Gospel Reflection for the 25th. Sunday in Ordinary Time.

September 24th. – A just and fair God?

If I did a full day’s work and the person next to me only did half a day’s work, but we were both paid the exact same, I would have every right to be angry. Why should the other person be paid the same as me, if I did far more work than them? This seems to be what the gospel this Sunday tells us. Or is it?

A landowner goes out very early in the morning and hires workers. He hires them for the work he thinks they can do. They even agree on what pay they are to receive. We are also told that he went out four more times to hire more workers; clearly he had more work than he realised. At the end of the day’s work, the landowner pays all the workers the same wages. This is when the argument starts. The first group of workers are angry with the landowner and envious of the other workers. The landowner’s generosity is questioned by the early workers, even though they had agreed the pay between themselves before the work started. However the landowner replies quickly saying to them, ‘have I no right to what I like with my own? Why are you jealous because I am generous?’

What is Jesus trying to teach us through this parable? Historically, the Pharisees where the ones who saw themselves as most deserving of God’s friendship and they guarded it with all their strength and power. The ‘latecomers’ who are treated the same as the first hired workers are those who are sick and poor; the deaf, the blind and the crippled. These are the people about whom Jesus spoke when he said I have come to bring good news to the poor. The people the Pharisees look down and despise are the very ones that Jesus welcomes and eats with.

Jesus turned everything on its head. He spoke to those no one else would have listened to. He sat and ate with those who were considered to be sinners and outsiders. Unlike the Pharisees, these ‘latecomers’ are welcomed with open arms and a generous heart. This reminds us how the prodigal son was welcomed when he returned home. The message of love, mercy and forgives are meant for them too. They need it the most!

The way God works in and through people’s lives are not our ways. We read this in the first reading; my mays are not your ways… my thoughts are not your thoughts.’ God does not deal with or treat people as we do.

Jesus asks me not to be like the first group of workers or the Pharisees. I am challenged not to be jealous or envious when God treats others in the same way as me. We are all invited by God to build the Kingdom. Some people are called by God before we are. Some will be called after us. It doesn’t matter when we are called; all we have to do is wait and to be ready when God calls us.

• Michael Moore OMI