My reflection today is on the story Jesus tells of the vineyard owner who goes out at harvest time to hire day workers to harvest the grapes. He goes out and hires people at dawn, at 9 a.m., at noon, at 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. Ripe grapes have to be harvested quickly. And as the story goes, those who began to work at 5 p.m. got paid the same as those who had been working since dawn. How unfair! they grumbled. Our first reaction might be the same.
What is Jesus saying to us here? The story as he tells it is of a different world. It’s not the way things work. Jesus looks at the world he is living in and sees human struggle, conflict and envy between those on the bottom and those on the top, rivalries and power struggles–all those things that we see in our own culture as well.
In the Reign of God different rules apply. Jesus invites us in this story to embrace a different way of being in the world. We continue to do our work and to work hard, but there is something more than striving for personal gain and success. We work for God’s cause, not simply for ourselves, but for others. This is what created solidarity, the sharing in the joys and sorrows of community; a solidarity that is welcoming of all; a community where, instead of petty grievances, there is forgiveness.
Accepting Jesus’ invitation to see the world through God’s eyes is an invitation to freedom: freedom from the isolation of self-seeking pursuits and freedom for building a just society; freedom from “better than” and freedom for equality; freedom from exclusion and freedom for community-building; freedom to be the “big tent” that Pope Francis calls the Church, with room for everyone.
“The last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16)
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… And what if the story ended with Jesus, simply inviting all of the workers into his home for a wonderful feast that has been prepared. And what if they all got along, told stories, and stayed together well into the night. And what if at the end of the evening, Jesus said to the men “I forgot to pay you,“ and they all simply replied, no need, sir. We were happy to be with you and each other today, and to partake in this wonderful feast.
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… And what if the story ended with Jesus, at the end of the day, simply inviting all of the workers into his home for a wonderful feast that had been prepared. And what if they all got along, told stories, and stayed together well into the night, discussing their future plans together. And what if at the end of the evening, Jesus said to the men “I forgot to pay you,“ and they all simply replied, no need, sir. We were happy to be with you and each other today, and to partake in this wonderful feast, and to enjoy such a wonderful company!
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… This always seems to happen!
10 minutes ago, I left a comment after reading your meditation, and I now read the following from today’s CAC daily meditation:
“The bottom line is that we don’t “deserve” anything, anything! It’s all a gift. Until we have begun to live in the kingdom of God instead of the kingdoms of this world, we will think exactly like the world. To understand the gospel in its radical, transformative power, we have to stop counting, measuring, and weighing. We have to stop saying “I deserve” and deciding who does not deserve. None of us deserves! This daily conversion is hard to do unless we’ve experienced infinite mercy and realize that it’s all a gift—all the time.”
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Love the picture of the church especially. How beautiful!
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