Wages For Our Service

Pastor’s Column

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 21, 2014

Once I lived in a community where one could see farm laborers standing around waiting to be hired. In many ways this scene was like this Sunday’s gospel of the parable of the landowner who hired people to work in his garden at various times of the day (Matthew 20:1–16). Some of these laborers worked for the master from the beginning of their lives, others from the middle of their lives and still others at the end of their lives.

This gospel can strike us as both hopeful and disquieting at the same time. For example, a person wishing to come to Christ on their deathbed is still welcome by him and is received with open arms as long as they repent. At the same time, nothing is lost and everything gained for having spent one’s whole life in service to God.

The laborers who have worked all day in the sun are surprised that those hired last received the same wages that they did! We can all relate to this – it sounds like a legitimate labor dispute. What union would put up with this kind of behavior? It doesn’t seem fair. How can we look at this parable and understand what Christ is saying to us? What is the wage Christ is offering? What do we receive for serving and believing in him?

The answer, of course, is eternal life. It is not the natural state of a human being to have eternal life. Our bodies are made of dust and they are, in the end, going to wear out. To live forever in eternal youth in happiness and glory is far beyond anything anyone on earth can achieve by their own efforts. In fact, no amount of work on earth for God can begin to earn such a great reward.

It is God’s gratuitous gift to those who believe in him and it is beyond our wildest dreams. Therefore, we are not really working for that wage – it is given to us freely. There must be another reason that we’re working in the Vineyard and to receive this wage of eternal life, which is given freely to those who believe in him.

Why work in the Vineyard at all? Why do we serve the Lord? What is the reward for serving him all our lives as opposed to coming in at the last minute or even in the middle of life? The answer is that we serve him because we love him. The more we are with Christ, the more we know him; the more we are related to each other, the more we have shared. There is no price too great for having shared more and more with Christ.

A person who spent their whole life serving God will have a much deeper insight and relationship with God in eternal life than one who came in at the end. It does not lessen the great gift that God gives all of us who come to him; it’s just that when we spend more time with someone we have things in common that will never end.

So there is another dynamic at work besides the “wages” we receive for serving God. I’m not serving God for “wages” but because I love him and I want to have the deepest relationship possible with him in the eternal life that is to come. The more I have shared with him by suffering with him and by serving my neighbor, the more I will love him in eternity and this is what our service is all about. Father Gary

25th Sunday: Generosity or Envy?

"You too go into my vineyard . . ."

The Word for Sunday: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/092114.cfm

Is 55: 6-9
Phil 1: 20c – 24, 27a
Mt 20: 1-16

This Sunday Jesus shares a somewhat unsettling parable from Matthew about laborers in the vineyard and a landowner who, in response to the grumbling of ungrateful workers, queries: “Are you envious because I am generous?” That’s an interesting question.

We don’t normally equate envy with generosity. Why would I be envious because you are a generous person? I could easily be generous myself. I might be envious because you are rich and I am not. Or jealous because you have a beautiful voice and I can barely carry a tune. You have outstanding athletic prowess and the ball never goes where I want it to in golf. You’re handsome or beautiful and I’m just an average Joe. You walk into a room and everyone is glad to see you. I walk in and just blend silently into the crowd.

These are the sorts of things we usually equate with envy. The larger discussion about “Be grateful for what you have rather than sad about what you do not have” is valid here but why would I be envious of your generosity. That’s a choice that any of us can make: to share or not to share. That is the question!

Why were the workers in the vineyard today envious? If we look between the lines, as we must do in the teachings of Jesus’ parables, we see their grumbling is far more about what they perceived as unjust payment for work done or not done rather than envy about a generous landowner. Still, the point of the workers is a good one on surface.

In ancient times, unlike today, it was believed that all things had limits. We Americans feel there’s always more where that came from: food, oil, jobs, and money, whatever. Yet, everything in the ancient Mediterranean world was believed limited including work. There is only so much of anything to go around so there is not more where that came from.

So one would need to be invited to work rather than to apply for a job. Once invited, as the landowner did five times in today’s Gospel, a wage was agreed on and one could not assume that more would be given since there is only a limited amount to be shared. Yet, work done is work rewarded.

So, the real “envy” in today’s Gospel is of those who were invited at the eleventh hour as we say and who were paid the same as those “who bore the day’s burden and the heat.” We can hear them cry, “This isn’t fair!”

Yet, the parable today is not about fair working practices but about what “The kingdom of heaven is like.” God operates in a different manner; on a higher plane than we limited humans. The Kingdom of Heaven is about a God who calls everyone to his vineyard (kingdom) and wants all to share in abundance regardless about when they were invited. The kingdom of heaven, the parable teaches us, is about a God who is generous and hospitable. About a God who invites then rewards. It is about a God who always has more where that came from and is never limited in his generosity. Pope Francis once reminded us that God never tires of forgiving it is we who tire of asking for it.

This parable is not the only time we hear about God’s bigheartedness. The parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15: 11-32) with the envious elder brother comes to mind. That elder brother, the good son, upon seeing his father’s forgiveness and the party thrown for his reckless wasteful brother, is furious with envy: “That son of yours!” he complains to his Father. He can hardly bring himself to admit, “That brother of mine.”

But, here the Father who is God is overwhelmingly generous because the value he holds for the person is greater than the bad choices he has made: “He was dead and has come back to life.” The elder son has suffered no injustice. The Father reminds him: “Everything I have is yours” but the jealous son feels it’s unfair.

When we come to God in prayer, in need of forgiveness, in gratitude or with any request we come before a God who has our best interest at heart. So these parables can bring before us a different vantage point. The workers who labored all day most likely readily stood in the front of the line to receive what they felt would be generous pay – more than they had agreed upon. The elder son confronted his father and may have pushed his way into the party revelers to make a beeline for his Dad. As I stand in front no one else behind me matters. It’s all for me – or so I may assume and expect.

Yet, the parables challenge our perception of God’s “fairness” and ask us to take a look from the end of the line. God’s mercy, forgiveness and generosity are available to everyone no matter where I stand. God’s generosity, mercy, forgiveness and love are not a buffet line or potluck dinner – when it’s gone its gone. There will be just enough for me by the time I reach the front. With God, there is always more.

It certainly creates a different perspective of how I view my fellow human being. No matter what language I speak or my economic level or the home I live in or color of my skin or my past wayward life all that come to the Lord with sincerity and seek his will share in his abundance.

The more we see others ahead of us receiving what God gives the more we may see our own shortcoming and imitate the mercy which God himself shows. As Isaiah reminds us today when the Lord speaks: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts . . .”

This is the point of the parable for us. The reception of the Holy Eucharist during each Mass is to receive this person who is lavishly generous. As the crowd walks forward do you think about who it is who is giving himself to you? About who and what you will receive? How can we be envious of that? What a gift; what a generous God.

Graciously raise up, O Lord,

those you renew with this Sacrament,

that we may come to possess your redemption

both in mystery and in the manner of our life.

Through Christ our Lord.

(Prayer after Communion)

Regnum Christi

The Idle Apostle?

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

September 21, 2014. Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 20:1-16a

Jesus told his disciples this parable: "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o´clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ´You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.´ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o´clock, he did the same. And about five o´clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ´Why are you standing here idle all day?´ They said to him, ´Because no one has hired us.´ He said to them, ´You also go into the vineyard.´ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ´Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.´ When those hired about five o´clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ´These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.´ But he replied to one of them, ´Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?´ So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, you are the author of life and the giver of all that is good. You are the Prince of Peace and my mainstay. You are my healer and the cure itself. I need you, and I need to give you. I love you and commit myself to you entirely, knowing you could never let me down or deceive me. Thank you for giving me your very self.

Petition: Lord Jesus, help me to work in your vineyard alongside you.

1. The Call to Work in the Vineyard: The landowner needs workers for his vineyard. Going out to the marketplace, where there are all kinds of people, he invites all the workers he can find. We are all invited to be apostles in the Lord’s vineyard. Some might think they don’t have enough talent, others that they are just too young to be able to do anything for Christ, and still others that the task is just too much for them. But Christ doesn’t ask for excuses; he asks for workers, generosity and good will. He will take care of the rest. He doesn’t call the prepared; he prepares the called. He is the one who produces the fruits, not us. What a joy and privilege to be called by the Lord to be a worker in his vineyard, especially when we fulfill our task out of love.

2. Turning the Tables: We complain so easily about the problems we see around us: the lack of values, the violence, the evil people do…. Then in our prayer we say to God, “Look at the world. Why don’t you do something about it?” If we were to listen a little more closely to God in prayer, we would probably hear him reply, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” Perhaps we never knew there was something we could do. Perhaps we never had the courage to face the situation and address the matter seriously. Idleness is the one thing the Lord cannot understand. “You also go into the vineyard.” Some are called early; some are called later. It doesn’t matter when, what does matter is to respond the moment we are called.

3. The Surprising Salary: Go ahead and ask the question…. Peter did, in the passage just prior to this parable (Matthew 19:27-30): What can I expect from this? Christ is the best bargain in the marketplace. He promises us the full wage, even if we were called at the last hour. Whatever we “sacrifice” for him, he promises us 100% in this life plus eternal life. So really, the sky is the limit. We have to ask ourselves: What am I willing to give Christ? A few meager dollars, a few fleeting moments of my day, only my “leftover” time? Christ never obliges; he only invites. It is important never to forget that by helping God to save souls we save our own. This is the way to build up a treasure in heaven.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, today I hear your call more clearly than ever. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work in your vineyard. For you I am willing to do anything. I know there will be moments of difficulty and weakness. Give me your grace and strength, and then ask of me what you please. Make me your apostle.

Resolution: I will give as much of today as possible to God by living each moment and activity with intensity and purity of intention. I will offer it all to God out of love.

By Father Barry O’Toole, LC

Forsaking Me, Seeking Him

Dr. Mark Giszczak

shutterstock_96950066

September 21, 2014
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Isaiah 55:6-9
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092114.cfm

One of my favorite quotes says, “The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity” (Leonard Ravenhill). Since we are finite, limited beings, our opportunities are always constrained by time. In fact, it usually seems like there isn’t enough time to do all the things we want to: to exercise, to start a new hobby, to finish an old one, to clean the garage, to organize the drawers. The list goes on. Fortunately, most of the things we put off indefinitely are not that important. We can afford to procrastinate. But in this Sunday’s first reading, the prophet Isaiah warns us that we can’t afford to miss the time-limited opportunity to turn to God. While we have the chance, we should take advantage of it.

Context

This passage falls in the latter part of Isaiah, a favorite stomping ground for the Lectionary. The prophet is conveying the merciful compassion of the Lord who invites his sinful people back to him despite their sins. He calls out, “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!” (Isa 55:1 NAB). This chapter is an invitation to return to God, to repent, to draw near to the one who offers his mercy to those who desperately need it. The Lord’s offer of mercy forecasts a brighter future, but it also draws on themes from the past. The new era to which God invites his people is one that actually renews his “everlasting covenant” with David (55:3). The power of the invitation lies in restoration: God will not cast aside his unfaithful people, but restore them to a loving, covenantal relationship with him.

Forsaking and Seeking

Every turning toward involves a turning away. While Isaiah invites us to “seek” God, that seeking involves a “forsaking.” He announces, “Let the wicked forsake his way…” (55:7 RSV). Just as when Jesus calls his followers, he begins with repentance (“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Matt 3:2) and asks them to leave behind their old priorities and take up their crosses (Matt 10:37), so Isaiah bids the would-be follower to leave behind his old ways. In the same way that pursuing one opportunity of a lifetime involves giving up and forsaking many other possibilities, so turning toward God involves turning away from our old “ways” and “thoughts.” Only by letting go of self-oriented concerns, our sins, our habits of selfish thinking, are we able to open our hearts to the God who invites us away from our boxed-in world of self into a beautiful friendship with him.

Is God Near?

Isaiah makes a big deal about finding God “while he may be found” (55:6 RSV). That might seem odd, since elsewhere the Scripture affirms that God is omnipresent: “If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!” (Ps 139:8 RSV). If God is everywhere, what does it mean for him to be “near” only at certain times? In this case, Isaiah is pointing out that God’s nearness is something he initiates by invitation. God is near because he is giving his people an opportunity to return to him. The opportunity is only temporary. God’s nearness to us, the availability of his presence, the prospect of relationship with him lasts only for a time. In the New Testament, St. Paul affirms the urgency of the moment of opportunity: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2 RSV). The opportunity Isaiah forecasts, Jesus announces, and Paul emphasizes is the same: the opportunity to repent of sin and turn to God so that he might heal us and draw us into communion with himself. St. Jerome says that the limited time is “while you are in the body, when you have an opportunity for penance.” After death, repentance and conversion are no longer possible, so now is a good time, the only time, to turn to God since “he will abundantly pardon” (Isa 55:7 RSV).

High Thoughts

People love to quote this line from Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord” (Isa 55:8 RSV). Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean what we usually think it means. The typical context in which the passage is quoted indicates that God is saying how superior his ways of doing things are over ours—that his acts and decisions are so far beyond our comprehension that they are rightly called inscrutable. Now I don’t mean to suggest that this idea is incorrect (see Rom 11:33 on God’s inscrutable ways), but that’s not what Isaiah means to say here. The “ways” and “thoughts” of God are being compared to the “way” and “thoughts” of the wicked mentioned in v. 7. And in the following verses, we get a description of the effectiveness of God’s word—how it is powerful, irrevocable and always accomplishes its purpose (vv. 10-11). Putting all of this together, we can see that Isaiah is decrying the ineffectiveness, purposelessness, futility of the ways and thoughts of the wicked. Then when he proclaims that God’s ways are “above” our ways, he is emphasizing the effectiveness of God’s intentions. His acts, his aims, his goals come to fruition. While our purposes can be vain and futile, his always succeed.

Conclusion: Responding to the Call

We can apply two principles from this reading. First, we should constantly remember that this life is an opportunity to turn to God—a time-limited, temporary chance to repent and come to love him in a covenantal relationship. While we have the chance, we might as well take advantage of it since God will not be “near” forever. Second, part of the beauty of turning away from our ways to God is that we give up on the futility of self-seeking and sin, the utter silliness of pursuing our own plans apart from God, of trying to be like God on our own. By turning toward him, we get caught up in his superior “ways” and “thoughts.” Our feeble, ineffective self-seeking is turned inside out, transformed into a selfless life of love, lived out in relationship with the One whose ways truly are higher than ours. As the Second Vatican Council taught, man “cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself” (Gaudium et Spes, sec. 24).

Scripture Speaks: All Things Are Possible

Gayle Somers

shutterstock_96107009

Jesus tells a parable that poses an interesting question: Would we ever grumble about God’s generosity?

Gospel (Read Mt 20:1-16a)

In the verses preceding today’s Gospel, Jesus told the disciples “it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:23). A “rich young man” had just gone away “sorrowful” from Jesus, because he could not detach from his possessions to follow Him. When the disciples hear that even the rich, thought to be especially blessed by God, would have a hard time entering heaven, they ask, “Who, then, can be saved?” (Mt 19:25) Jesus gives them an answer that He further elaborates in today’s reading: “With men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible” (Mt 19:26).

In our parable, Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to a scene in which a landowner hires helpers to work in his vineyard. The landowner goes out early to the marketplace, where workers congregated, to look for laborers. He was not obligated to do this, of course. The vineyard belonged to him; he could have kept it a family affair, using only family members to do the work. Instead, he reaches outside his family to those who would otherwise be “idle”—waiting for something meaningful to happen. He enters an “agreement” (or “covenant”) with some laborers for the pay they will receive for their work, and off they go. The landowner keeps returning to the marketplace, however, during all the “hours” of the day (Jews divided the time between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm into several “hours”), finding those who were “idle” and promising to give them “whatever is right” for their labor. We have to wonder why he did this. Was it for himself, or for the laborers? Was he concerned that he needed more workers to get the work done, or was he concerned that men would be “idle” all day if he didn’t keep hiring them?

Finally, at the eleventh hour, he goes out again. Realistically, these laborers would only be able to put in an hour’s work, at most, because Jewish law required that a laborer be paid at sundown (see Deut. 24:14-15). By the time we get to this point in the parable, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the landowner simply wants to empty the marketplace of anyone still standing around, still waiting for something to happen.

When it comes time to pay the workers, payment begins with the last ones hired. This is so contrary to what any of us would expect that it helps us identify the thrust of the parable right away. Had the landowner paid the longest, hardest-working men first, they would not have witnessed what they considered to be an injustice. Jesus uses this inverted order to call our attention to the point He is making. The first laborers grumble when they discover that they are paid exactly the same as the latecomers, who hardly worked at all. Can we blame them? Would our reaction have been different? The landowner reminds the grumblers that they have not been cheated. They had agreed on the “usual daily wage.” No injustice has been committed. The landowner also reminds them that he is “free to do as I wish with my own money.” The fact is, any wage coming to any of the laborers depended entirely on the grace and generosity of the landowner. Apart from him repeatedly seeking laborers in the marketplace, none of them would have had anything meaningful to do. They would all still have been waiting for something to happen. We might be able to phrase it this way: “With men, no wages are possible, but with a landowner looking for workers, all things are possible.” That being the case, are the grumblers really justified in being envious of the landowner’s generosity? It was this very generosity that gave them work in the first place. Had they understood this at the start of the day, they would not have been surprised at how the day ended.

Jesus concludes the story with a familiar saying: “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” The Church has traditionally understood this as a parable foreshadowing the generosity of God to include the Gentiles in His covenant, at the “eleventh hour” in salvation history, blessing them with the same blessing first promised long ago to His Chosen People, the Jews. In this, Jesus is warning His disciples (then and now) not to think of God’s blessings as a matter of record-keeping. God’s generosity cannot be measured. All of us, the “worthy” and the “unworthy,” are utterly dependent on it. When we see others with greater spiritual gifts than we have ourselves, do we rejoice in God’s generosity, or are we envious? And, at the end of time, if we see God’s mercy extended to those whom we are sure don’t deserve it (we might even be picking those folks out now), will we look as small and stunted as the grumbling laborers in the parable? These are questions worth asking.

Possible response: Heavenly Father, help me to rejoice over Your generosity wherever it appears.

First Reading (Read Isa 55:6-9)

These verses from Isaiah are a perfect preparation for our Gospel reading, because they speak about God’s generosity (“generous in forgiving”) and about how different God’s way is from ours. Recall the shock we felt in reading the parable and hearing that “the last will be first and the first will be last.” Here, God tells us, through Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are My ways above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts.” This difference between God’s way and ours is what keeps life interesting. If we take it seriously, we might often by surprised by how He works, but we surely won’t become grumblers.

Possible response: Heavenly Father, forgive me for the times I have not wanted to be surprised by the difference between Your way and mine.

Psalm (Read Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18)

The psalmist tells us that God’s “greatness is unsearchable.” That is exactly what both Isaiah and Jesus seek to tell us in our other readings. Our imaginations are not vivid enough to be able to predict how God’s goodness and mercy will break out in His creation: “The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all His works.” Perhaps the most treasured characteristic of His immeasurable and unimaginable kindness is the one we will repeat in the responsorial: “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him.”

In the end, isn’t this what matters most to us on our journey home to heaven?

Possible response: The psalm is, itself, a response to our other readings. Read it again prayerfully to make it your own.

Second Reading (Read Phil 1:20c-24, 27a)

In this reading, St. Paul is an example of one who is completely at peace with whatever God does with him. We would have liked the first group of laborers in the Gospel parable to be able to say that about the landowner. How does a person get to that place of peace with God and confidence in whatever He does, no matter how different His ways are from ours? “For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.” St. Paul understood that in becoming a servant of Christ, he had gained everything. Even death, which we naturally fear and dread, posed no worry for him. Death (which St. Paul faced on a nearly daily basis) would simply be the door through which he would walk into the loving arms of Jesus. When we have this kind of relationship with the Lord, when He is everything to us, then we are truly free. Knowing the power of His love and kindness, nothing can disturb us, nothing can turn us into grumblers. All that should matter to us is to conduct ourselves “in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ.” Then, truly, “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.”

Possible response: Lord Jesus, please teach me to trust You and to be at peace in all the events of my life.

One Bread, One Body

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All Issues > Volume 30, Issue 5

<< Sunday, September 21, 2014 >>

25th Sunday Ordinary Time

Isaiah 55:6-9
Philippians 1:20-24, 27
View Readings

Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18
Matthew 20:1-16
Similar Reflections

SLAVE LABOR

"The reign of God is like the case of the owner of an estate who went out at dawn to hire workmen for his vineyard." —Matthew 20:1

The Lord said: "The harvest is good but laborers are scarce" (Mt 9:37). This is an unusual statement because in our times hundreds of people apply for one job. Moreover, the harvest is the best time to work. Harvesting is more appealing then plowing, planting, fertilizing, or weeding. Finally, you would think that everybody would want to work for the Lord because He pays you a fair wage and sometimes even gives a full day's pay for only a few hours or minutes of work (see Mt 20:9). So, if working for the Lord is a good job with good pay, why are the workers few?

If we work for the Lord, we usually start off just doing a few odd jobs for Him. Then He asks us to work full-time. Next, He wants us to be always "on call." Finally, the Lord asks us to freely decide to be His slaves. This means that we no longer have our own lives (Gal 2:20) or do our own will (see Mt 26:39). As slaves of Christ (see Col 3:24), we get no pay and no time off. Many people only want a part-time job for the Lord. They wish He didn't ask them to be His slaves.

However, to be Jesus' slave is a privilege, the greatest thing a human being can be or do. To be Jesus' slave is the way to express our total love for Him. Furthermore, it is the only way to prevent ourselves from being forced into degrading, dehumanizing slavery to the world (see Rm 6:16). Nevertheless, many people don't understand or believe this, so there are few workers in God's harvest. However, we can walk and work by faith (see 2 Cor 5:7), go all the way with Jesus, and become His slaves. Do it.

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for becoming a Slave for love of me (Phil 2:7). May I respond accordingly.

Promise: "To me, 'life' means Christ; hence dying is so much gain." —Phil 1:21

Praise: Praise to You, Lord Jesus risen from the dead! Alleluia!

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