It Just Isn’t Fair

The teaching of Jesus is clear in today’s parable:
God is generous with his mercy, to lengths and depths
beyond our imagination or comprehension.
Jesus teaches that God chooses to love everyone
with the same love, the same mercy, the same generosity –
in spite of  when we show up for work,
in spite of how we receive or reject his love.

It’s never a question of our “deserving” God’s love:
none of us, not one of us deserves the mercy of God,
– much less is there anything you and I could do 
to earn or merit God’s love.

God’s mercy and love are pure gift.
And every one of us here this morning is, without exception,
a beneficiary of God’s extravagant mercy.

Complain at Your Own Risk

The truth is that life is unfair.  We would like to think that those who work the hardest would be the most successful.  But we all know people who are working two, maybe three, jobs and are still unable to support their families.  We would like to think that the people who have the most talent are those would be the most respected and compensated.  But we all know of football players who cannot even remember to keep their helmets on their heads (sorry about this) who are making millions of dollars more than teachers who give their life instructing our young.  We would like to think that people who are good and who live honestly are going to have easier lives.  But we all know people who are the “salt of the earth” who have terrible crosses to bear.  And each time we see any of these inequalities, we are tempted to complain.

Amazing Grace

From our earliest years, we Americans have been brought up to value justice. Play fair, is part of our earliest training in life. That’s why when we hear today’s Gospel, the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, we immediately think, “That’s just not right. The guys who worked all day have a good argument. They should have been paid more.”

But the parable is not about who should get paid what. The parable is about God. He is the Good Employer, the Divine Employer. This parable is not about the workers, it is about God who offers His grace to people at various times in their lives.

Dimensions of Discipleship - A Homily for the 25th Sunday of the Year - Community in Mission

What Jesus teaches in this Sunday’s Gospel is one of those parables that rock our world and challenge our worldly way of thinking. Frankly, that is one of its purposes. We are tempted to side with the laborers who worked the longest, thinking that their being paid the same amount as those who worked only … Continue reading "Dimensions of Discipleship – A Homily for the 25th Sunday of the Year"

Community in Mission

As the parable unfolds, we can see five teachings. Let’s consider each in turn

1. The AVAILABILITY of Discipleship
2. The AUTHORITY of Discipleship
3. The ALLOTMENT of Discipleship
4. The ABIDING of Discipleship
5. The ASSESSMENT of Discipleship

Conforming to the Thoughts and Ways of God

Notice in the first reading that it is not only a matter of changing our actions, but our thoughts as well.  Adjusting our thoughts allows us to begin to think as God thinks.  We begin to see things with a broader perspective and have insights that would not be present in our natural way of thinking.  This is what we see in both the second reading and the Gospel for today.  When Jesus tells the parable of the landowner who paid the men who worked one hour the same as those who worked twelve hours, our natural reaction is that this is unjust.  From the perspective of those who worked one hour, we might think it is very generous or we might even think we got away with something. 

However, when we look at things from the perspective of salvation and eternal life, which is the “payment” for our fidelity, we realize the landowner is perfectly just and also most generous.  It helps us, in turn, to desire mercy for everyone, even our perceived enemies.  As Christians, we do not want anyone to be condemned to hell for eternity.  Yes, many people deserve to be there, but all we need to do is look in the mirror to see another person who deserves to be there.

Conformity to the thoughts and ways of God through prayer brought St. Paul to such a depth of love that there was no selfishness left.  He was willing to sacrifice everything.  All that mattered to him was doing God’s will and glorifying the Lord, whether in living or in dying.  This is the response of one who received God’s mercy.  We too have received God’s mercy.  What is our response?

Justice is Merciful and Mercy is Just

Twenty Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A Many of you may be familiar with the storyline of Victor Hugo’s classic Les Miserable...

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St. Thomas Aquinas said,

“God acts mercifully, not indeed by going against his justice, but by doing something more than justice; thus a man who pays another two hundred pieces of money, though owing him only one hundred, does nothing against justice, but acts liberally or mercifully… Hence it is clear that mercy does not destroy justice, but in a sense is the fullness thereof. Thus it is said, “Mercy exalts itself above judgment” (Jas 2:13). (Summa Theologiae I:21:3)

I believe what irks most people about the rationale of today’s parable is that it seems to fly against a hallmark of human justice which is impartiality. “Justice is blind,” goes the saying, and the more impartial human justice is, the better. We cannot play favourites. Our human perception of unfairness in this story comes, not from the interaction between the landowner and the workers but, actually, from the comparison between the pay given the workers in relation to what they worked. Steeped in our flimsy human arrogance and presumption, we assume that the pay here is proportional to the work because that is our earthly measure. We arrogantly presume that this landowner must adhere to our perceptions of fairness and justice because, after all, aren’t those very same perceptions simply brimming with our wisdom and common sense? Our arrogance allows, even demands, that we measure the landowner’s actions by our measures of justice, with no regard to the fact that, at the end of the day, as the landowner reminds all the workers, it is his money to do as he wishes.

Clergy E-Notes

In the First Reading, the Prophet, Isaiah, reminds us that God’s thoughts and ways are not ours. In the Gospel, we see this played out, for the labourers who began the work at dawn obviously did not have the same thoughts as the vineyard owner!

God’s salvific generosity is so overwhelming and incomprehensible that in the Kingdom of Heaven, the last will be first and the first will be last.

Do we mistakenly view our work on behalf of the most vulnerable as the labourers viewed their work? Do we implicitly see salvation as something that can be earned? Let us remember that salvation is a free gift from God.

Whether we have been in the pro-life movement for many years or have only recently joined the cause, let us not grumble against those who rail against it, nor boast in our time fighting the good fight, but marvel at the gift of salvation won for us in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Quality of Our Output

How can one justify the same payment for those who have worked for the whole day and those who worked just for one hour? Is it really possible especially in contexts where labourers are paid per number of hours they worked? It is really customary that those who work longer should earn better than those who work shorter hours! Jesus however breaks this convention!

Are You Envious?

Bottom line: When envy enters the heart, we need to focus on God’s generosity – when the tide comes in and when the tide goes out. Maybe then we can hear Jesus asking that tough question: “Are you envious because I am generous?”

Before we can answer that question we need to know what envy is. Here’s the definition I found in commentary on this parable: “Envy is not simply jealousy which is the desire to attain or possess what the other person has. Envy is the sin of being upset at another’s good fortune.”

The sin of being upset at another’s good fortune: I admit I often fall into envy. A few months back I had a conversation with Fr. Jim Coleman. I told him about our parish’s financial difficulties since Covid-19 struck. He said, “Don’t feel bad, Felipe.” His old parish, he explained, was also struggling.

It’s Never too Late

It’s never too late. It’s never too late to turn to the Lord. It’s never too late to be welcomed by the Lord. It’s never too late to stop living an aimless life and live a life full of meaning. It’s never too late to leave sin and be welcomed by the mercy of Jesus. It’s never too late to be welcomed by the loving embrace of Jesus. Jesus told the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard we just heard (Matt 20:1-16) to teach us that it is never too late to turn to him. It is never too late to receive the grace of Jesus. The Lord continues to go out to the marketplace every hour to invite people to his vineyard.

Responding to God’s Love

What are we to do when we are feeling downcast and helpless, overwhelmed by anxiety or pain? The answer is clear. Jesus tells us that God will keep coming to us to invite us from dawn till dusk to enjoy his love. He began inviting us from the first moment we looked into our mother’s eyes and experienced her love. He will still be inviting us when those who love us most are standing around our bed as we prepare to die. In the words of the Responsorial Psalm: ‘God is close to all who call on him from their hearts.’

Envious Comparisons

It continues to amaze me that some people think God is a projection of humanity’s wish. That may be true of idols or false gods, but it just doesn’t work with the God of Moses and the prophets, the God made flesh in Jesus. This God doesn’t act or behave as we would.

It is not just that God is more merciful than we might be, or more forgiving; God seems not even to think the way we do. As Isaiah reminds us, “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.”

About Justice

My friends, when was the last time you approached God with a question regarding fairness? When was the last time you wondered aloud to God why some people’s lives are, by your point of view, somehow better or worse than your own? The Gospel today has perhaps the most unpopular parables of the Lord. You have this landowner who hires several groups of day workers, at different times during the day, to work in his vineyard. The first group begins work at dawn and the second group begins work later that morning. The third group begins work at noon and the last group in the late afternoon. At the end of the day, the landowner pays them all the same. I think our sense of justice would side with the group of workers who were there all day. Why should those who only worked an hour be paid the same as those who were there from daybreak?

You know who really understands the dilemma that the parable today gives us? Children! I learned a long time ago that it is very important for me as an uncle and cousin to make sure my gifts to the kids in the family are equitable. The reason for this is because children have finely honed justice radars built into their systems. Parents know about this built in justice radar all too well. Whenever the justice radar in a child gets triggered, a child can be the first to say, or even scream, the words we hear in households all over Christendom, “It’s not fair!”