Today is Catechetical Sunday,

a day we pray for and bless those who instruct our children in the faith.

Some of them do this for a living, as teachers at our parish school.

Some of them do this as volunteers in the religious education program,

giving up hours of their personal time each week.

We might ask ourselves, why would someone choose to do this?

Why do the school teachers work for less than they could make

in a public school?

Why do the volunteers spend their own time working as volunteers

when they could be doing something else with their time?

Let’s broaden the question:

Why would we choose to give up our personal time

to gather here today?

Why come to Andi’s book study every week?

Why come to a class on the Reformation or attend Theology on Tap?

Why is a member of the Good Samaritan Guild

spending hours each week

taking care of a fellow parishioner with a broken ankle?

Why do some of us help at the House of Charity?

Why are so many people signed up to give blood this weekend?

Let’s broaden the question even further:

Why does the Church in Spokane have a House of Charity?

Why is there a St. Margaret’s Shelter,

a St. Anne’s Children and Family Center?

Why do we spend money, time, and resources

on sending relief to other countries?

Why do we speak out

in support of immigration reform and the rights of unborn children?

Why do we do all of these things?

Well, it’s in Scripture, we might answer.

Isaiah tells us to seek the Lord while he may be found,

to call to him while he is near.

St. Paul tells us to conduct ourselves in a way worthy of the gospel.

But those readings tell us what we ought to do.

Why do we choose to listen to them and act on them?

What is our motivation for being a disciple?

To answer that question we need to turn to the gospel

and the Parable of the Good Employer.

This is a classic parable.

Like all good parables, it shocks us.

It makes us scratch our head.

In fact, whenever we come across something in Scripture

that is difficult or puzzling like this,

that’s usually a good sign to stop and spend some time on it,

rather than skipping over it.

So let’s spend some time with this parable.

The landowner who owns a vineyard.

In Scripture, a vineyard is often used to represent the people of God.

So God, the landowner, goes out at dawn to hire vineyard workers.

Then he comes back again at nine, then noon, then three,

and finally at five.

This is similar to how each of us receive the call

and respond to the gospel.

Each of us comes to discipleship in a different way

at different stages of life.

Maybe we’ve worked in the vineyard since dawn.

Maybe it was in Catholic grade school or religious education,

and something a teacher said or did struck us,

and the Holy Spirit began working on us.

Maybe it was something that happened

on a retreat in high school or college.

Maybe it was when we got married

and we saw the deep faith of our spouse.

Maybe it was when our children were born.

Maybe we felt the call when we were younger

and we kind of drifted away,

and the birth of our children brought us back to practicing our faith.

Maybe it was in middle age after a series of tragic events,

or after living a life that felt kind of empty.

Maybe it’s in old age and we’re starting to think about

what comes after this life.

There are even some people who embrace gospel on their death bed,

maybe even in a jail cell.

The Good Employer, the Landowner, calls us all at different times.

Now returning to the parable,

it’s the end of the day, and it’s time to be paid.