Our Ministries
22 Sep

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Justice and God’s Generosity

Strict justice or outrageous generosity? You probably remember the parable of the workers in the vineyard. The workers come into the field at different hours of the day, all agreeing to work for the “usual daily wage.” They all want to work and they all want to be paid. This they all had in common.

But in the parable, at the end of the day, each gets paid the SAME amount, regardless of the hours they had worked. And here is where the grumbling begins. “These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.” Does this sound like anything you’ve ever experienced? Unfair?

We hear grumbling about some of the same kinds of issues today. They usually come about because of what we understand to be “entitlement.” Why should I pay for something if I am not using it? Why should others get benefits if they are not paying the same amount into the system? I worked hard to earn this money. And another claims to have worked even harder.

In the parable Jesus says, “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?”

I have to really reflect hard on what would happen if God’s grace were doled out based on people’s rules rather than God’s ways. What if God’s ways were like our ways, if God’s outrageous generosity did not exceed the level of simple distributive justice?

I’m sure that each of us has at some time received great, undeserved generosity. How does that experience help us understand this parable? What does it mean when Jesus ends the parable with “The last will be first, and the first will be last”?

Sometimes God seems to act unfairly, but it is really God’s generous justice in action. Perhaps having a bit more of God’s generous nature would help us all be more just.

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