25th Sunday, Year A

Did you too get upset at the landowner when you heard this gospel passage? Did you side with the laborers and say to yourself ‘that’s not fair!”? I know I did. It takes a second look to really understand what is being said here and the underlying message of this parable.

In the previous passage in Matthew’s gospel, we hear the story of the rich young man who asks Jesus what he must do to enter eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. The young man says that he observes them already, ‘am I lacking anything else?” he asks. Jesus then tells him to give away all his possessions and give them to the poor. Well, we know what happens, he walks away in sorrow because he was quite rich and didn’t want to give up anything.

Was Jesus unfair to him?

In the parable today, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a landowner who hires workers throughout the work day to come work in his field. At the end of the day all the laborers are lined up and they get paid the usual daily wage, all of them! There is instant grumbling among the workers; ‘we worked all day and they worked one hour’, ‘why are they getting the same pay for less work’, ‘this is not fair!’

The landowner reminds them that they all agreed to work for the daily wage and indeed they all received it. So why are we seeing disgruntle laborers and, in the passage right before, a sad young man?

We need to look at the first reading for some context. God is telling Isaiah “my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways…as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts”.

The way we reason, judge fairness, seek justice and think what is acceptable is not how God does it nor perceives it- this is the point of contention with the characters in the gospel.

The crowds of followers are beginning to see and grapple with the fact that Jesus is the real thing, He is God and what He is telling them is of importance for their salvation. They desire to be with God and to be saved. They desire the goodness and riches of the Kingdom, they just need to know how to get there. Obviously, they are going to think in their terms and are going to impress upon the Kingdom their ways.

Jesus is quickly dismissing this.

The landowner is willing to pay the usual daily wage if they come and work. He makes no stipulation about hours put into the work or how long you have been at it; all that matters to him is that you show up and do what is asked. The thinking of the workers is that you have to labor and sweat all day for the daily wage and that it is unfair to pay someone the same who has not done so. But, this is earthly thinking, human thinking. We are incessant upon earning what we have and deserving what we’ve earned – there is little room for generosity or free giving. This, though, is the thinking of the landowner. He desires to freely give the wage to everyone; it doesn’t matter to him that the ones who worked for one hour haven’t earned it in the sight of the other laborers.

This too is the method of payment in the Kingdom.

It doesn’t matter how long you have been living a life of holiness. It doesn’t matter how long you lived a life of sin. It doesn’t matter if you have been struggling your whole life or came to God at the moment of death; as long as you show up to work, the landowner is willing to pay you the wage anyways.

That wage is the Kingdom!

One of my favorite saints is St Dismas. He was the thief crucified to the side of Christ who begged him to remember him when He comes into His Kingdom. Jesus, in all his agony, assured him that ‘today, you will be with me in paradise’. Dismas, a thief and sentenced to death, desired in the final moments of his life, Jesus to remember him and love him and to see the Kingdom.

“If you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you need to not only follow my commandments, but sell and give away all the wealth and riches you have accumulated, for they mean nothing in the Kingdom” “If you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you must show up at the field to work”. We can hear Jesus impressing his followers that the way to the Kingdom is not by their means, ways or thoughts. The way is through Him and giving up everything because of Him.

Jealousy or envy over others and desiring what they have ‘earned’ only knocks us off course. We need to be willing to sell and give away everything and be willing to freely accept the gift of our salvation from a generous and loving God, not from our efforts of earning it. We do not deserve it so we cannot work to earn it. It is a gift and we need to accept it as that.

Let us listen to the landowner and come work in the field and receive our wage

9/11 Must Lead to Love & Forgiveness

It has become an iconic question when remembering back to iconic events in our history, "Where were you?" For people in my grandparents generation, they may remember where they were on the day of Pearl Harbor or D Day. Many remember where they were when they heard about Dallas or when Dr King was gunned down. The same question is quite often asked for what we remember today, 9/11. It is amazing how the human mind sears these images and memories like no others. I remember being in sophomore health class in high school when it was announced on the PA system and the rest of the events of that day are as clear as if they were yesterday.

Looking back on these memories, we can also recall our emotions that swam through us allowing us to experience feelings we may have never endured. One feeling that comes to my mind is anger. Anger that a select few thought it was okay to take the life of over 3000 mom and dads, brothers and sisters, fiances, best friends, role models, family members and loved ones from our midst. Anger that countless people go through their lives everyday now with loss and pain due to a senseless act of violence. Anger that people just can't seem to get along and coexist in this world!

This is exactly where the gospel slips in. Jesus tells us to forgive, forgive and forgive till you breathe your last. It is simple to lash back and hate those terrorists and all those who cause us harm in our own personal lives - 'to forgive them is something they need to earn and beg for!'- Jesus says that this is exactly what we can NOT do.

No one deserves forgiveness and no one should work to earn it, it needs to be a free gift because forgiveness is Love. We cannot love freely if we do not forgive freely. We cannot love if we do not forgive.

Love is the way of the Christian. Love is the way of the baptized. Love is the way to peace.

Yes, there are wars going on right now because of these events, but this cannot be an excuse for us to hate. Our military defends our country from aggression, they do not act in our stead to execute aggression, revenge and hatred. As they are defending us, we need to support them by giving them a country that is worth defending. We need to love because love is what conquers the ideologies that incite violence that leads to wars.

We need to be people of love and forgiveness because if we are, then evil cannot exist. The devil preys on our grudges, our hatred, our anger and aggression - defeat the devil by getting rid of all that which you harbor!

We need to grieve and mourn those who died in unimaginable horror and in unthinkable ways; this was truly a catastrophic tragedy and act of genocide. BUT, this needs to lead to forgiving those who harmed us. We do not understand them and their actions. We can only know the Heart of Jesus who loves and forgives everyone for their sins.

We need to imitate that love and not allow ourselves to hate.

Twenty Third Sunday, OT A

Love is the fulfillment of the Law.

Law and Love may sound antonymous and incompatible, even having nothing to do with each other. We often tend to define Law as ‘that which I have to do’ and Love as ‘that which I want to do’. If you look at those words from an earthly and secular point of view, t hen I suppose you could say that. But, Christ is not coming from a secular point of view and he indeed gave us both Law and Love; so what does this mean?

Ezekiel is declaring to us that we have been set as watchman over our neighbors. A watchman, in OT times, had the responsibility to keep watch over the town and warn the inhabitants of any impending dangers or disasters. We are watchman. We have been called by God to be those individuals who look out for others. If we see anything that is sinful, wrong or impending, we have the responsibility to warn them. If we do not live up to the call we have been given, we too will perish along with them. But, if we do warn our brothers and sisters about their sin, their unbelief or an impending danger looming their way – even if they do not heed, we will be saved.

The Gospel is giving us a procedure of how to deal with someone who has sinned against us. We need to first go to them in person. If this does not work then bring a few more witnesses along with you. If this doesn't work, then bring them before the church. If they still don’t listen to you and seek forgiveness, then let them be and God will take care of it – we have done all we can.

These two scripture passages, Matthew and Ezekiel, are challenging us and pushing us to follow a law of God that is not easy and is one that we hardly compare to love. Almost none of us like or prefer going and confronting others who have sinned, are in the wrong, believe something false or are in the midst of addictions. This can be extremely scary, embarrassing and difficult. How easy is it to just gossip about them or ask someone else to go talk to them? We all prefer it. But, these are not acts of love; these are not ways to follow the law of God.

We cannot live our lives isolated from others as in not caring about them or what they do. Upon our hearts, God has laid His law and gives us His love – we need to give it back to God by living accordingly. The more we know about the Law of God in our minds, the more the Love of God will burn within our hearts. The Law is not a parameter for which we live our lives, that is a too simplistic and sterile understanding. The Law of God is and needs to be our way of life. It needs to encompass us in every aspect. In doing so, we will see that law does not constrict us, but it frees us. We are shown a life by which we live freely in the Love of God.

The only way we can begin to experience the immensities of God’s Love is by beginning to accept His will and desires for our life. His Law will lead us to His Love.