Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today’s readings, God reveals to us His mercy and that we must not determine how much of His love that we deserve compared to others. His way is not our way, and we must worry about our own salvation while also loving those around us.
On the surface, the parable of the workers in the vineyard appears to be an offense to common sense. Those who work a longer day ought to be paid more than those who work just an hour or two. When viewed in this way, the landowner seems unfair. That is because we are reading into the parable our own preconceived notions of how fairness and equality should be quantified.
Loyola Press – Sunday Connection
A close read shows us that the landowner paid on the terms that were negotiated. The landowner, it seems, has acted completely justly. The parable goes beyond that, however, and we come to see that the landowner is not simply just, he is exceptionally just. He is radically just. He has given those who labored in the field for a full day their due pay. But he has also given a full-day’s wage to those who worked only a single hour. No one is cheated, but a few receive abundantly from the landowner just as we receive from God more than what is merely justifiable or due. God, like the landowner, is radically just and abundantly generous. The workers who complain are made to look foolish as they lament the fact that landowner has made all workers equal. Indeed, what more could one ask for than to be treated as an equal at work or anywhere else?
The parable reminds us that although God owes us nothing, he offers abundantly and equally. We are occasionally tempted to think that our own actions deserve more reward, more of God’s abundant mercy, than the actions of others. But God’s generosity cannot be quantified or partitioned into different amounts for different people. When we think that way, we are trying to relate to God on our terms rather than to accept God’s radically different ways.
Sunday Resources
Live Mass mass-online.org
Mass- Fr. Mark Goring (41min)
https://youtu.be/8Oqmzo7xzvM
Mass- Fr. Mike Schmitz (47min)
https://youtu.be/MeYG-h6njmg
Bishop Barron- Why does God allow suffering? (14min) https://youtu.be/3-S_gOsm7CE