Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A - Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

Many, many, years ago, when I was at primary school, it used to be a thing for the local parish priest to pop in and quiz the children to see how their Religious knowledge was coming along. The first question would be “Who made you?” This was easy. We all knew that one – “GOD made me”, we would all chant enthusiastically. The next question was a bit more tricky: “Why did God make you? But we knew that one too – “God made me to know him, to love him and to serve him in this world, and to be happy with him forever in the next.” I’m not quite sure what our understanding of eternal life was at the tender age of six, but we were happy to give the required response.

Each reading today is about how we can be ‘happy with God forever in the next world.’ The first reading is from the prophet Isaiah chapter 55. At the start of that chapter, just before the part we heard today, is this invitation: “Come to the water, all you who are thirsty, though you have no money, come. Listen carefully to me and you will have good things to eat, rich food to enjoy. Pay attention, come to me, listen, and you will live.” Isaiah is not talking about our immediate need for food and water. He is talking about our desire for eternal

life. But we need a road map, we need to know how to get there. Fortunately, Isaiah provides one. He tells us: “Seek out the Lord while he is still to be found; call to him while he is still near.” He goes on to say: “Abandon your wicked ways, turn away from evil thoughts - turn back to the Lord. And the Lord will take pity on you, for our God is rich in forgiveness. Because my thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not God’s ways.”

Here, then, is the path to life: Seek out the Lord, pay attention, listen to him. Remembering this is still Old Testament, before the revelation of the truth which is Christ. It is the Spirit who will reveal to us the right path. And then keep to that path, discarding anything that turns you away from the Lord. And if, or more likely when, we stuff up, turn again to the Lord, for our God is rich in forgiveness.

In the second reading we hear from the apostle Paul. He is speaking to the church in Phillipi, yet he is speaking from prison, where he is in chains. Paul accepts, even embraces his suffering and persecution in Christ’s name. He knows he has run the good race and he is ready for his eternal reward. He is so confident that he will be with Christ in his eternal glory. He looks forward to his death as the gateway to eternal life with his Saviour. I wish for all of us such confidence, confidence which is borne of a life wholly dedicated to following Christ.

The gospel reading gives us further insight into the kingdom of heaven. But we need to put it into context. Matthew’s account follows on from the question that the rich young man asked of Jesus: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus responds that he must keep the commandments, and he even lists them. The rich young man says, ‘I have kept all these, what more should I do.’ ‘There is one thing you lack,’ says Jesus. ‘Sell all your possessions, give the money to the poor, and come, follow me.’ And we read that the man went away sad, as he was a man of great wealth.

And Jesus goes on to tell his disciples how hard it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven, indeed it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. They are astonished; in their day a person’s great wealth was seen as a sign of God’s great favour. ‘So who can be saved then?” “For man it would be impossible,” Jesus tells them, “But everything is possible for God.” Peter, though, needs to know more. He asks Jesus, what about us – we have left everything and followed you; where do we fit in? He wants to know if his self-sacrifice is enough to be deserving of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus reassures them: Everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children, for my sake will receive a hundred times in return, will inherit eternal life.

And yet, there is more; Peter and the disciples need to be brought to an understanding, we also need to understand, that it’s not really about deserving stuff. It’s much more about the generosity of God. It’s tempting to think that we can do a sort of bargain with God – I’ll be extra specially good and then God will reward me with heaven. I think that’s sort of what’s behind Peter’s questioning: I’ve given up everything, so where do I fit into your plan; surely I deserve heaven?

Jesus’ response is to relate the parable we all heard today: We hear how the landowner goes out at daybreak to find workers for his vineyard. They enter into an agreement. They will do a day’s work and be rewarded with one denarius. The first thing that should strike us as odd is that this is the boss going out to find the workers. Surely, he would send a foreman; it would be unheard of for the landowner himself to get involved. And yet, get involved he does, right down into the busy marketplace. It’s easy to make the connection, then; it’s God himself who gets involved with us, entering into our lives, inviting us to his vineyard. And he doesn’t just do this once. He keeps meeting with us again, and again, and again, in the morning, at noon, in the afternoon and in the evening. Until all have been invited. Each time he goes back he finds others; those who have been overlooked, ignored, discarded – even these receive the same invitation.

Of course, it’s when payment is made at the end of the day that we see the generosity of God, we see how, in the word of our first reading, God’s ways are so far above our ways. In what seems so obviously unfair to us, everyone is given the same reward, one denarius. What about those who were called first, those who have been labouring all day; surely, they will get more than those who were called at the eleventh hour? Yet all receive the same reward. If this were a parable about how to treat workers, and about labour relations, then it would come with obvious challenges.

But think back to the words of Jesus at the start of today’s gospel reading: “The kingdom of Heaven is like this”, Jesus says. So, what is it like? It’s like… everyone is invited: no-one is left out. All they need do is accept the invitation, and they will receive their reward. It is the same reward for everyone; it cannot be divided up, it cannot be multiplied. That reward, of course, is entry into the kingdom of heaven.

This is the gift that Jesus gives us. But….it does come at a cost; in the historical context of today’s gospel, we know that Jesus is about to make his way to Jerusalem. The other synoptic evangelists, at this point in their gospels, tell how Jesus explains that he has to go on to Jerusalem, where he will suffer and be put to death. The disciples complain. They do not yet understand. That it is Christ’s journey through Death to Resurrection that makes real for mankind the possibility of eternal life.

Today’s parable, then, is about the overwhelming generosity of God. Our God who seeks us out in the turmoil of our everyday existence, in our busy market place, to invite us to share eternity with him. But first we need to accept his invitation, to allow ourselves to be led into the vineyard that is our messy world, and accept the challenge. Each of us will be at a different point in our faith journey, in our efforts to conform ourselves to Christ’s will. For myself, part of that challenge will be to constantly ask myself, in all of my interactions with others: Am I being self-serving, self-focused; or could I do better: could I, by my actions, words and thoughts, help to build up the kingdom of God? If not, what can I change? How does the way I am living my life stack up against the command to love God and love my neighbour? Because, if I’m honest, I know I fall some way short of the mark.

Like the rich young man, we all should be asking ourselves: What must I do to inherit eternal life? Take a good look at our lives. Are we standing idly around in the market place, or have we accepted the invitation to follow Jesus into the vineyard. At the dismissal at the end of mass, we hear: “Go, glorify the Lord by your lives”. This,then, is our Mission, to step out from this place and take the Gospel with us into the Lord’s vineyard, actively seeking to be the hands, the eyes and the feet and the compassion of Christ to those we meet on life’s journey.

Let’s start today

Homily supplied by member of the Hamilton Diocese Diaconate