First Reading: Is 55:6-9
Second
Reading: Phil
1:20-24, 27
Gospel: Mt 20:1-16
We are in the twenty fifth
Sunday in Ordinary Time. The parable in today’s gospel causes discomfort to our
understanding on God. The landlord in the parable represents God who would give
judgment at the end of this earthily toil. Reading of this parable with today’s
concept of social justice would lead us to misunderstanding. This is not a story,
rather a parable. Hence, it has to be read within its context and more so with
the original intent of the parable.
Jesus presents this parable
to explicate the kingdom of God. The vineyard represents our Christian life. The
distribution of wages by the manager represent the end of the time when Son of
Man would come with His angels and execute judgment. The laborers are the
people in the kingdom of God. The laborers come to the vineyard at different
times of the day. It is the reality of human life; not all people come to Christ
at the same time or at same age. Some people come to Christ very early. Some come
little later, some at noon of their lifetime, some in their prime old age and
still some just before the close of their human existence. The one uniting factor
in all these category of the people is Christ. They have come to the knowledge
of Christ in their lifetime. How they came and when they came differ but all of
them have come to Christ. The end is achieved. This is our Christian life; it doesn’t matter how one has begun the life
but it does matter how one is ending his/her life.
The landlord directs the
manager to distribute the wages for the laborers beginning from people who came
at the end. In human wisdom it is foolishness. If he is willing to give the day’s
wage to everyone despite their duration of labour, he should be beginning with
those who came early in the morning. It is wise to give the wage first to those
who came early and send them away, so that when he gives the same amount of
wage to others they may not know and criticise. Unfortunately, this is not a human
story but a divine parable. The purpose of the parable is to present the contrast
and provoke the thoughts of the listeners. In the first reading we have the famous
verse from Isaiah 55:8 which says, “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor
are your ways are my ways”. Since, God’s thoughts and ways are not like ours, the
way He distributes wages are also anew and surprising. In giving equal wage to
all the labours without hiding it from those who came first, He stands out, not
different from all human mangers but stands
higher than any human managers. We need to read Is 55:8 with its next verse
“for my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Is
55:9). God as higher being possess all thoughts and does all things in a higher
manner that is befitting His position. Thus, the deeds of the manager or
landlord in the parable is not a different behaviour but a higher moral
behaviour.
Conversion to Christ can
happen at any point of one’s lifetime. The times doesn’t matter. All that is
important is; have we come to Christ before our passing from this world? Reward
is same for all. This doesn’t give excuse for the righteous to turn toward evil
and become good at the end of time. If someone dares to do so, let s/he go
ahead with that but how can one be sure of her/his conversion before death? If one
loses the chance to convert to Christ before death, what is her/his fate? Therefore,
it is better to choose life early than later. There will always be temptation
about others who come at last minute and grab their place in the kingdom of
God. Those temptations can be a struggle and challenge, not an obstacle to
persevere in one’s righteous living.
In the end, the grumbling of
those who came first is that, they have toiled a whole day in scorching heat (Mt
20:12). They put up with the all the burdens of the day just to get the reward.
They were not involving themselves as shareholders in the vineyard. Their failure
in owning the vineyard as their own led them to grumble at others. We are not
supposed to toil earthly life to get the reward. We need to own this earth with
sense of belongingness. We work not for the reward, rather for the higher good
of the growth of the kingdom of God on this earth. Thus, the basis for our
labour should be love. Where there is love, there is belongingness. In the
second reading St. Paul says that death is a gain for him, yet he want to live
for the sake of others who need to come to Christ through his instrumentality
(Phil 1: 23-24). St. Paul was owning this land to build up the kingdom of God. Do
we own our mother earth? Do we consider ourselves shareholders in Lord’s
vineyard? Do we own our neigbours as our companions in the kingdom of God? Do
we choose to remain in this life for the sake of the kingdom of God or for the
better time when we would be ready to enter heaven? If everyone is waiting to
enter heaven and not interested in living the heavenly life on earth then, the
purpose of Incarnation of the Lord is lost. God became man precisely to make
this fallen world a heaven. Our Christian life is to make this earth a heavenly
abode. Let us abide by the words of St. Paul; whether we live or die it is for
Christ (Rom 14:8). Dying is a gain and living is for Christ (Phil 1:21). May
Christ be magnified in our body whether by life and by death (Phil 1:20).
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