GOSPEL
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. 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?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
We know this passage well. It has popped up often over the decade plus we have meeting together. Despite this, the passage seems different to me this time around.
I want to get back into the groove of Wednesday meetings and I have been away from the practice of lectio divina for some weeks, I decided to review the reading for 8/18 a few days in advance just to get things going again
The day I chose was particularly hot even though we seem to have been caught up in a heat wave the likes of which I don’t remember experiencing in years. I came inside to the respite of AC after having worked in the yard for several hours. I had tried to find the sweet spot to mow after the dew dried but before the heat fired up in the afternoon but there was not of a chance to hit it that day The humidity was up, the dew point temperature of 72 which is unheard of in this part of the world. The point is the air was steamy before I even took a step.
Tired, hot, sweaty and parched, I experienced the reading in a different, darker and more negative way. I found myself rooting for the workers who had been first hired and labored away through the heat of the day for the same pay as those who barely broke a sweat. It did not seem fair. What we receive for our work and effort should be measured for what we give. Somethings should not be and are not equal. I could understand for the first time just how honked off the guys hired first might have been.
Fortunately I usually don’t settle down to write after the first review. I like to let the readings percolate some before I try to engage them with purpose. I put the reading aside but I was troubled by the impression and I wondered how I could have such a different take as I had that day.
We went to the Vigil Mass for the Assumption of Mary on Saturday. During the quiet time before Mass, the Matthew came to mind again. I still had the lingering effect of the different take on the reaction of the first workers hired. What they felt still felt very real and very emotional even sitting in the coolness of the church. The context and perspective I had for the parable seems to have been permanently amended.
Something else developed as well, however, as I reflected further on the nature of work if the fields of Lord. Yes, it can be difficult at times but what kind of work are we talking about? To be more specific, to work in his kingdom is to engage in far different work than just tending to a vineyard. Or a yard. Or an insurance business or an auto repair shop. Those kinds of work are part of what we are hired by the master to do but there is more. Much more. We are called to bear witness to the gospel, to meet the needs of the poor, to offer care, compassion and empathy to the physically or mentally wounded. Our job is to also pray, sing praises, study his word with each other and to help save lost sheep.
It is not just the work that is different but the pay is different. What we get for serving in the kingdom can’t be measured in a way we can fully understand. Eternal life? That is the promise and it is be all and end all of our faith but I don’t think about eternal life as I go through the day. I am far too simple minded and short focused for that to be any kind of real motivator. I know I am not alone. It is also a fact no matter how hard we work, we can never earn what is freely given to us. At the end of the day, our pay is unmerited no matter how hard or long we work. The return is not a return, it is a gift we chose to accept by offering faith and service.
In our mission to evangelize, re-evangelize and to convert and re-convert, we don’t place any kind of limitation in what we hope our pilgrims receive. We want them to receive full measure. We rejoice when they gain even taste or glimpse of the kingdom we are trying to share. In fact we are often happiest for those who arrive the latest. The father in the prodigal son loves both sons the same. All that matters is for them to respond to the embrace offered by the kingdom.
Sitting here this morning on cool rainy morning, it occurs to me, the work I do every day is not about the reward promised for some day in the future, I do it for today. I do it for how it makes me feel right now to know I am in the kingdom and my brothers are here with me. I am absolutely certain you come to this table for the exact same reason.
Lord, help us to do your work today to help find workers for your vineyard.
