THE JUSTICE FORMULA OF CHRIST: Need, not Deed

We are in the Twenty-fifth Sunday of ordinary time. In the first reading God tells through prophet Isaiah that His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts (Is 55:8). St. Paul in his letter to the Colossians asks the believers to leave the things of this earth and seek for the things that are above (Col 3:1-17). The things of this earth are; immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, anger, fury, malice, slander, obscene language and lying (Col 3:5,8-9). As Christians, we should remove all these earthly things from our life without exceptions and clothe ourselves with the heavenly things; compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and forgiveness (Col 3:12-13). These heavenly things are the thoughts and ways of God. As Christians, our life should be marked with heavenly things as we are called to be holy in being and benevolent in becoming (doing). Keeping these virtues in background Jesus narrates the Kingdom of Heaven in the gospel of today with the parable of the workers in the vineyard.

The landowner gives wages to the workers beginning from those who came at the last hour. By giving same wages for all who came at different timings of the day to work in his vineyard will make the owner bankrupt soon. He will lose all his assets and become poor. On the contrary, in this parable the workers who came first are angry with the owner for equalizing them in the wages with those who came at the last hour. This way of paying salary is in contrast to world’s justice formula. But we need to remember that this is only a parable to explain the justice formula of God exercised in heaven. Here the focus is not on the work that is done in his vineyard rather, whether each one has received what s/he is in need of. Those who came at last hour to work cannot be held responsible for their unemployment. No one has hired them for work. The vineyard owners are responsible for not availing enough work as per the number of workers available. This should be the attitude of all the leaders and landlords in the world. The unemployment is not the problem created by the poor rather it is an injustice done towards them by the rich and eligible persons who are unwilling to share their assets even by responsible means such as offering employment. They are filled with the things of this earth; greed and malice. They have to be transformed into practicing heavenly things; compassion and kindness.  

Through this parable Jesus reveals God’s generous heart in showing mercy to all who come to Him at different timings in their life. Those who come first and also those who come at last will receive His mercy. God does not judge us with number of days we are faithful to Him, He will judge us with the mentality in which we are faithful to Him. It is enough that we embrace Him with whole heart, mind and soul irrespective of days/duration, He will show mercy, forgive our sins (Is 55:9) and make us worthy of receiving eternal life. As we hear in the second reading, let our lives be based on the gospel of Christ (Phil 1:27). Let us seek the things of above and fill this world with compassion and kindness through which we can transform this poor, sick and wicked world into heavenly place to live in.