Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 18, 2011 - 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Isa 55:6-9; Phil 1:20c-24, 27a; Matt 20:1-16a,23]For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. [Isaiah] 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last." [Matt.]
The parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard is always a challenge to our western ways of looking at fairness! Some would argue that "a deal is a deal" and the early laborers got what they agreed to. Others would say, "No, the guys who worked longer should get more!" There have been epic battles between labor and "management" over these issues in our history! But this story is not about labor-management relationships as we know them in our society. The words from Isaiah in the first scripture for today should alert us to an entirely different relationship that should shape our expectations accordingly.
God gives to each of us the means to live our lives working in the vineyard. God calls us to this through baptism (at least for Christians). The demand is that we be faithful to that call. We know that if we are faithful, God will be faithful to us. However, if we become like children who are quick to note any kind of differences in the way different ones are treated, we try to impose our own expectations on God and are ready to cry "Unfair!" When we do this, we place ourselves in a position where we make ourselves "equal" in the relationship. It's a good way to learn how culturally determined we are!
Economic categories of thought have become dominant in our culture. However, the "economy" of salvation is not the same as the "economy of money." Once we realize that God's thoughts are not ours, we have to step back and look at things very differently. AMEN