TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Isaiah 55: 6-9; Philippians 1: 20c-24, 27a; Matthew 20: 1-16
(Rev. Dr. Francis Perry Azah)
In today's first reading, Isaiah tells us why the Kingdom of heaven is something else. When we say that a person or a thing is something else, we usually mean that the person or thing is admirably out of the ordinary. It is because: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:9). As soon as anyone thinks he has God totally figured out, he is poised to discover that it isn't true. Granting that his insight into the ways of God is basically correct, God is still different, and even greater than he imagines. When God spoke through Isaiah, some persons seem to have thought: when someone abandons God, then God abandons him; his chance is over. To this God responds, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isa 55:8). However long someone has been distant from God, let him return to the Lord, and he will find mercy with him.
The house of Israel is the vine of God - who planted and watered it, preparing the Israelites to bear fruits of righteousness (see Isaiah 5: 7; 27:2-5). Israel failed to bear good fruit, and the Lord allowed His vineyard, Israel's kingdom, to be overrun by conquerors (see Psalm 80:9-20). But God promised that one day He would replant His vineyard, and its shoots would blossom to the ends of the earth (see Amos 9:15; Hosea 14:5-10). This is the biblical backdrop to Jesus' parable of salvation history in today's Gospel. The landowner is God. The vineyard is the kingdom. The workers hired at dawn are the Israelites, to whom He first offered His covenant. Those hired later in the day are the Gentiles, the non-Israelites, who, until the coming of Christ, were strangers to the covenants of promise (see Ephesians 2: 11-13). In the Lord's great generosity, the same wages, the same blessings promised to the first-called, the Israelites, will be paid to those called last, the rest of the nations.
Isaiah was spot on when he captured the Lord’s words, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.” His words are helpful to remember as we hear the difficult Gospel parable about the generous landowner’s hiring practices. In the parable, vineyard laborers are hired at various times throughout the day for the same wage. Since we value hard work, we sympathize with the early laborers who, after toiling long and hard under the hot sun, do not get a higher wage or bonus. It seems fair that those who bear the brunt of the work are accordingly rewarded. We want what is fair and just, and our social justice efforts arise from these deeply held values.
This reading challenges the correctness of our assumptions. Jesus is using this story to tell the religious authorities that new converts to the faith are welcome to receive the everlasting promises, even though they have not kept the Torah or observed religious practices as they did. Admittance to the faith is based upon belief and the good works that arise from these positions, not past performance, hours worked, or production quotas. Jesus is revealing something peculiar about God – overarching compassion and inclusion for everyone. If we dissect the parable, we see important qualities in God’s character.
God is continually searching for believers (laborers) to come to the vineyard of abundance and plenty. God’s justice is inclusive. It extends beyond fairness. It is a concrete expression of “Give us this day our daily bread.” In other words, God wants to provide everyone with an adequate wage to feed their families. Generosity and justice, mercy and compassion are the new order of the day. It creates an environment in which the poor and weak can share in God’s beneficence just like their neighbors who fare better in life. More equitable relationships can be formed, and broken bonds can be restored. The former human standards, which are often good and fair to many, no longer cut it because they disenfranchise others. The kingdom of God is a better place to be than the kingdom of humans.
The ultimate purpose of our lives should be something which we will never be disappointed in, never wish we had done less of. Would you do your job if money were no object? What would you do with your life? I know that many of you are working jobs that you hate. It is good to be free, but even if you hate your job, even if you are only working to support your family and you would quit in a second if you no longer needed the money, you can be free with respect to serving the Lord. We serve the Lord by doing what he commanded us to do: love: love of God and love of neighbor. We love God, so we pray, go to Church, and obey his commandments. We love our neighbors, so we give food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, visit the sick and those in prison. We should be grateful to Jesus for this parable. He has revealed to us that we have a gracious God who understands, who reads hearts, not just time cards or popularity polls. We are grateful to have a God who measures effort, not just accomplishments. We are grateful that we have a God who looks at who we are, not simply at what we produce.
