GOSPEL POWER l AUGUST 17, 2022 - WEDNESDAY

20th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mt 20:1-16 

Jesus told his disciples this parable, 1 “The kingdom of heaven is like  a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for  his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily  wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 When he went out about nine  o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4 and he said  to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is  right.’ So they went. 5 When he went out again about noon and about  three o’clock, he did the same. 6 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?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one  has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8 When  evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call  the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then  going to the first.’ 9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each of  them received the usual daily wage. 10Now when the first came, they  thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the  usual daily wage. 11And when they received it, they grumbled against  the landowner, 12saying, ‘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.’ 13But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am  doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily  wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last  the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with  what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16So  the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

If we can sympathize with the earliest laborers and agree that  they have been unjustly treated, then the parable has made  its desired impact on us. Parables are wisdom-tales intended  to shock and disturb listeners, or at least to move them to ask critical  questions. It is in this space of discomfort that the parable reveals its  true meaning. A closer look at the story shows that the owner has  little concern for mathematics or ensuring exact equivalence between  salaries and working hours. His main action, repeated several times  during the day, is to hire people to work in his vineyard. He wants no  one to stay idle. The parable must be telling us about God’s concern  that we take part in his project, for that alone will give meaning to  our earthly existence. Life is aimless and out of focus if one is not  actively involved in what God is doing. Whether we get involved  early or later in life, the same incalculable eternity is in store for us at  the conclusion of God’s project. 

Lord Jesus, your infinite love gives without counting the cost. May we,  too, stop calculating rewards and remunerations but simply give generously  of ourselves. Amen.