Posted by The WORD in other words (2009) by Fr Bel San Luis SVD – Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
Wednesday 20th Week in Ordinary Time
The Gospel of today relates about what appears to be a labor unrest.
In Jesus’ parable, the workers who were hired in the morning complained and protested that they were paid the same wage as those hired in the afternoon. “A gross injustice,” they complained.
But is it really so? Legally, there’s no injustice because the deal was covered by a personal contract, a mutual agreement between the workers and employer on the wage. “Did we not agree on one denarius?” (Mt 20,13).
Yet, like the first workers, we have every reason to feel uncomfortable about the whole arrangement. Something is wrong. In business, it doesn’t work out this way, otherwise the employee would be courting strikes and unrests among his regular employees.
What Christ is saying, in effect, is that God is kind, merciful and generous—much more than any human being can ever be. As enunciated in the book of the prophet Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.” (55,8)
Like the first workers in the parable, we feel envious about people who are more good-looking, more intelligent, and more gifted than we. In this case, it’s not a question of how many or how extraordinary one’s gifts may be but HOW we use these gifts. For instance, you may be a genius but if you use your intelligence to cheat and swindle, then you are no better than a poor struggling man who is honest.
Every now and then, we hear about a “deathbed conversion.” Before death, a sinner makes peace with God, and presto — he/she goes to heaven. The story of the thief on the cross is a classic example. We have to admire how this thief had excelled in his “profession.” And, in the last minute, he succeeded in stealing no less than his place in heaven!
Each one of us has been given a gift, a task or responsibility, but it is up to us to make it bear fruit. “What you are is God’s gift to you; what you become is your gift to God.” (Hans Urs von Balthasar)
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