25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
In today’s parable Jesus talks about “how much” the landowner pays his servants. As the sun rises he “went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.” He agreed to pay the “usual daily wage.” All is as it should be.
At nine o’clock the landowner hired more laborers. Since the work day had already started, they would not work a full day. So, he agreed to pay them what is “just”. There was no discussion about a dollar amount,. He goes out again at noon and 3 pm, hires more workers, and agrees to pay them what is just.
When he goes out at five o’clock, he finds laborers still without work to do. When asked, they tell him they have not been working because no one had hired them. (It’s not that they are lazy.) So, he hires them to finish out the day.
At the end of the day, the laborers who worked only the last hour are paid the “usual daily wage” along with everyone else. Those who worked the whole day feel cheated. They were not cheated. The landowner paid them what they agreed to.
Yet, it does seem unfair. In our human understanding, the more we work the more we get paid. It’s what seems fair, a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work. We should ask ourselves what the “usual daily wage” was based on. It was determined by what a person needed to provide for their family for a day. What is “just” to pay a person enough to provide for their family.
When the laborers who worked the whole day complain, the landowner responds, “Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?” In paying the laborers who only worked part of the day, he is not “overpaying” them. He is choosing to be generous. It may not make sense in human terms. So what? As the Lord says in our first reading, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.“
This parable is often used to talk about just wages as I just did. However, as with all things with Jesus, there is also a spiritual meaning to the parable. Who can be saved?
The Israelites were supposed to spend their entire lives following God’s commands. What about the people who did not grow up as Israelites (or Christians today)? Can they be saved?
Of course they can. Salvation is not something we earn based on many years we spend following Jesus. It is a gift from God. Receiving the gift, we are to follow Jesus as the way and the truth and the life, showing our gratitude for the priceless gift we are given.
As a gift, God can give salvation to anyone He chooses. He chooses to give it to anyone who seeks him, young or old. Death bed conversions are real as the long as the person is genuine in giving their heart to Christ.
We are created to be with God in Heaven for eternity. Salvation is gift that is not forced on us. As Isaiah writes, “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near.” To seek the Lord, we must open our hearts to allow the Lord to change us so that, as Paul writes, we can say “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.”
If we follow Jesus, the way we live will proclaim Christ to the world. If we follow Jesus, earthly death will take us to eternity in Heaven. Until then, we are to ask the Lord to make fruitful our labor in this world to lead all to him.
Peace,
Fr. Jeff