I can't think of a parable more challenging to us today than the Parable of the Generous Vineyard Owner found in Matthew 20: 1 - 16a. It clashes with our human sense of justice. The landowner’s generosity to all his workers does not seem fair. Why should someone who has worked only one hour in the vineyard receive the same wages as the person who worked all day long? Where does this parable fit in with Catholic Social Teaching on the dignity of work and the rights of workers? Our Church teaches that "the basic rights of workers must be respected -- the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to private property and to economic initiative." Were the wages the generous vineyard owner offered to the workers decent and fair? How you answer this question may depend on which of the workers you associate to yourself. If you identify yourself with the group of workers who labored all day, then you probably feel that the vineyard owner cheated the hard workers and by association you. HOWEVER, if you identify yourself with the group of late comers, you might feel that the vineyard owner was incredibly kind and generous.
Let me give you an example of a late comer. The Apostle Paul was a Pharisee named Saul who hated Christians so much that he made it his life’s purpose to wipe out belief in Jesus Christ. He stood by and watched as Stephen was stoned. We are told in the Acts of the Apostles that he “entered house after house, dragged men and women out, and threw them into jail” (Acts 8:3). Saul had a great conversion experience. He saw and heard Jesus, changed his name to Paul and became the greatest missionary of the early church. He wrote almost half of the 27 books in the New Testament. He endured sickness, imprisonment, rejection, and repeated attacks on his life to bring the message of God's grace and forgiveness to Gentiles. He was martyred. He was the apostle largely responsible for the spread of Christianity. Paul’s conversion was so complete that his life meant Christ as we heard in the 2nd reading today.
However, Paul was a late comer to the Jesus movement. He was not accepted with open arms by most of the original disciples. “They were all afraid of him” (Acts 9:26). They didn’t trust him (for good reason) and they “refused to believe that he was a disciple”. Like the first laborers in the vineyard of the gospel today, the disciples grumbled and complained about Paul. Did Paul deserve a full day’s pay for his work in the vineyard of Christ?
Where we fit in the hierarchy of workers isn't really the focus of this parable. The Parable of the Generous Vineyard Owner is not about us. It is about God's abundant mercy, it is about God's unconditional love, and it is about God's generous forgiveness that God offers to every one of us over and over and over again. The Kingdom of God is not built on what is fair; the Kingdom is built on grace. We don't deserve it and we can't earn it. And most of us will never really understand it. Kingdom economics simply don't make sense in our secular world. In the first reading from Isaiah 55: 6 - 9, God, speaking through the Prophet tells us, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts."
God most high,
your ways are not our ways,
for your kindness is lavished equally upon all.
Open us more to the free gifts of your grace,
help us accept them with gratitude
and appreciate how liberally you give to others.
Turn our ways into your ways of love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
