Whenever this Gospel is proclaimed, one of the friars with whom I have lived in the past loves to tell the story of his mother who would exit Church after listening to the pastor’s homily and exclaim, “I don’t care what he says; it isn’t fair.” Perhaps you have had the same reaction. It simply doesn’t seem to be fair that the group who has worked only one hour should be paid as much as the group who has worked twelve hours, which was the length of the normal work day in Israel at the time of Jesus.
If we were talking about remuneration for work performed, if we were talking of a typical work place situation, that assessment would be accurate. It isn’t fair. However, Jesus begins the parable of the workers in the vineyard with words that divorce this story from such venues and changes the context completely: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire workers for his vineyard.” This is not a parable about labor negotiations or compensation for performance. This is a parable about a relationship, specifically, the relationship between God and those who labor in his vineyard.
We find other indications throughout the Gospel that also point to this conclusion.
1. The parable involves a landowner and day laborers. One would be hard pressed to find two more dissimilar or disparate people. Vineyards were very profitable enterprises in Israel, but they involved huge cash infusion to get them started because grape vines don’t produce until four years after they are planted. At the same time, day laborers were at the mercy of the landowners who needed workers at harvest time but not necessarily all year long. So the men in the marketplace were subsistence level laborers whose families ate if they found work and starved if they did not. The fact that the landowner found workers even late in the day speaks of the fact that not everyone was lucky enough to find work every day. So the landowner and the day laborers come from two different social strata. The difference between them speaks of the difference between God and us. As Isaiah reminds us this morning, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.”
2. While the landowner could have chosen to pay the latecomers less, he lived in a society in which generosity brought with it the respect of the community. Those who learned of the landowner’s generosity would have held him in high esteem, esteem that would have been more valuable than the money he would gain through the harvest. Word of his actions would have spread like wildfire through the community. It is obvious that the landowner is aware of this as he instructs the foreman to make sure that the day laborers know of his generosity by paying the latecomers first.
3. Finally, we need also to remember that the parable comes in response to a question which Peter asked a few verses previous to the story. Jesus had just been approached by a rich young man who had asked what he needed to do in order to gain heaven. Jesus told him to go and sell everything, give it to the poor, and then to come and follow him. When he walked away, Jesus remarked about how hard it was for the rich to enter heaven. Peter follows that up by asking: “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” This parable is Jesus’ answer to that question.
So the parable is not about labor and remuneration. It is about the kingdom of heaven and what it means to be a disciple, a laborer in God’s vineyard. When it comes to heaven and who will enter and who might be excluded, the answer is not found in what we have done. No matter how long we work in God’s vineyard, no matter how many acts of penance we perform, no matter how many hours of prayer we spend, no matter how long we are faithful to God’s commandments, nothing will earn us a place in heaven. Put quite simply, we cannot earn salvation. We are saved because of what God has done for us, not because of what we have done for God.
To try to understand this parable of the Gospel from our human perspective fails before we even start. My confrere’s mother actually was correct in her assessment. It isn’t fair. It isn’t fair that Jesus had to suffer and die for our sins because he was innocent. It isn’t fair that God freely forgives us over and over again because we keep on falling into the same patterns of sin over and over again. It isn’t fair that salvation is free for all who believe. It isn’t fair that God embraces us each and every time we say that we are sorry even though we all know that we will come back at some time in the future and need to be embraced all over again.
While this parable tells us a great deal about God, it also says something about us. The workers who complain at the end of the day about the generosity of the landowner are judging the landowner by their own conduct. All too often, we do the same. We expect God to be a just God, but we define God’s justice by human standards. We expect God to be a merciful God, but we define God’s mercy by human standards. This parable invites us to examine our image of God, to ask whether we understand what we mean when we say that God is Love. Too many of us still see God as a policeman or a judge or a mighty ruler who demands that his vassals pay him the respect God is due. God does not demand or scold or utter recriminations; God invites. Jesus invited the rich young man to follow him. He invited Matthew to follow him. He invited the blind Bartimaeus to follow him. He invited the disciples to follow him. All they needed to do was to accept the invitation. As for them, so for us. All we need do is to accept the invitation. The choice is ours.
We are invited this morning to the table of the Lord. The gift of the Eucharist is freely given and is ours for the taking. The choice is ours, just as it always is.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator