Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 133
Reading 1
Seek
the LORD while he may be found,
call him while he is near.
Let the scoundrel forsake his way,
and the wicked his thoughts;
let him turn to the LORD for mercy;
to our God, who is generous in forgiving.
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.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (18a) The Lord is near to all who
call upon him.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
The LORD is just in all his ways
and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.
If I go on living in the flesh,
that means fruitful labor for me.
And I do not know which I shall choose.
I am caught between the two.
I long to depart this life and be with Christ,
for that is far better.
Yet that I remain in the flesh
is more necessary for your benefit.
Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Open our hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o’clock,
the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.’
So they went off.
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o’clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o’clock,
the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,
‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’
He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’
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.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,
‘These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
He said to one of them in reply,
‘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.”
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
I think it is possible for all of us to look back on a time in our lives when we were children and we did something wrong. We were upset and crestfallen because of what we did and there appeared to be no way out of the situation where we found ourselves; there was an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. Just as there were a lot of bad feelings there was also that one person who came forward and comforted us; telling us that everything was going to be okay. We were loved, consoled, and encouraged to feel better. Eventually we did feel better and we moved forward feeling better about ourselves and our situation. In the Scripture Reading today from The Book of the Prophet Isaiah this is what is happening between God and the People of Israel. This part of the book came about through the revelations of God revealed through a disciple of the Prophet Isaiah. A large percentage of the Jewish People found themselves exiled from Jerusalem and into the heart of Babylon where they were slowly being assimilated into the that foreign culture. The Jewish People saw their culture, heritage, religion, and way of life slowly disappearing. It was during this time that God gave His people encouragement and strength through the prophet. He also expressed an uncompromising love and devotion to a people that felt that their God had abandoned them. Instead of abandoning them God was calling them back to Him; encouraging them to search for Him, repent, and recommit themselves to their faith.
In the same way God is constantly encouraging us to return to Him and to experience a loving relationship with Him. For most of us there are times when we are with God and other times when we have chosen to ignore Him. When we don’t pursue a relationship with Him is when we just might find ourselves getting into trouble and causing ourselves more pain and suffering then we would have had to endure if we only stayed with Him. We are not puppets and God rarely pulls our strings to make us dance. Our decisions are our decision dictated by our choices. God can show us the way to go but He prefers not to force ourselves to walk that way. When we make decisions that do not include a contemplation of what God wants for us we put ourselves in grave danger. God does not want us to do that so. He always gives us an opportunity to make amends for our wrongdoing and to seek Him out when we need Him the most.
Contrary to our own thinking we do not only need God in our lives when something goes wrong but the necessity for Him is constant. He is responsible for all of creation for He created it. To experience this life without the one who created us can be seen as utter foolishness. God has the capability to make bad things good and good things all the much better. There is no downside when we enter into a relationship with God. The Apostle Paul writes in his letter that whatever happens to him is of no consequence since he is living a life with Christ. If he lives then his labors in this earth will be fruitful and productive for his benefit and the benefit of those whom he ministers to. If he dies it will be with Jesus and he will be united with Christ so that is of no worry to him. If fact Paul longs more for death because to him it would be better to be with Jesus completely then to be separated from him in a physical sense. He sees the barriers between the physical and spiritual worlds as something he would rather overcome through his death. Christ conquered death through His own death and resurrection and Paul sees it as a transitional moment between the physical world and the spiritual world instead of something that is final. We are encouraged to look beyond the limitations that we put on God and our own immortality which is guaranteed through Jesus Christ. The journey starts here but continues throughout infinity with no boundaries or limits. There is no such thing as limits with God.
God wants to give us every opportunity to improve ourselves. Wherever we find ourselves in our life things can only get better with God. We can ignore Him. We can insult Him. We can deny Him. God is there every step of the way to welcome us back. He will always meet us where we are not where He wants us to be. He will take us to where He wants us to be but only when we are ready to do so. We can be damaged, wounded, and scarred yet He doesn’t love us any less. In fact, He must just love us more because that is probably what we need the most at that low-point we might be in when we finally answer His call of love. Jesus emphasizes this in the Parable of the workers in the Vineyard. Regardless of the time or circumstances where we respond to God the reward will be the same. Those who came earlier will be held in no higher esteem than the ones who arrived later. The opportunity to experience God and to obtain eternal life with Him is the same for all. The good works that are produced in reaction to the presence of God in our lives are just that: a natural occurrence from being in His presence. The benefits don’t change just because someone does more in comparison to someone else.
God is our instructor, comforter, and lover. Listening to what He has to say will always benefit us. Allowing ourselves to be comforted and consoled by Him when we do wrong will enable us to recover from any situation that we find ourselves in and our lives will be better as a result. God will never abandon us. It is we who abandon God. Even though this is the case, God is patiently waiting for us to return to Him and for us to let Him do the work inside of us that He always wanted to do. When this work happens it is evident; the results being immediate and evident.
Deacon Tom
All life is precious for it was all created by God and is part of His universe. From the smallest, seemingly insignificant micro-organism, to us who were created in His image. With, that, He dwells amongst us and through us He is revealed. We are inseparable from Him. Even though this is the case, there is always the possibility that He can go unrecognized. Just as other relationships require attention, effort, and hard work, so does our relationship with God. The Prophet Isaiah points this out through a beautiful revelation: “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call to Him, while He is near.” It serves as a reminder to us that we have a level of responsibility to first recognize that God is amongst us and that we need to search for Him. If we do this, He will certainly be found because, not only is He near, but He is actually inside of us and next to us.
When we focus our attention on the God’s presence, our eyes are opened and we then become witnesses to His greatness and power. What was hidden is revealed: a new life and a new way of being. We can also come to the understanding that what was secret was not made that way by God in the first place, but was tucked away by our own actions and thoughts. In the beginning, God showed us everything and our reaction to this was to turn away, rejecting this gift of pure love. We chose instead to pursue what we thought was the best way to live our lives. Now is the time to abandon that way and embrace the Way of the Lord. When we do this, we are then able to comprehend His ways and thoughts.
Living with God immediately calls us to action. We can all feel this. We want to do good. We want to please Our Father. To do this, we go through the Son and make a commitment to Him. What we do here for Him benefits us at the same time. Each act of selflessness opens ourselves up to receive Jesus Christ more. There is no end to what we can accomplish or what can be experienced. As we are transformed by this new way of thinking, those around us will see what was hidden also and will react to it. All of this then becomes a shared experience.
As Christian, we are all workers for Jesus Christ. We are happy workers for we are cared for and loved. We invite others to work with us and to experience what we experience. It is that good and wonderful that there is no selfishness. We want to give it all away. There is no price nor competition. Nobody is better and nobody is worse. All work is appreciated and produces results. Equally, we will all receive that which is given freely. Then why do we work as hard as we do? Because it is a reaction to our relationship with Jesus Christ. We aim to please the Father and want to show that we love Him and all that He created. It is a gigantic, continuous thank you that echoes throughout creation.
The thank you starts on a personal level then builds a momentum as others join in the chorus. It then becomes a symphony of love. Just as in any symphony, all parts are necessary to achieve the final result which, in our case, is praise of love of the Father. The more we praise and love, the more that love will return to us. That is God’s ovation to us. The most beautiful part of this is that the symphony never ends. It only gets louder and better as well as the praise and love that comes from God.
Deacon Tom
My sisters and brothers in Christ,
How can someone who works the whole day be paid the same as someone who only worked an hour or less? God keeps on demanding of us that we recognize His mercy and His love. Do we want salvation for others, even if they have only converted at the last moment? If we don’t, then there is something wrong in the way that we love others.
The first reading today comes from the Prophet Isaiah. Today he tells us: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near.” And the Prophet reminds us that God’s way are not our ways. These are two important points that help us understand just a bit how God is toward us. The Lord is always near but we don’t always feel that way. The Lord can always be found, but we don’t spend the energy. To walk with God will cost us our life—and we are often not entirely committed to that walk with the Lord. But God loves us always because His ways are not our ways. If we have a friend who is just with us and for us part of the time, we would normally not consider that person a very good friend. Yet God in Christ Jesus is willing to call us brothers and sisters and friend and beloved—even when we reject Him.
The second reading is from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Saint Paul tells us first about his own experience of giving himself for others. Then he reminds us: “Conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.” We are brought back once more to face ourselves as we are before God. Do we live in a way that manifests God’s love for others? Do we have mercy on others? Do we pardon others even if they continue to seek to harm us? This is strong teaching.
So we come to the Gospel from Saint Matthew. What an incredible parable! This is Jesus teaching us about the Kingdom of God. God will continue to invite us over and over throughout our whole life. God never tires of asking us: “Will you come and work in my vineyard?” We can’t really believe that God is so good because we ourselves are often no so good. But God is not a human being! God is God and has his own ways and His own thoughts. God loves us eternally and is always willing to forgive us and to show us mercy.
We are invited today to know more about how God loves us and then to live that same kind of love with one another. Truly it is the only way to salvation and the only way that our world will ever come to live in peace. Let us walk with Jesus and live as He lived.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip
God’s ways may not be fair, but they are full of love
It is not fair: At the Nairobi airport, I was once in the company of a large European family – the parents with seven children of varying ages – waiting to board a plane. At one point, the mother began to distribute chocolates to her restless children. Everyone was given a chocolate bar each. Finally, there was one left over. The mum gave it to the eldest girl. One of the other children, who might have been about four years old, blurted out in a spontaneous cry for justice, in a tone that was also uniquely childish, “Mom, that is not fair!” They all had a hearty laughter. While they admired the four-year old for her strong sense of justice, I suppose, they were also laughing at the silliness of such a comment.
How silly am I, when I cry out to God, “That was not fair!” This is what we hear read in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard in the gospel reading of today (Mt 20:1-16). To our cries against God’s generosity towards the wicked people and his lack of immediate reward for the just, he humbly reminds us, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways not your ways” (Is 55:8).
God gives more than one’s due: The classical definition of justice is, ‘giving someone their due’. Lady Justice is blindfolded. She offers justice rather blindly not considering one’s background or needs. This is not the justice of God. The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard portrays a God who gives them more than what is their due. We could say, God gives them – he gives us – more than what we deserve. But the fact is we merit nothing in front of God. We could say, God gives people what they need. What people need is very relative. I would rather think, God just enjoys giving for its own sake. When we bemoan his generosity, he gently chides us, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Mt 20:15).
Then why should I work hard? Often we apply our human logic of justice to our relationship with God: if you need to be rewarded by God, be good. If you are evil, God will punish you. In the words of the gospel text of today, Jesus gently reminds us that this logic does not hold good for God. God offers a full day’s wage even to those who worked only for an hour. Now my wicked human logic asks, if this is the case with God, then why should I work in his vineyard at all – oh fine, after all everyone in the parable did work, at least for an hour. But why should I work so hard in the vineyard? To me the answer is very simple: I work hard in his vineyard not because of any delayed reward but because I just enjoy it. To be privileged to work is itself a reward. I wish to be good, not for a pie in the sky, but because it is good for me to be good. I feel gratified being good. Even being able to work for an hour in the vineyard of the Lord – just to be able to enjoy the gift of human life – is a reward in itself. The one denarius at the end of the day is but a bonus.
Yes, “the Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds” (Ps 144:17). His justice can never be separated from his love.
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