Twenty-Fifth Sunday in the Ordinary Time, Year A Is. 55:6-9, Psalm 144:2-3, 8-9, 17-18, Phil. 1:20-24, 27, Matthew 20:1-16 Theme: Human Justice and Divine Kindness The context of the parable of the laborers is the constant controversy with the Pharisees. They tried to pillory Christ over Christ over his readiness to eat with sinners. In this parable, Jesus shows that God is not answerable for what his goodness, his grace. Where God rules, all human values, so nicely calculated and apportioned, are turned upside down. No one can question the ways of God and the ways of Jesus when they go out in love and with the offer of forgiveness to men. Grace has so often been made into a thing, something that can be measured and divided. The history of salvation is the account of God’s grace-activity and there we see it not as something objective and abstract but as something personal. God is the love of God toward men. Grace is God who acts in favor of his people. It is marked by gratuitousness. It is under no compulsion. It is sheer generosity. God’s attitude toward human beings is an attitude of love, mercy, and company built on grace. In today’s gospel, Jesus does not give us a lesson in justice or equity. He intends to drive home what the kingdom of heaven is like. This, however, is not sufficient to make us accept as evident the teaching of the parable. Other and graver questions may arise because we are speaking of the kingdom of heaven. Would God make light of the requirements of justice and the payment of a just salary that he himself enjoined upon human beings when he gave them his law? On the Day of Judgment, is God going to exercise a regal power based on his arbitrary good pleasure? The words put in the landowner’s mouth answer these questions or rather show that they are not genuine. “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” Only God sees the full picture! By giving to the workers the salary agreed upon, the master in no way wrongs the works of the first hour. In any case, they do not dispute this fact. It could hardly be said to be fair. Yes, the owner is generous to the last comers, but why is he not generous to the others as well? The simple answer is that God’s thoughts are not the thoughts of men. There is no reckoning up deserts when man meets God. Devout Christians may find it hard to stomach that someone who repents on his deathbed is admitted to the kingdom no less than those who have struggled and suffered all their lives for what is right. This would presuppose a commercial attitude of reward and punishments from God, and it neglects the nature of love. The relationship of the believer to God must be personal love, and as such it is its own reward, for it brings its own happiness also in this life. The greater the struggle, the more a Christian turns to God and finds comfort in the security of his love. The parable of the vineyard-workers is no blueprint for labor relations, but it illustrates very well Jesus’ teaching about grace and mercy of God. There are consequences to be drawn, and, in his Apostolic Exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel”, Pope Francis wrote: “The Church must be a place of mercy freely given, where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to live the good life of the Gospel.” All are called to work in the vineyard of God and to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. God Bless all of you and Happy Sunday, Fr. Deniskingsley