Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time in year A
Posté par diaconos le 16 septembre 2020
Is your look bad because I’m good ?
At that time, Jesus said this parable to his disciples : « The kingdom of heaven is comparable to the master of a vineyard who went out in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed with them on the wages of the day : a denarius, that is, a silver coin, and sent them to his vineyard.
He went out around nine o’clock and saw others who were there in the square, doing nothing. And to these he said, ‘Go into my vineyard, you too, and I will give you what is right’ ; and they went their way. And he went out again about noon, and again about three o’clock, and did likewise. At about five o’clock he went out again, and found others standing there, and said to them, ‘Why have you stood there all day doing nothing ?
They replied : « Because no one hired us. » He said to them » You too go to my vineyard. When evening came, the master of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the workers and distribute the wages, starting with the last and ending with the first. Those who had started at five o’clock came forward and each received a coin of one denarius. When it was the turn of the first ones, they thought they would receive more, but they too received a penny each.
When they received it, they complained to the master of the estate: ‘These, the last to come, have only been here for an hour, and you treat them as you treat us, who have endured the weight of the day and the heat ».
But the master replied to one of them : » My friend, I am not unjust to you. Have you not agreed with me for a denarius ? Take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last man as much as to you: don’t I have the right to do what I want with my property? Or is your look bad because I am good?’ So the last will be first and the first will be last. » (Mt 20, 1-16)
The goodness of the Lord is for all
All today’s texts teach us that God’s ways are not our ways and that he does not judge according to our scales. This certainty should give us hope for ourselves and indulgence for others.
In today’s Gospel, everything begins like a real story : we are in Palestine, in the first century, at the time of the grape harvest, very early in the morning. The day labourers are there, in the village square, waiting to be hired, day after day. Yet we are immediately warned that this is not going to be a social lesson, but a revelation about the « Kingdom of Heaven ».
Have we grasped that this is no ordinary boss ? We are not going to hire workers an hour before the end of the work ! It doesn’t make sense ! « Why have you been standing there all day doing nothing? » They replied : « Because nobody hired us. » He said : « Go to my vineyard, you too. « (Mt 20, 6)
In the first part of the parable, Jesus portrays a wonderfully good boss : without tiring, five times in the same day, he took care to provide work, a salary, dignity to poor men reduced to misery. Each time, the master of the estate ordered them to go to his vineyard. The vineyard is to be understood as the place of happiness, the place of the covenant with God. The Kingdom of Heaven is the place of God’s goodness, where God never ceases to invite us to enter.
When evening comes, the master of the vineyard says to his steward : « Call the workers and distribute the wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first. » (Mt 20:8) This astonishing master wanted the first hired workers to be witnesses of what he did for the last hired! They all received the same salary : a silver coin !
Why ?
Through this parable, Jesus wants us to understand that for God, there are no privileged people; that God loves all people, especially the most abandoned, and that he wants to introduce them into his Vine, into his happiness… He teaches us that God pours out his blessings in profusion; God invites and calls at any hour, at any age, in any situation…
This page of the Gospel proclaims to us one of the essential truths of our faith : « For all who believe, there is no difference: all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God… but are gratuitously justified by his grace: this is the work of Redemption accomplished in Christ Jesus. » (Rom 3, 22)
Jesus came to realise God’s plan, announced by the Law and the Prophets. This salvation is a gift from God, realised in Jesus and not the fruit of human effort. This parable should give great hope to all those who abandoned the faith. » The goodness of the Lord is for all, his tenderness for all his works ; he is close to those who call upon him, to all those who call upon him in truth » (Ps 144, 9.18).
God is close to each of his creatures and nothing is ever lost to Him! He hires until the last minute. It is never too late! Let’s remember that Jesus did not just tell this story… . He lived it by granting paradise at the last second to the robber crucified with him.
Deacon Michel Houyoux
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Links to other Christian websites
◊ St Beuno’s Outreach : click here to read the paper → Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
◊ Angelus : click here to read the paper → Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
♥ How can we understand Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard ?
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