In our first reading today from the prophet Isaiah he says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.” We can all testify to that. Why doesn’t God see things my way? Why doesn’t he just give me the things I ask for, like: healing my sickness, giving me a new job, ending the pandemic, stopping the natural disaster fires, hurricanes, and flooding, or even ending racism? We also know that in this life, we will not always understand God’s ways. As Isaiah also says, “They are as far above us as the heavens are to the earth.”
We can plainly see this is also played out in our Gospel reading. Our sympathy goes out to the laborers who worked all day in the hot sun only to find out they made not a penny more than those who worked only an hour. What an injustice. It’s simply not fair. What’s the point of having a daily wage and an hourly wage if the numbers are the same? But our perspective is flawed. God who is infinite in his love, mercy, and generosity sees this management much more differently.
Why hasn’t anyone hired the workers standing around still at 5:00 o’clock? Perhaps they were injured, weak, or disabled. Maybe they were lazy or uncooperative or rejected by every other landowner. But not “our” landowner. The Kingdom of Heaven welcomes even those who have been rejected, who have been waiting, who did not bear the heavy burden of the day. God’s great mercy and compassion are unlimited.
One of the labor issues right now during COVID-19 is why aren’t people applying for work? There seems to be a number of openings. One answer that comes along is why work if you’re getting $600.00 unemployment. I kind of think that way and then I ask myself would I trade places with them? Or better yet, how can I imitate God’s mercy, compassion, hospitality, and great generosity that we hear in our Good News today?
Love, Peace, Joy
Fr. Bob
Comments
There are no comments yet - be the first one to comment: