A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 20:1-16a)
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.” When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven to the disciples through the parable of the vineyard. At the end of the day, the landowner pays the workers he hired in a reversal of what is expected. The ones hired last receive payment first, while the ones hired first receive payment last. The landowner asks the workers he hires at five o’clock, “Why do you stand here idle all day?” They tell him that it’s because no one has hired them. So the landowner says, “You too go into my vineyard.” By saying this, Jesus reveals the boundless embrace of God’s mercy. To the ones most in need of it, showing love in ways we did nothing to deserve, he invites us into his kingdom with same equality and dignity as the ones who responded early to his call.
Father in heaven, in saying I am undeserving of your mercy I contradict the contemporary understanding of a healthy sense of self, which would suggest that I have low self-esteem and need psychological help. But as I examine my existence, what have I done to deserve every good gift you pour forth every day? In the morning you are present, in the afternoon you are there when I am occupied, and in the evening you take initiative to bring me under your care. “The Lord is near,” says the psalmist, “to all who call upon him.” God, teach me to use the currency of this world—money, pleasure, honor, power—in accordance with your will. When I consider these pursuits and their empty promises, I want to run to you. Lord, however the succession of days unfold, let me hear you in your mercy: “You too go into my vineyard.”
From the first reading: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.”
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.