God's Justice

Isaiah 55:6-9
Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a
Matthew 20:1-16a

In our Gospel reading today from Matthew we hear the parable about the Workers in the Vineyard. Jesus uses this parable to teach His disciples then and each of us today about God’s justice.

It is our first reading though, from the prophet Isaiah, that prepares us for the message in Matthew’s Gospel – we hear in the first reading that God’s ways are not our ways – “for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.”

God’s ways – His love, His compassion, His mercy, forgiveness and justice – are complete, they are perfect, they are constant and unconditional – but most of all – they are not (thank God) like our love, our compassion, our mercy, forgiveness or justice - and that is what the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard illustrates for us today.

This parable – found in chapter 20 of Mathew’s Gospel – is linked with the passage immediately preceding it. We find at the end of Chapter 19 Jesus talking with His disciples. This discussion follows the incident of the rich young man, who was a devout Jew who kept all the commandments – but went away sad – because he had many possessions.

The rich young man could not let go of his material wealth. Jesus, using that incident, warns His disciples and us about material wealth as a serious obstacle to eternal life in God’s Kingdom.

The disciples wonder amongst themselves then “who can be saved” and Peter says to Jesus “we have given up everything and followed you – what will there be for us?”

Jesus reassures them that they will have a special place in His Kingdom and that anyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of His name will receive a hundred times more and will inherit eternal life. Chapter 19 ends with the same idea as chapter 20 – that the last will be first and first will be last.

The disciples, just like the rich man, thought that just because they had achieved much or given up much, that they merited more than those that hadn’t achieved as much or given up as much – but we hear in our parable today that God’s justice doesn’t look at how much you have achieved or how much you have given up.

The laborers who came last received the same payment as those that came first. The ones that came first – thinking the way the world thinks – grumbled against the landowner – they thought that “justice” demanded that they receive more than those who came last – because they bore the day’s burden and the heat. But what they had forgotten is that they had agreed to work for the usual daily wage before going off to work in the vineyard and that the landowner had kept his part of the bargain and paid them their fair wage.

The parable describes the landowner going out to get workers for his vineyard several times during a day – first at 6 o'clock in the morning and again at 9, noon and at 3 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Each time the landowner assures the workers he will give them a "just wage".With just one hour of work time left, the owner went out once more. He sees men waiting there and asks them, "Why have you been standing here idle all day?" And they replied "Because no one hired us".

They were idle, not because of laziness but because no one had hired them. This parable in general talks about the value of work, the dignity of a person, about the right of an individual to work and the right of those who work to receive fair compensation. But, as usual there is more to this parable than meets the eye and that is an important lesson about God's justice. The incident in this parable – the last workers receiving the same wage as the first –when seen from our conditioned worldview may look like an injustice. But we are being challenged today to take a step back and look at this situation the way God does.

We tend to think that if a person can do more, he is a better person and should receive more for his efforts.

Why, for instance, is there such a disparity between the income of a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, and a bus driver? Which of these really does more? Is this really just? Why do we look down on those who perform menial on manual labor – are we really better than them? Why is there a stigma associated with being a blue collar worker? Is anybody really worth the ridiculous salaries corporate CEOs, sports players, doctors, lawyers, and politicians make? Their salaries are based more on greed than merit.

We even think that if we do more for God, He will somehow love us more and reward us more. That is very much at the background of today's parable. For many of us, the workers were quite right to grumble against the landowner. They worked longer hours and should have received more money than those workers that only put in an hour received.

But we need to realize that there is another way of looking at this situation. First, by doing more for God and for others does not mean that God will love us more. No matter what we do or do not do God cannot love us more than He already does. He loves us completely and unconditionally just the way we are. There is nothing we can do to make God love us anymore than He already does.

Second, God does not look at how much we do. He looks at our needs. Maybe we too, in assessing the wages people get, should think along the same lines. The workers that came last needed that fair daily wage to feed their families just as much as those that came first.

The “first” in today’s Gospel could be compared to those of us that were born Catholic – just because we have served our Lord longer doesn’t mean we are entitled to anything more than those that have converted to the faith later in their lives. In God’s eyes we are no better than the sinner who says Yes to Jesus even on his deathbed.

And before we continue to side with the grumbling workers, it might help us to remember our own situation. We ought to be very grateful that we have a God whose justice is so clearly unjust in our eyes. He loves Mary his Mother, he loves a Mother Teresa and he loves ME with exactly the same love. Is that just? Is that what I deserve? Should I complain or should I fall down on my knees in humble thankfulness that I am treated so well, that as one of the "last" I get the same treatment as one of the "first"?

This means that no matter how many times I fail, no matter how many times I do wrong, no matter how late in life I come to find Jesus, I am assured of the same welcome that the saints get. This is the "justice" of the shepherd who leaves the "good" sheep and spends hours of his time looking for the single one that wandered far from the flock.

This is the "justice" of the father who organizes a huge feast for the son that has just spent all his father's money on high living and debauchery, when nothing of the kind had ever been done for the dutiful son who stayed at home. We want to be careful about "knocking" God's "justice", especially when we ourselves are so much its beneficiaries.Finally, if this is God's way of acting, then it is clearly meant to be our way also.

Last Sunday's Gospel spoke about the importance of forgiving others and being reconciled with them. We need also to learn how to accept people as they are and not to evaluate them just on what they can do, or because of their status in society or their profession, but simply because they are brothers and sisters who need our love and our care. We need to learn how, as God does, to see people as they are now and not constantly drag in their past behaviors – no matter what they have done.With the help of God, we can learn to understand and to follow his justice. Our ways can become his ways and our thoughts become his thoughts.

Reading and meditating on this parable should result in some change in our “normal” ways of thinking and acting. We should become more like Christ – our ways should be continually growing and evolving, we should be becoming more and more like Christ each and every day – so that our love, our compassion, our mercy, forgiveness and justice become more like His and not like that of the world.

That is what it means to be in the world but not of the world. Each of us are called to let go of those things that the world values and those ways the world calls us to act – and to put on the mind of Christ – to follow in His footsteps – to value the things that He values and to act the way He does. And if we can do this we will find that it is a truly liberating experience. Perhaps that is why, in our second reading from St. Paul we find that he can’t decide whether to stay in this life or to depart and be with Christ in eternity.

Lord, let all that I say and all that I do bring glory and honor to you – and if I live let it be not I who live but Christ who lives in me … Amen!