25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); 9-24-2023

Is 55:6-9. Ps 145. Phil 1:20c-24. Mt 20:1-16a

 Deacon Jim McFadden

Sometimes Jesus just doesn’t seem fair. The parable of the Day Laborers evokes the sense of getting ripped off. That’s why it’s probably the least liked parable that Jesus ever told because it offends our sense of justice. Those who work in the beginning, middle, and end of the day all get the same pay. There’s more: the guys who were hired last, not only get paid the same, but they get to go to the head of line and get paid first! Our gut reaction may be: are you serious?

By way of an example, many years ago I used to umpire baseball- -anywhere from Little League, High School to adult leagues; sometimes a 100 games/year.   On weekends, I’d often work double-headers, which during the months of July and August could be brutal, especially during those scorching triple digit days. If someone appeared in the last inning of the second game and collected the same payment I did, I’d be really peeved. My instinctual response would he this is outrageously unfair.

So, this parable really bothers me, which is a very good indication that it is working on me–and I suspect on most of us as well. Jesus is trying to assault our conventional way of thinking what our sense of justice and righteousness are. Then we’re given a not so subtle explanation of why we’re offended when we harken to the first reading from the prophet Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord”(Is 55:8).

Ouch! Our thoughts are not God’s because we’re acting out of prejudices and assumptions that are getting in God’s way. A reason that this parable bugs us is that we’re approaching the story from a transactional, economic way of relating to others. From that perspective, an “injustice” has occurred. But Jesus does not want to teach us about the issue of work or a fair wage, which is where I was coming from, but about the Kingdom of God! Until we make that shift, until we enter into God’s consciousness, we’ll resist our Lord’s message: namely, there are no unemployed people in the Kingdom of God! You see, God is forever inviting us into intimate communion, which is the Kingdom. The invitation is always there because God never stops loving us–no matter what! We are called to do our part: to accept his invitation, to receive his unconditioned eternal Love. If we do, there will be a reward from the perspective of divine justice for everyone in the end. Mind you, not human justice, which stipulates all sorts of conditions, but salvific justice, which is not bestowed on those who deserve it, but salvation that is donated–salvation that is free. And, if we still don’t get it, Jesus says, “the last

shall be first and the first last” (Mt 20:16).

Jesus is always challenging us to conform to God’s way of thinking. So, with this parable, our Lord wants to open our hearts to the logic of the Father’s love which is free and generous no matter when it is accepted. It’s about allowing ourselves to be astonished and flabbergasted by the “thoughts” and the “ways” of God, which Isaiah reminds us our not our thoughts and ways. That’s why we’re always in need of metanoia, of conversion. Human thoughts, desires, and actions typically start from an egoic posture in which we calculate our personal advantage in any given situation. We often approach human relationships from a transactional, tit-for-tat perspective, which is a very narrow, restrictive and contorted path. Entry into the Kingdom of God, on the other hand, is a wide and straight path of the Lord. Jesus is the Way into Trinitarian love; he is the bridge between heaven and earth. It’s that simple; it’s right there.

And, how does Jesus coax us into the Kingdom? He uses mercy–unabated, overflowing, always forgiving. Jesus forgives broadly, he never stops–even if we are approaching our last breath. He yearns deeply and unconditionally that we may embrace the boundless territory of his love and his grace, which he alone can give. We can’t earn his love and mercy; all we can do is to humbly and gratefully accept it. Jesus alone can give the human heart the fulness of joy. And, he extends this invitation to the last hour.

Jesus wants us to contemplate this parable not from our selfish perspective, but from that of the landowner, who gazes upon each of the laborers searching for work, searching for meaning and fulfillment and calls them to go into his vineyard. It’s a gaze which is filled with attention–God knows full well what our broken, wounded condition is. His gaze is filled with kindness and tender mercy because all He wants is to fill our hearts with his Presence, his grace. It is a gaze which calls, beckons, invites to get up where you are and begin a journey which will result in a “human being fully alive” (cf. St.  Irenaeus). God’s only agenda is for us to receive Life. He wants us to have a full, committed life safe from the emptiness of idols (God substitutes) and inertia in which we waver in our surrender to the One, true God. God excludes no one, no matter what hour of the day it may be. He wants all of us to achieve the fulness of being a human being. This is the love of our God on full display, this is the love of our God whom we call. “Abba.” That’s why there are no unemployed in Heaven! 

            May Mary Most Holy help us to experience every day the joy and wonder of being called by God to work for him, in his field which is the world, in his vineyard which is the Church.  And, through Mary’s intercession, may our only reward be the love and friendship with her Son, Jesus.  Amen.