0924 Reflection -- Matthew 20:1-16

Upcoming Sunday Gospel Readings

Sunday 24 September 2017

Matthew 20:1-16

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

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I cannot help but think of the words of the Golden Tongue, St. John Chrysostom, arguably the greatest among all Christian preachers in the history of the Church.  In his great Easter sermon, he writes:

If any have labored from the first hour,
  let him receive today his rightful due.
If any have come after the third,
  let him celebrate the feast with thankfulness.
If any have come after the sixth,
  let him not be in doubt, for he will suffer no loss.
If any have delayed until the ninth,
  let him not hesitate but draw near.
If any have arrived only at the eleventh,
  let him not be afraid because he comes so late.

For the Master is generous and accepts the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him who comes at the eleventh hour
  in the same was as him who has labored from the first.

This Gospel shows the amazing grace of Jesus.  No matter how long we follow Christ in the way of the cross in the Kingdom of God, we receive the same.  According to the wisdom of the world, this hardly makes sense.  If this were the way that our work was rewarded in the world, there would be cries of offense from every corner.  What we need to remember, however, is that the gifts given by Christ are not earned but are grace.  And if grace is ever earned, it ceases to be grace.  For us who live in the Kingdom of God, even in this world, this should be a cause of rejoicing.  No matter how long we serve Christ, and no matter how we strive for the sake of the Gospel, Jesus longs to bestow upon us the grace upon grace that is the fullness of eternal life.  The challenge for us who have been raised in the Church, who have known nothing else than the life of faith, is to rejoice in all who have heard the voice of Jesus and have embraced grace, no matter how long the time of their discipleship in this life may be.  The important thing is that if even for the shortest time, they have walked in the footsteps of Christ, and clung to him in faith.

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Father Timothy Alleman