25th Sunday OT (A)

25th Sunday OT (A)

When reading today’s Gospel, our first instinct would be to agree with the workers who were hired early in the day.  They thought that it was unfair that they were being paid the same for working all day as those who only worked for an hour or two.

          In today’s world, the situation in today’s Gospel would be a nightmare for any human resources manager and would be a dream for many lawyers.  It’s only right to be paid equally, according to the amount of the work you do.

          Jesus’ parables, as always, are intended to make us think. It’s normal for us to feel that the landowner was unfair, and that’s how Jesus expected his listeners to feel.  It’s true, the owner was more generous with some than with others, but the real question should be, “Was he unfair with anyone?”  And the answer to that is, absolutely not. The early laborers were given exactly what they had agreed upon.

          But it doesn’t take much to realize that the real moral of this parable has nothing to do with economics.  Our first cluse comes in the first line of the Gospel when Jesus begins – “The Kingdom of heaven is like….”  The landowner in the parable is none other than Jesus himself, and the vineyard is his Church; and he wants us to know that it is never too late to turn to God.

          The first thing that comes to my mind when reading this Gospel is St. Dismas.  Remember the “Good Thief” who was crucified beside Christ?  Who, literally, in the last minutes of his life and acknowledging his life of sin, knowing he was being justly punished, with complete humility, professed his faith in Jesus.  And for that profession, was rewarded with eternal life.

          Jesus told the parable of the laborers in the vineyard precisely to teach us that it’s never too late to be welcomed by the Lord, never too late to turn to him.  Never too late to stop living a sinful life and to follow him.  And never too late to receive his graces.

          This is also the message from our 1st reading through Isaiah: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous their thoughts.  Let him turn to the Lord for Mercy; to the God who is generous in forgiving.”

          Once someone turns to the Lord and enters his vineyard, no matter how late, they have a profound new joy and meaning in their life.

          Taken out of context, the parable in today’s gospel may be seen as an invitation to procrastinate in responding to God’s call.  After all, why commit to the difficult path of our faith, if those who choose an easier path most of their lives and only come to faith in Jesus later in life receive the same reward.  First of all, no one knows when the last minutes of their life will come, or how suddenly.  We may not be given that last-minute chance to repent and accept Christ.  But there are other reasons.  One of those is shown in our 2nd reading, in St. Paul’s ethical debate about whether he should embrace death so as to be with Christ sooner, or if he should stay the course on earth, continuing his efforts to proclaim the Gospel.  His conclusion was that God’s gift of life is to be cherished in spite of the fact that in its conclusion the faithful receives the gift of eternal life in the Heavenly Kingdom.  While death is seen as a return to Christ, which Paul desires, his mission and continued service is seen as being united with Christ’s life on earth.

          Those who come to faith late in life miss out on the joy of knowing God’s love and presence throughout their lives and the fulfillment of their lives coming from an inner peace and satisfaction knowing that they are valued, supported and protected by God.  Nothing can take that peace away from us while we remain in that loving relationship with Christ.

          We can certainly apply today’s parable to the Jews and the Gentiles of Jesus’ time.  When Matthew wrote this Gospel, probably 50-60 years after Jesus preached it, many Jewish-Christians who had lived their entire lives being faithful to God’s Law had difficulty accepting new converts into the Church, converts coming from paganish, representing those who come to work in the vineyard late, but being offered the same heavenly reward.  The parable was meant to help Jewish-Christians welcome those who had come to know Christ later in life and accept them as equals in God’s Kingdom.

          Today we should have no problem with these ideas.  We should always be happy to see people turn their lives toward God, whether they had strayed away from the church at some time and are just coming back, or if they’re just coming for the 1st time in their lives to join the Church.

          It takes a tremendous step of humility to turn from a sinful life and turn to the Lord, but what matters most is that they do take that step, not when, or how late in life.  God loves us all equally.  He loves cradle Catholics, he loves converts, he loves those who practice their faith throughout their lives, and he loves those who return to their faith. And he especially rejoices over those who have and take the opportunity to profess their faith on their death bed. And we too should rejoice over those who join the faith and return to the faith.

          Many of those early Jewish-Christians were envious of the Gentiles, just like the laborers in the parable who had worked all day, were envious of the laborers who had only worked for an hour, but still received the same pay.  But the landowner replies, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or are you envious because I’m generous?” 

          When envy enters our thoughts, we need to focus on God’s generosity and the gifts that He has given us.  If we don’t rejoice in the benefits given to others, our jealously, cuts us off from the benefits that we have received.

          In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.  Jesus teaches us about being called by God or staying close to God when called.  Whether early in life, or later in life, we have to do our best to respond to that call to labor in God’s vineyard.  That call requires that we are open to God’s mercy in our lives and that we become the vehicles of mercy in the lives of others.  That is Christianity and that allows us to proclaim like St. Paul, “For to me, life is in Christ.”