Readings: Is. 55:6-9; Philippians 1:20-24, 27; Matthew 20:1-16
Envy
blinds us to God’s Generosity.
1.
In
today’s first reading, Isaiah the prophet calls on the children of Israel, as
their exile in Babylon came to an end, to seek the Lord and his forgiveness.
Their experiences of a devastated homeland dispirited them, and so they became
weary of their faith and their vaunted heritage. The prophet invited them to
return to the source of all life and strength. God has not abandoned them; they
abandoned God. They abandoned God by trying to cut God down to their size, but
God didn’t fit their scale. They wanted God to obey them rather than them
walking in the ways of God. They wanted to make their thoughts God’s thoughts
and their ways God’s ways. But God’s thoughts and his ways are “as high
as the heavens are above the earth.” They wanted to repay their enemies
for the losses inflicted on them, but the Lord was for mercy. They wanted
vengeance, but the Lord “is generous and forgiving.”
2.
And yet, this God is near to them. “Seek
the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near.” Recognize
the Lord as God, the prophet urged them, and surrender your petty ambitions and
selfish desires, and experience God’s generosity. We sometimes behave and
reason as the children of Israel. We want God to do our bidding rather than
submitting our will to God’s and see things from God’s perspective. We want our
enemies to be punished for the harm done to us. As Christians, we sometimes
behave as those who do not know God. St. Paul exhorts us to “Only,
conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.”
3.
This
brings us to the gospel. Jesus tells a story about the landowner who went out
at various hours of the day to hire laborers for his vineyard. I have had the
opportunity to observe first-hand laborers who come out in the morning with
their tools, waiting to be hired for a day’s work, either on building sites, on
the farm, or any job that is required. I have hired some of these laborers to
work for me. At the end of the day, all laborers are paid a day’s wage. So
Jesus was stating a common practice in Palestine of his time, especially during
harvest. Christ used this story to demonstrate God’s generosity towards us.
4.
Jesus
told a simple agricultural story whose meaning was not in the details but in
the story itself. In the Father’s kingdom, all are equally loved and welcome.
God’s measure of generosity is different from human standards. Because
everyone, no matter when they come to know the truth and accept Jesus, is
equally precious to God. Peter recognized this truth in his speech to
Cornelius, a pagan in his house: “In truth, I see that God shows no
partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is
acceptable to him.” (Acts 11:34-35) This, then, is a lesson for those
who think that, because they have been members of a Church for a long time, the
Church practically belongs to them and they should dictate its policy. Such
people resent what seems to them to be the intrusion of new blood or the rise
of a new generation with different plans and different ways. In the Christian
Church, seniority does not necessarily mean honor.
5.
The
Jews saw themselves as the chosen ones, and they were indeed, which made it
easy for them to look down on the Gentiles. They hated and despised them and
prayed for their destruction. Christians must not see themselves as being
better than others. In the kingdom of God, no one is inferior; all are God’s
children. Cradle Catholics can learn a lot from catechumens and those coming to
faith late in life. We have all been given gifts to use to build up the body of
Christ, the Church. (cf. 1 Cor. 12).
6.
These
readings also warn against envy. Those who worked from morning hours expected
to be paid more, and when they weren’t, they murmured and envied those who only
worked for an hour. The landowner’s reaction said it all: “My friend, I
am not cheating you. 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?” Envy robs us of our blessings and exposes our lack of
gratitude to the giver of all gifts. God’s generosity is beyond human
calculations and the way of the world. Salvation is an unconditional gift from
God. We do not deserve it. God does not give us wages but salvation, which is
the same for everyone. His justice, mercy, and grace are not earned, but given
generously. We come to his kingdom whenever we are called. Remember, those who
were called late in the afternoon were not lazy, but no one hired them. Once
they were called, they responded without delay. The number of hours they worked
did not bring them a reward, but their willingness to work and, more
specifically, the fact that the landowner called them. They became sharers of
his generosity by becoming part of the vineyard. God wants us to become his
partners and enjoy his presence. It’s God’s prerogative to decide who he calls
to his kingdom.
7.
God’s
thoughts and his ways are high above the world’s indeed. His ideals of justice,
concern, and respect for the life and freedom of all, as these are expressed by
the prophets, especially by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, have never been
matched by any purely human program. To turn the other cheek, to go the extra
mile, to hand over the
coat as well, to become a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom (cf. Matt.5,6 and
19) – all of this must seem ridiculous to the world. But all these other
“thoughts and ways” of God come from his “ridiculous standards of generosity
and love, of which our readings speak. That is why they are so gloriously
fulfilling to the human spirit, even while the world finds them absurd. That is
why Christ asks us to “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.”
(Matt. 11:28-30). Let us learn to be holy as our heavenly Father is holy. (cf.
Matt. 5:48).
Rev. Augustine Etemma
Inwang, MSP
