Twenty Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sr. Barbara Metz, SNDdeN
Matthew 20: 1-16a
This gospel parable can seem stranger to us every time we read it. There are other sections of scripture that seem to tell us what the exact opposite of the message is of this one. We are told elsewhere that God rewards everyone according to his/her works. We need to concentrate on the message of this story as a whole and not try to find applications for each detail. We can get distracted by questions like who is called at each hour, why the late comers were paid first, etc. All the details are there to throw into relief the central message which is all that really matters. The parable is like a painting in which all the details highlight the major figure of the picture.
What is the message of this parable?
To understand it we need to remember in the first place the usual wage of a hired laborer was one denarius for a day’s work. The laborers were getting what was normal, accepted, and fair to use our terminology for our social justice concerns. They have no reason to be surprised at what they get. When they started the day, they expected no more. The owner had promised to give them what was right. The grumblers were grumbling because of the generosity of the owner, not because they were cheated. They saw and experienced generosity, free generosity and they reacted. This is the point of the story. The tremendous mercy that is God’s gift to us is on display. The story doesn’t deal with he question of whether any individual is rewarded according to his work or not. It simply is not about justice or fairness. Jesus is saying something else, something far wider, something especially significant in view of he way in which the Jews of that time were preoccupied with rewards. He is saying that between God and us there is something quite different, something that we cannot calculate that cannot be expressed in terms of justice something that is in fact the mercy and gift of God. This truth can be humbling for us. It tells we are not in control of God. We are not people who can confront God and claim what we have earned by our own efforts. We cannot calculate with God. Demand rewards, rely on our good work or apparent holiness of life. Everything is a result of God’s goodness to us and the mercy of God. This truth confronts our pride and at the same time frees us from any of our burdens in our relationship with God. It is wonderful that we have this word of scripture. It tells us that no matter when we begin to serve God we can say, “You are a God of mercy and goodness. ” You are the God who bestows grace and make payments we could never earn.”
How does this goodness of God enter our lives practically?
What God gives to each of us that we cannot negotiate or calculate about is ultimately our own selves. God gives us the denarius of ourselves, just as we are, with our lives, our temperaments and our destiny, with our surroundings with our times, our heredity, family with everything that we happen to be and cannot change. Whenever we grumble and complain about others with whom God has dealt differently, we are really refusing to accept ourselves from the hands of God. The parable teaches us to say, “We are those who have received a gift from God. We ourselves, our lives are the gift.” We receive ourselves with our destiny, our freedom and whatever we choose to do with that freedom but ultimately what we receive is ourselves. This is what we are called to accept without grumbling without all the buts and comparisons that creep in as we look at others. This is what God, in God’s goodness has chosen to give us our unique lives to live. God asks us, “Do you begrudge my generosity? Do you compare deny others their gift because it seems to be more than yours?” Our great work in life is to accept ourselves as the mysterious and gradually revealed gift of the great generosity of God. Everything we have and are even the painful and mysterious is God’s generous gift to us. Do we grumble even interiorly at who we are or do we accept with gratitude our lives? When we accept with love who God has created us to be, we receive the gift of God dwelling deep within. If we are resisting God’s generosity to ourselves or others, we cannot relax into God’s presence and life within us. God has given each of us everything we could receive. The true wisdom of life, the chief work of Christian life is to say yes to the gift, the denarius of our own existence. Most of us can look into our own lives and find we have not always done that. We are all really late comers. Yet, God is willing to give us everything if only we will accept it — ourselves and God’s presence in our lives and eternal life. The parable calls us to live in peace and gratitude with comparisons and anger at God’s generosity.
Matthew 20: 1-16a
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, 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 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.”
Meet Sister Barbara Metz, SNDdeN
