25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
18 September 2011
First reading Isaiah 55:6-9
Seek the Lord while he is still to be found,
call to him while he is still near.
Let the wicked man abandon his way,
the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn back to the Lord who will take pity on him,
to our God who is rich in forgiving;
for my thoughts are not your thoughts,
my ways not your ways – it is the Lord who speaks.
Yes, the heavens are as high above earth
as my ways are above your ways,
my thoughts above your thoughts.
Psalm: Psalm 144:2-3,8-9,17-18
Second reading Philippians 1:20-24,27
Christ will be glorified in my body, whether by my life or by my death. Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me something more; but then again, if living in this body means doing work which is having good results-I do not know what I should choose. I am caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and be with Christ, which would be very much the better, but for me to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need for your sake.
Avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the gospel of Christ.
Gospel Matthew 20:1-16
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. He made an agreement with the workers for one denarius a day, and sent them to his vineyard. Going out at about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place and said to them, “You go to my vineyard too and I will give you a fair wage.” So they went. At about the sixth hour and again at about the ninth hour, he went out and did the same. Then at about the eleventh hour he went out and found more men standing round, and he said to them, “Why have you been standing here idle all day?” “Because no one has hired us” they answered. He said to them, “You go into my vineyard too.” In the evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his bailiff, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last arrivals and ending with the first.” So those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came forward and received one denarius each. When the first came, they expected to get more, but they too received one denarius each. They took it, but grumbled at the landowner. “The men who came last” they said “have done only one hour, and you have treated them the same as us, though we have done a heavy day’s work in all the heat.” He answered one of them and said, “My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on one denarius? Take your earnings and go. I choose to pay the last comer as much as I pay you. Have I no right to do what I like with my own? Why be envious because I am generous?” Thus the last will be first, and the first, last.’
Reflection
By Gharri Tulabut
A friend once posted rants on Facebook about how she hated a certain manager. I really did not know where all the hatred came from, but some of her descriptions of the manager were cruel slave driver, dictator, and monster.
Then I told another friend who have also read the angry outburst, “Isn’t it nice to think that when we get to heaven, there will be a reversal of roles between us and those who oppressed us, a.k.a. our cruel bosses? That is, if they ever get to heaven!”
Laughter followed.
Of course, we were just trying to make fun of the comments of our upset friend and our bosses whom we may not like but never hated.
Unconsciously, we were actually describing what we thought about heaven which is a place where justice is served. We were thinking that the more we serve God, the greater our rewards will be. That the earlier we become real Christians, the higher our ranks in heaven. We thought that Mother Teresa will have more comforts in heaven than, let’s say, the crucified thief (popularly known as St. Dimas) because Mother Teresa dedicated all her life in the service of the Lord, while St. Dimas was a criminal who was only converted on the eleventh hour of his life.
If you have the same thinking as my friend and I used to have, then today’s Gospel reading is very hard to accept. In fact, even after reading it several times it is still very hard to understand. Maybe because it goes against our standards as humans.
But that’s the point. God’s standards are different from our standards. All we can do is obey and trust in His promise of what is waiting for us in heaven. But how is heaven described in the Bible? I ran a search in the Internet for descriptions of heaven as presented in the Bible and there were many results. But all of them suggest that heaven is a place where joy is far greater than all the bliss on earth put together. Where the mere presence of God is already an ecstasy we could not even imagine. Therefore, our ideas of rewarding what is due a person’s service is nothing compared to what is waiting for us in heaven.
But if you still think a righteous person who has served God’s people all his/her life must get more rewards in heaven than someone who served later in his/her life, why not think about bringing the kingdom of heaven on earth?
The joy of serving for all those years, the joy of being able to bring more people closer to God, and the joy of helping people feel heaven on earth (both spiritually and materially) are, by themselves, rewards. Oh how I wish I have discovered my current Christian Community a long time ago! Not because I am expecting more rewards in heaven. But because, I could have been in the right direction in my spiritual life earlier in my life and I would have helped many people by now in bringing them closer to God. Also, I wouldn’t have missed the joy of offering my youth in His service and of His people.
But now is not yet too late. Decades from now, as I reflect on my life, I will be able to say that I am glad because I was one of the first laborers chosen to work in God’s vineyard a long time ago.
Father, thank You for hiring me to work in Your vineyard. May the fruits of our labor bring a taste of heaven to Your people here on earth. Amen!
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