Dear Parish Family,

The competition between our will and God’s will, between our ways and God’s ways, has gone on ever since that original rebellion in the Garden of Eden. The Evil One (Serpent) convinced Adam and Eve that it is ‘fair’ that they do whatever they choose and in doing so they will become like God. Throughout human history God continues to subdue our pride in order to reach us. Today’s first reading gives us the words of one of God’s greatest prophets, namely Isaiah, who echoes God’s words: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways. As high as the heaven are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.”

In the light of the fact that we still question God’s ways, what spiritual progress have we really made? Even today people still call God into account. They still sit in judgment against God and His ways. Many of us still think what we consider to be fair is the ultimate standard, measuring God’s fairness by our standards of fairness. At issue in our lives, especially these days, is what we mean by the word “fair.” Just what is the content of fairness? What does it demand? Indeed, even using the word “demand” raises challenges to those who cannot accept any demands at all, including (and perhaps particularly) God’s demands upon us.

In the end, it’s a good thing God is God and that He is the ultimate judge of fairness because, to be honest, we haven’t done such a good job in understanding it’s meaning and content. Nor have we done such a good job with what is meant by Justice. The parable about the workers in the vineyard is one of the stories of Jesus that annoys many people. It challenges what we consider to be ‘fair’ and ‘just.’ Just consider this interpretation of the parable! The vineyard owner is God. The laborers are human beings who are doing God’s work in this life (He gives them life, intelligence, a world to live in etc.). The wage given is eternal life in union of love with God in heaven.
If we think about the parable this way, the laborers’ complaint looks a lot less reasonable. When it comes to eternal life, what is justice? What does any human person deserve? What, actually, does God owe us? Well, here is the first thing to see: No one—that is, absolutely no one—is owed eternal life in union with God. To think otherwise is to suppose that you can work your way to heaven. And you can’t. Salvation is God’s free gift. He gives it generously to anyone who will receive it, but it is still God’s free gift.

The problem with the laborers who complain, then, is that they think the vineyard owner owes them something.  In their eyes, their work deserves a reward, a really big reward, more than the vineyard owner gives them. And so here is what we can see about them: they were working for themselves, to get that big reward for themselves. And that is why they are last, not first, in the final distribution of God’s rewards. God’s people are meant to work for God, and not for what they can get from God for themselves. What God gives to people who work for God in this way is the gift!. It isn’t deserved payment. What’s more, the gift is God himself. There is no greater reward than this, and joy and love are the only right response to this GIFT.

Fr. Tom Kunnel C.O.