Are you envious because I am generous?

 Twenty Fifth Sunday in  OT  A   2023

 

Today’s Gospel parable gives us a glimpse of God’s measuring yardstick of what it means to be a disciple – it is a yardstick of generosity and forgiveness. Jesus asks us the grumbling workers: “Are you envious because I am generous? Thus, the last will be first, and the first last.”

Now it is true that this parable of the “workers in the vineyard” can seem to be hard to understand. The parable deals with landowners and workers, wages and profits, and fair and unfair labor practices. But to understand the parable, we need to delve into what the kingdom of God is like.

After all, in our world, hard work generally pays off, at least that’s what we have been taught.   If you work hard, do well in school, and put all your energy into your work, then you will be rewarded.

From one perspective, is Jesus trying to upset us in telling this parable? Is all my hard work a waste of time? So, how are we to pray?

 Lord, for too many people, our modern culture is ruled by envy, not by generosity, and this is tearing our human family apart. Too many people think that life’s rewards should be calculated on the basis of work alone.

We must learn to measure by God’s yardstick -- one of generosity and forgiveness. Consider the ways God has been all-heart to us. We are the ones who at times have worked just one hour in the vineyard. Yet, we are a blessed people. We are a forgiven people. May we never forget that all is a gift of God. With God’s yardstick, we confess the times that in our smallness of spirit we thought that generosity is a sin.

Lord, we thank you for the times when you give us a glimpse of your kingdom, invite us to enter into your generosity and set us free from the bondage of envy. Forgive us when we grumble at you for the way you share out your blessings, for comparing ourselves with others who we think had things easier.

We thank you for the people of our lives who have taught us that the root of our problem is being calculating instead of welcoming life as your gift.  Lord, we pray that your church will be the presence of Jesus in the world showing us a vision of your kingdom marked by generosity, not envy. Help us to better understand that circumstances permit some people to work only one hour, and may we embrace that they deserve a full reward. Help us to embrace God’s grace in people’s lives.

The God we believe in is not a bookkeeper who dishes out what we deserve. Rather, God is a grace-filled benefactor who gives and gives and gives. Rather than being all-fair, God is all-heart,

Today’s reading is an invitation for us to go looking for God’s forgotten ones -- to treat them not with a human standard of fairness, but with a holy abandon of love, compassion, and un-earned generosity.

This is the time of the year when we focus on the annual diocesan Catholic Ministries Appeal --- CMA. The CMA reminds that we are all part of the bigger church…we are citizens of the Kingdom of God. We are called to a life of stewardship. We are to share what we have been given.

People are still poor, hungry in need of pastoral care, education, and employment. The faithful are in need of ministry and a vibrant parish life. Our youth and young adults are yearning to learn and grow in their relationship with Christ. The Church and our Diocese are in need of trained and educated seminarians, deacons, and pastoral leaders to our lead our Church into the future. We cannot close our eyes to these needs.

Our support of the CMA is part of our stewardship commitment to share our giftedness with people in need. I intend to increase my giving to the CMA this year. And I ask you to do the same if you are able.

 

We will never regret our generosity in supporting people in need.

 

Today’s Gospel parable starts by inviting us to look on ourselves as workers hired to work in a vineyard. The image is valid. It is a touching way of understanding our vocation as parent, teacher, friend, priest, or member of this parish community. They are all forms of service and can be a heavy day’s work in all the heat. Similarly, the staggered hirings during the course of the day are a powerful symbol of how the same vocation turns out differently for different people,

Then as the gospel parable goes on, it takes a radically new turn which is the real message of the parable. We are not the landowners’ hired servants but his friends, free people, not hired by anyone. Look on God as a hirer of servants and we misunderstand him completely. So too, the rewards we receive for our service are not earnings but gifts we receive with humble gratitude,

By making the journey from God as hiring us as his servant to a God who is our friend or to a God who loves us, we then discover the wonder of love, human and divine. Lord, we thank you for the people in our lives who taught us that true love is always generous and helped us move beyond possessiveness and envy.

As we celebrate the generosity of God in this parable, God’s prodigal goodness can be an affront to our human sense of fairness. God’s love of sinners is an insult to the pious.

As we now transition into the mystery of the Eucharist, we assemble around the Lord’s table, and we thank God for His forgiveness, mercy, generosity, and love. He has sent us His Son to bring us pardon, to transform us from being isolated individuals into the community of His love, and He gives us the hope of everlasting life. So, as God’s holy people, we recall that God is merciful and forgiving; God is life-giving and generous; and that God is love.

Have a blessed day!