September 20, 2020 Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

September 20, 2020 Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The parable of the workers in the vineyard

First Reading: Isaiah 55:6-9

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18

Second Reading: Philippians 1:20-24, 27

Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16

The morality of the parable about the workers sent out at different times to work in the vineyard is often questioned. Is it right for the landowner to pay the same wage to those who worked for only one hour and those who worked all day? Does this not violate the principle of just recompense?  Will the reward of everyone be the same in heaven? Romans 2: 6 says “God will repay each one as his work deserves.” How do we understand that in relation to this parable? The issue Jesus is trying to deal with is the position of the Jews and pagans; or the just and sinners in relation to the message of the kingdom of God. If pagans, prostitutes, criminals and publicans should decide for God today, although they had been standing idle in the market place and come to the vineyard late, they will not for this reason have a different or lesser place in the kingdom of God. They will be seated at the same table and will enjoy the fullness of God’s kingdom.

It is a fascinating story distinctively unique to the Gospel of Matthew. The cultural setting here is the situation where you would have a wealthy land owner go out and hire day laborers which was common in the first century Judaism as it is in our environment today. Day laborers will go out to the market place or some public place and wait around to be hired for a day job. In an environment where people need to work in order to eat, casual laborers are in an insecure position. Not to work is to go hungry. Even at the last hour, the landowner saw some people who are without work, and he said to them, “why have you stood around idle all day?” They respond, “no one has hired us.” This can be the reply of many of our people today. Jesus was not unaware of this problem. If Jesus told this parable, it is because he had many times looked with compassion upon those who sit idle waiting to be hired.

The owner of the vineyard knows that the workers who came at the last hour have the same needs as the workers who came early. Giving everyone the same wage, the owner of the vineyard shows that not only is he taking account of the merits of the workers but also their needs. Perhaps those workers hired only at the last moment were not particularly young and fit and were therefore less able to endure a long stretch of work in the burning heat. Those who go to hire workers, choose first, those they judge stronger and more skillful.

Our capitalistic society base recompense on merit which is often nominal than real and on seniority in work and not on the person’s needs. A young worker may have more needs – he needs to marry, he needs a home, further his education, educate his children etc., yet his pay is usually low. But when he is at the end of his career when he has fewer needs, he has his biggest pay.  The parable of the workers in the vineyard invites us to find a more just balance between the two demands of merit and need.

There is an old rabbinic parable about a farmer that had two sons. As soon as they were old enough to walk, he took them to the fields and he taught them everything that he knew about growing crops and raising animals. When he got too old to work, the two boys took over the farm and by the time their father died, they had found their working together so meaningful that they decided to keep their partnership. They will work together and at harvest time they would divide equally what they had corporately produced. Across the years the elder brother never married and became an old bachelor. The younger brother did marry and had ten wonderful children. One particular year, the harvest was bad. One night the old bachelor thought to himself, “My brother has twelve mouths to feed and I have only one. He really needs more of this harvest than I do, but I know he is much too fair to renegotiate. I know what I’ll do. In the dead of the night when he is already asleep, I’ll take some of what I have put in my barn and I’ll slip it over into his barn to help him feed his children.

At the very time he was thinking down that line, the younger brother was thinking to himself, “God has given me these wonderful children. My brother hasn’t been so fortunate. He really needs more of this harvest for his old age than I do, but I know him. He’s much too fair. He’ll never renegotiate. I know what I’ll do. In the dead of the night when he’s asleep, I’ll take some of what I’ve put in my barn and slip it over into his barn.” That night the moon the moon was full, as you may have already anticipated, those two brothers came face to face, each on a mission of generosity. The old rabbi said that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, a gentle rain began to fall. You know what it was? God, weeping for joy because two of his children had gotten the point. Two of his children had come to realize that generosity is the deepest characteristic of the holy and because we are made in God’s image, our being generous is the secret to our joy as well. Life is not fair, thank God! It’s not fair because it’s rooted in grace.

There is a play written by Timothy Thompson based on this parable. Two brothers John and Philip went out early to look for work. John is strong and capable while Philip had lost a hand in an accident and so handicapped. When the landowner came, John is among the first set of workers selected. The landowner continued to go out each hour for more workers as he needed more and John was continually looking out up the lane for some sign of Philip. Each passing hour a new set of workers will come and Philip is not among them.

John is grateful to have been called but not very happy because Philip is not called. Both have their families and need the work. He may have to share his wage if his brother does not work. Finally, at the 11th hour, a new set came in, the last set; Philip is among them. John is relieved to know that Philip will work for one hour and at least earn something. As the drama unfolds and those who came last got full day’s wage, John rejoices knowing he doesn’t have to share his wage and his brother will have enough to feed his family. When it was his turn to collect his wage, he received the same amount as others. Instead of complaining as the others who came early, John filled with tears, thanked the landowner for his generosity.

The only payoff or compensation for being selected early in God’s vineyard is the joy and inner satisfaction that we receive from contributing our best in God’s vineyard. God’s generosity arises out of a sense of community in which we see the eleventh-hour workers as our brothers and sisters whose needs are every bit as important as our own.

Happy Sunday

Fr Chidi Onwuka MSSCC