My Thoughts Are Not Your Thoughts, Nor Are Your Ways, My Ways

During this time in what is known as the Ordinary Time season, we spend a considerable amount of our time considering and reflecting on the teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  And especially over the past few weeks we have encountered a number of His parables.  We remind ourselves that parables are designed to get us to consider in an ever deeper way what are the lessons that are being conveyed to us.  If we were to receive a plain fact from Jesus, we would have to just accept that fact for what it is, but a parable allows us to consider the situation and the teaching from a number of angles and then find the way in which those teachings must be applied to our lives.

Although many of the parables of our Lord are certainly challenging to our daily living and our preconceived ways of thinking, one in particular often generates a lot of discussion when we encounter it during Sunday Mass.  This is the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard from the Gospel of St. Matthew which is presented to us on the 25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, this year on Sunday, September 24, 2023.

Jesus tells this parable to His disciples: “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.’ (Matthew 20:1-7)

As we begin to consider this parable, we can make some reflections on what is occurring and how it is applied to our own lives.  First, we see that the call of the owner of the vineyard is continuing throughout the day.  Not only does he make an agreement at the beginning of the workday, but throughout the entire day, even to the last moments, an hour before quitting time, he still calls laborers to the vineyard.  This speaks to us in two ways.  One is that the call of God is not just for the young at the beginning of their lives.  God calls to people of all ages and at all times in their lives to come to faith.  Some may not answer that call at a given time because of various circumstances, but God will continue to call and all we need to do is answer.  Secondly, is that the call of God is a call to work.  The vineyard owner is calling laborers.  God desires that we work within His vineyard.  St. Paul mentions this in his letter to the Philippians: “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; … to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.  Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith.” (Philippians 1:22, 24b-25)  As we work within the kingdom of God, we must then bear fruit for the kingdom.

The parable continues: “When those hired at 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.” (Matthew 20:9-12)

As we reflect on these points, this is often the place where most people are troubled by this parable.  I have certainly heard many times, “but this is just unfair.”  The thing is that it is only unfair if we believe that we have a transactional relationship with Almighty God, and unfortunately many individuals desire exactly that.  Although, to some degree, I suppose that we all may have this attitude, even if we don’t exactly speak of it in those terms.  If we ever have the feeling that we ‘deserve’ good things or blessings because we have been going to church for a while.  Or we bargain with God saying something like, “If I get something I need or I desire, then I will spend more time in church or serving God,’ then we are seeking to have a transactional relationship with the Almighty. 

Now of course we know in our hearts that such a thing is not quite right.  Love is never born of a transactional relationship.  We know that it’s wrong to say to our young children that they can only eat if they get good grades.  We certainly know that good parents know that good grades are important, and they will help their children as much as they possibly can, but this is not the measure of a parent’s love.  The same is true of Almighty God, and even more so.

The Prophet Isaiah speaks to this in the Old Testament reading from this Sunday as well. “Return to the Lord, that He may have mercy on them, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.  For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:7b-9)

God certainly does not have a transactional relationship with us.  We are all sinners and prove ourselves to be unworthy of God.  None of us therefore can earn anything from God.  As St. Paul says in the Letter to Romans, “Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)

Anything that we have from Almighty God, especially the precious gift of our salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross, is given to us as a pure gift of love.  St. John tells us in his first letter, “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

This knowledge now allows us to see the workers in the parable in a different light.  These laborers are called by the owner, Almighty God, to work in the kingdom.  We should joyfully go to that work and work hard in the kingdom of God, as a measure of our thanksgiving.  We can never truly repay God for the precious gift that He has given us.  We should acknowledge this, but we should still then desire to serve Him and answer His call.

The gift of our salvation and the many blessings we have received are certainly beyond all measure.  We must acknowledge this, but we must also acknowledge that the call of God to work in the kingdom is also real and we should seek to serve Him as He calls us.  Again as St. John tells us. “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is perfected in us.” (1 John 12)

Let us answer the call of God to work in the vineyard.  Let us love and serve God and our neighbor as the response to this call.