Reflection Questions

1) Are there some "ways of God" that we find ourselves questioning and wondering about? If so, can we name some?

2) Looking back over your life, can you see how some "strange" way of God has turned out to be a positive thing in your life? What helps you to cope with God's "strange" ways?

Second Reading: Philippians 1:20-24, 27

Paul is in prison and is not sure whether he will get out alive or die a martyr's death. Because of his unshakeable faith in Christ and in the resurrection, Paul does not fear death. In fact, he welcomes it as a passage to a deeper and fuller experience of Christ's presence. But Paul also loves life on this earth for it gives him the opportunity to preach the message of Christ. He is strongly attracted to both and is willing to embrace whatever is God's will for him. He urges his readers to have the same outlook.

I'm amazed and inspired at how free Paul can be about the issue of life and death. Frankly, I feel quite attached to this life. I have no desire to go to heaven yet. How about you? St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits, used to encourage people to pray that they would not love life more than death, health more than sickness, riches more than poverty. Wow! Why would Ignatius encourage such an "awful" prayer? I'm not sure, but I think it was because he knew that God could use sickness, poverty and the dying process to draw us to him just as much as he could use health, riches and life. Isn't it a strange fact of life that we grow more during the tough times than during the good times? At weddings I often say: "In the good times (of a relationship), we experience the joys of loving. In the tough times, we experience the cost of loving."

Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16

Today's first reading reminded us that God's ways are not our ways. God cannot be fit into our pre-determined categories. Today's Gospel serves to illustrate this point as it recounts the story of the laborers hired at different times of the day and all receive equal wages.

The parable is addressed to the Pharisees and to all who think that they understand God's ways. It especially speaks to all who come to him in the "evening of life."

The parable is also intended to expound on the nature of God's Kingdom and to give insight into the King who rules God's Kingdom. What is the Kingdom or Reign of God like? Jesus answers: it is like the unbounded generosity of the owner of a vineyard. The focus of the parable is not on the workers, but on the owner. Like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, the father acts "strangely generous," according to human standards. When told to the Pharisees, the story goes to the heart of their image of God. Many of the Pharisees had reduced God to the giver of rewards. For Jesus, their image of God was way too small. God is not fair according to the way the Pharisees measure fairness. This does not mean that he is not fair (the laborers were not cheated). But, God is not only fair, he is also unbelievably generous. At the heart of the parable are two very different images of God. For the Pharisees, God "owes" them. For Jesus, all is grace. All is a gift. There is no containing the generosity of the Father. Just as the parable of the prodigal son could be renamed as the parable of the Generous Father, so this parable of the laborers could be renamed as the parable of the Generous Owner. The question for us is: do we want to believe in and embrace this kind of God?

In the parable, the latecomers are the sinners and Gentiles. The early comers are the Jews. The vineyard is the Kingdom of God and Jesus is saying that God is offering the Kingdom to latecomers just as he has offered it to the early comers. This makes the sinners and Gentiles on equal footing with the Jews. In the story, the early comers didn't like that the latecomers were treated in the same way as they were. AS we already noted, the parable reminds us that God is not only fair, but he is also generous. "Are you envious because I am generous?" We must not limit God to our idea of fairness. After all "God's ways are not our ways." If God chooses to bless equally those who come late to him in life, good for God and good for the latecomers; we should be happy for them and not envious. If the spirit of Christ pervaded our life, we would be happy for the latecomers. Matthew may have used the parable to deal with people who were resentful of those who came to Christ and the community late in life.

The parable of the vineyard workers teaches the lesson that all we really have is God's generosity. If we got what we deserve, we might not be such sticklers for justice. It might be a much different story. There is really nothing we can do to "deserve" eternal life or any other gift from God. All we can do is stand in wonder as God patiently forgives us for our weakness, loves us anyway, and still surrounds us with the gifts from his immense generosity.

Reflection Questions

1) What are your thoughts and gut-feelings about this Gospel? Do you like it, dislike it? Do you like or dislike the image of God portrayed in the Gospel? Does the Gospel stretch our sense of fairness?