:1-16
It seems to me that it might be very easy for SOME people in the 21st century to hear this parable, and turn Jesus off right away. With human notions about what’s right and fair, it could be easy for some people to think that the Vineyard Owner and Jesus got this pay scale business all wrong. Even today, some people STILL feel the VINEYARD OWNER should ONLY give a full day’s pay to those who worked all day long. By the way, a full day’s standard pay for a soldier or day laborer back then came out to be about 20 cents!
Now, the grumblers who worked the full day feel RIPPED OFF, CHEATED, BELITTLED, and DISRESPECTED when the VINEYARD OWNER gives everyone what turns out to be the SAME WAGE. Why are they SO MAD? Because they assumed the VINEYARD OWNER was going to pay all the workers proportionally: work for ½ the day = ½ the wage; work for 1/3 day, etc. As if proportionality was the one and only criteria. Now, you probably can guess as to what happens when we ASSUME things? Yes, at times MANY of us have gotten into trouble when we ASSUME THINGS. Further, the VINEYARD OWNER had made a verbal agreement – AKA known as a verbal contract - with each worker, at the time he found them, and sent them to work. Do we think this VINEYARD OWNER would have ANYONE work for him on Day Two, if he’d been UNjust to his laborers? No way.
On the other hand, the happiest people must have been those who came on at day’s end: I’d bet that some of them couldn’t BELIEVE their good fortune: to find a very generous owner. If they were working for a different VINEYARD OWNER than this one, they’d surely received a very few cents. But not with this VINEYARD OWNER: they got a full day’s pay, without ALL the sun and daylong back-breaking labor.
So now, let’s get to Jesus’ MEANING for us in this parable, a story with a bigger lesson/point. In this bigger picture, God is the VINEYARD OWNER, a VINEYARD OWNER unlike any VINEYARD OWNER the workers or we have met. God does NOT want to divide or separate us into categories, the way most modern society systems do: no, God intends to UNITE us and INSISTS on being generous to ALL those who’ve been called: it’s God’s way of dealing with us. And for those who live their lives believing they have a right to telling God what to do, and what not to do: please wait for me in the lobby after Mass! I’m dying to know how THAT’S working out for you! Seriously, I also have to ask you if you’ve ever been jealous when good things happen to other people and not to you. Or, are you able to be fully happy for others’ good fortune, without feeling jealous or thinking that YOU’VE suffered a loss?
Now, stay with me here: this is where our reflection takes a turn in a VERY different direction. This parable isn’t REALLY about wages: it’s about God’s redeeming grace, and how much and how soon we can share in it. It’s all about saving souls: ALL SOULS, your souls and mine, and everyone else’s souls. It’s about God loving us so much that He wants ALL people to be there in heaven, in paradise, EVEN THE LATECOMERS AND THE LOLLY-GAGGLERS! Now, if we’re asking the question as to whether we want the latecomers included in the FULL grace of our God, be very careful, because the LATECOMERS to the vineyard are YOU and ME! That’s right! If we sided with the grumblers who came on first in the earliest part of the day, we wind up arguing against OUR OWN place in Christian existence. WE’D be agreeing that God should JUST have included the Jews among those to be saved: they were here FIRST as the first Chosen People. We’d wind up arguing that Jesus and St. Paul and apostles were WRONG to extend the Gospel to US gentiles. Following that logic, we’d be saying that you and I, who came along MUCH later, should only get a morsel or a taste of heaven, rather than being able to experience the FULLNESS of God’s love, God’s eternity, God’s peace: ALL of it!
And last, there are STILL some people who think the LAST of the last-minute folks – the “deathbed confession” people - are BOGUS in God’s sight, and are no better than people who cut the line in front of us while we’re waiting to check out our groceries. Some people say God should slam heaven’s door on them, rather than leaving heaven’s light on for them. Really? And what if it’s you or me who’s been a sinner, and we awaken VERY late to Christ’s merciful love? What if the one coming on a deathbed is your spouse, child, grandchild, niece or nephew, who finally WAKES UP to love God? Do you STILL think God should not be GENEROUS to latecomers who want heaven’s mercy? To be wise, if we take sides on the question of God’s generosity, let’s adjust our attitudes to be on God’s side; because we DO know one thing about God: God’s side will be victorious, and eventually that victory will be eternal. God bless you all.
