The Workers in the Vineyard

Today's Reflections 

                                                          

The Workers in the Vineyard 

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Mt 20:1-16

[Jesus said to his disciples,] ¹“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. ²After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. ³Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ ⁵So they went off. [And] he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. ⁶Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ ⁸When 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.’ ⁹When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. ¹⁰So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. ¹¹And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, ¹²saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ ¹³He 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? ¹⁴Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? ¹⁵[Or] am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Reflection:

The last will be first. The ways of God are mysterious! Imagine, the good thief who came to Jesus in the last moments of his life was the first to be promised he would be with Jesus that same day in paradise. God deals with us not according to strict justice but according to his generosity and mercy. I often tell people during recollections, “Do not be surprised if, when you enter heaven, you see Judas Iscariot, Hitler, and Stalin in the reception line. You ask them, ‘How come you are here?’ And they will very likely answer you, ‘For the same reason you are here—because of the mercy of God.’ ”

It is indeed not surprising that we see converts sometimes becoming as holy as oldtimers in the Church or even forging ahead of many seasoned church workers.

Let us not be envious but rejoice

when God shows generous mercy to all.