We are called to be God’s mercy and compassion to others

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

“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” (Isaiah 55:8-9). The difference between the ways of God and the ways of humanity forms the basis of this Sunday’s Gospel teaching, the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. In this section of his Gospel, St. Matthew warns us that we must set aside some very ingrained human attitudes in order to see things the way that God sees them.

This teaching really begins with the section of St. Matthew’s Gospel which immediately precedes this Sunday’s reading. The particular incident is the story of the Rich Young Man (see Matthew 19:16-30). The rich young man would have been the envy of his people; he was obviously a good person, pious and dedicated to serving the Lord. The people of his day would have seen his sincerity as confirmed by his riches; Ancient Near Eastern society was inclined to view wealth as divine testimony that this young person truly enjoyed the favor of God. St. Matthew abruptly dismisses this assumption when he reports that Jesus sent the young man away disappointed – in Jesus’ teaching, the man’s wealth was not a sign of divine favor but rather a heavy burden which could even be a threat to his salvation. Earthly riches are not necessarily an indicator of divine approbation/disfavor. This must have been a troubling parable for those people to hear.

The next parable, told in this Sunday’s Gospel reading, presents a similarly disturbing scene. A property owner goes out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. Significantly, he enters into an agreement with them “for the usual daily wage” (Matthew 20:2), and then sends them to work on his property. He goes out again at noon, 3 pm, and finally at 5 pm, each time hiring additional workers for the day, promising to pay them “what is just” (Matthew 20:4). At the end of the day, he sent his foreman to settle accounts with the workers. He first called the group hired at 5 pm and gave them a full day’s pay; he similarly gave a full day’s wages to those hired at 3 pm and at noon. When the group hired at dawn came forward, they anticipated being paid more since they had worked all day. Observing the terms of their contract, however, the owner paid them only the regular day’s pay, that is, “the usual daily wage” to which they had agreed.

This last group began to grumble that they had been treated unjustly. After all, they had worked for many hours while the others who had worked for only a small fraction of the time received the same reward. This situation begins to highlight the difference between divine and human justice. Strictly speaking, of course, all the laborers had been treated justly; justice, classically defined, is “giving to each person that which is his or her due.” Since the group that began at dawn had entered into a verbal agreement to accept the usual daily wage, they really could not complained that the owner treated them unfairly. Yet their sense of fair play was offended by the owner’s generosity to those who had worked only a few hours. The owner responds to their grumbling with the question, “am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?” and then even highlights their potential hard-heartedness, “are you envious because I am generous?’ (Matthew 20:15).

This highlights the key difference between divine and human justice. God gives to each person not only what they are due, but lavishly provides in abundance. The salvation that God bestows upon us is never something that we could earn; it is always a gift of God’s superabundant mercy. Out of his great goodness, the vineyard owner decided to deal generously with those who had worked only a few hours-- they may not have earned the full daily wage, but be bestowed it anyway out of his concern for them. Since they had been willing to toil in his vineyard for however long, they received the fullness of his reward. This generous, merciful sense of justice is an encouragement and a challenge to Jesus’ followers of every generation.

As a word of encouragement, this Gospel teaching comforts us with the revelation of God’s overwhelming merciful and generous way of dealing with his people. God gives each sinner opportunity after opportunity to turn toward him. Having done so, having turned away from our sins, we are assured of God’s eternal blessing. The challenge, then, is to adopt such an attitude of mercy in our dealings with others. Our God who is so generous with second chances and compassionate forgiveness calls upon us to be merciful and forgiving in all our dealings with one another. In doing so we approach the true measure of divine fairness here on earth – the perfect mingling of justice with mercy as is seen in Christ.

Msgr. Fell is a Scripture scholar and director, diocesan Office for Priest Personnel.