Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
For today’s Gospel reading click the link below:
Mass Readings
(Isaiah 55:6-9, Philippians 1:20-24,27, Matt 20:1-16)
Homily Reflection by Fr. JJ Fenelon
Dear brothers and sisters,
Imagine when an election is coming up, a political party, be it the ruling or opposition, presents as part of its manifesto, a new wage policy. “Instead of an hourly rate of pay, a daily rate is suggested for the worker. Which means that whether a worker works one hour or 8 hours he/she will be paid the same wage. It’s a progressive new deal. Employers will be compelled to comply.”
Such a suggestion would be met with outrage by the general public as it would not be fair, right or just. Those who worked the whole day would be very angry with those who worked for only an hour. Even during this current pandemic situation it will not be acceptable. Surely political analysts will say it is political suicide. Moreover, there’s no doubt that labour unions would not accept such a proposal and will join in the protest with the workers.
In today’s Gospel Jesus tells a parable about the way a landowner of a vineyard chooses to pay his workers. Those who arrive last to work receive exactly the same pay as the first arrivals. They have worked long and hard in the heat of the day and yet to receive no more for their efforts than the “eleventh hour” latecomers. We may feel a terrible injustice is being done to the first arrivals.
Jesus is not trying to teach a lesson in social or distributive justice nor is he proposing a new wage or labour system. What Jesus is trying to point out is how different God’s attitudes are from our own.
In the First Reading, the Prophet Isaiah says, “The heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.” We usually have extremely well defined concepts of justice although our application of them is not always very consistent. We are quite good at knowing if an injustice has been done to us but we are not so good at recognising whether injustices are being done to others.
The labourers of the parable were the lowest class of Jewish workingmen. They could have been waiting around the market place, idle, lost and unemployed. They lived on the poverty level. If they were unemployed for a day, their families went to bed hungry. Their situation was known to be so bad that when they were hired for a day’s work, the Law commanded they be paid before sundown.
The contrast between our way of doing things and that of the owner of the vineyard could not be more extreme. He does not seem to be concerned about rewarding his labourers for the quantity or quality of work they have completed. He is more preoccupied with giving everyone enough to live on regardless of the amount of work they have completed. The owner is motivated not by natural justice or even his own profit. No, he is motivated by his own overwhelming generosity of spirit.
For Jesus the only reality that matters is the reign of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God must be proclaimed faithfully, fully and without compromise.
And Jesus is telling us that this is how God is and He invites us to change our own attitudes and make them more like those of God. In the Kingdom of God everything is the opposite of the way things are in this world.
When the owner hires them, a meaning comes to their life at once and they are gainfully employed in the Kingdom. They are working for God, in the sense of fulfilling their purpose in life, living life in the way that is pleasing to God. And the wages they will receive is eternal life. Some can hear the call early and some later in life and their reward is the same. Even at the 11th hour some people respond to His call just like the ‘good thief’ at Calvary who pleads with Jesus to remember him when he goes to his kingdom.
The Gospel parable reminds us that first and foremost our main goal and objective in life must be our relationship with God. That is to love God with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength and to love our neighbours as ourselves.
We need to take heed to what the prophet Isaiah is saying: “Seek the Lord while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near… Let him turn to the Lord who will take pity on him.” This is meant for us and for others whom we are responsible for. As Christians we have been entrusted with the mission of bringing the lost, the strayed and the marginalised into the Kingdom of God.
What Christ is teaching is the infinite, universal love and mercy of God for all people. It is mercy and love that cannot be earned or bought with any price.
The daily wage that Jesus speaks about is Salvation. It is God’s gift to us. Our fidelity to our Christian life in whatever vocation we are called to, is to care for one another especially those who are in need.
Jesus says in the Gospel, “the last will be first and the first last.” Jesus emphasises that the world is filled with late comers’. They have some form of handicap. They are crippled physically, psychologically, economically, emotionally or spiritually. They are prodigal sons, outcasts, ones that people normally shun.
In the Second Reading, St Paul is in a dilemma. “I want to be gone and be with Christ, which would very much be better, but for me to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need for your sake.” He is saying this to the Philippians. He is very much impressing upon us the same. Do we experience the same dilemma of St Paul?
We are left asking today, before God: how generous are we really prepared to be in our Christian lives? Do we want to see all people saved especially those who are living sinful lives or fail to believe in Jesus, or those consumed with selfishness and pride whose lives have fallen apart?
Our RCIA Journeys have yielded very few Catholics in these last couple of years. Compared to other parishes we are lagging far behind. They are having double or triple the number entering the Catholic Church. What about us? Are we interested in continuing Christ’s work of salvation? Let us be like the vineyard owner and go out to the market place to bring in the lost, the strayed and the marginalised into the kingdom. It is our Christian duty and obligation as sons and daughters of God our Father.