“ ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Jesus tells the disciples the parable of the landowner who hires laborers for his vineyard. To the laborers he hired at five o’clock, he gave the same wage as the ones he hired at nine o’clock. The laborers grumble, and the landowner’s reply reveals his generosity. In the same way, God reveals his generosity in saving and shepherding his people. From the first reading through the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord says: “I myself will look after and tend my sheep.”
God, help me understand that you are generous and loving in caring for your people regardless of whether they deserve it. Just as the landowner invites laborers late in the day to come work in his vineyard, so you invite us throughout life—early, often, and late—to work in your vineyard for the wages of salvation.
Lord, shepherd me today and let me hear your voice as you say to me, “You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.” At the end of the day, I sometimes look back and think, Where was I or what was I doing that I couldn’t know you were present? It’s as if the pressures and anxieties of the day whisked me along without my trying to discern which direction you lead me. But with you as my shepherd, Lord, I have no reason to fear anything, as the psalmist says, neither the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day. Let me trust that you guide me every day to give me courage and peace to move forward.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.