XXV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 20:1-16
In his public ministry, when addressing the common people, Jesus made use of parables, that’s is simple stories which call attention to specific points in his teaching. Jesus drew the inspiration for his parables from the daily life of the people, thus making them easy to understand. Most of the times, the conclusion is straightforward; however, other times, the parable may leave us perplexed, because we expected a different outcome. That is the case with the parable in this Sunday’s gospel.
Jesus begins the parable by telling us that it speaks about the Kingdom of God. This is very important to understand the end of the parable. In the story, we are presented with a landowner who had a vineyard. The landowner stands for God and the vineyard represents the people of God. The prophets had already used this imagery while speaking about the care that God had for his people (Is 5:1ff). The vineyard represents the Kingdom of God. It belongs to God, not to us. However, a vineyard must be taken care of, and this care demands the work of many people. And in a vineyard, there are seasons when a lot of workers are needed. It was in such a time that the landowner went to the market looking for workers. The parable presents God looking for people ready to cooperate with him. And the workers are never enough, that’s why he went time and again looking for all people who were available and willing to work in his vineyard. God does not get tired of inviting people to his Kingdom. The parable stresses that many people are loafing around, tired of waiting for someone to invite them. It is as if many people, without fault of their own, live a useless and hopeless life.
People were invited and they answered the invitation, going to the vineyard of the Lord. Certainly, all of them expected to receive their pay at the end of the day. And they were not prepared for the big surprise which was coming. Starting with the last coming, who worked one hour only and ending with the first arrivals, who had a full day work, all of them were paid the same. It sounds unfair, and those who worked the whole day complained about that. The landowner reminded them that he was not being unfair to them since he was paying them a fairly good salary according to the agreement made. To all the others, he was being generous, and he had the right to be so. We must remember that the reward we are talking about is not money or wealth, but the entrance into the kingdom of God. And God is ready to welcome all those who accepted the invitation and were ready to work. The first ones will have no more rights and privileges than the last ones. There is no place for jealousy and envy since all of us will receive more than we deserve.
Indeed, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways not your ways – it is the Lord who speaks.” (Is 55:8).
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