September 18, 2011 - Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.
Responsorial Psalm - 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18
R. (18a) The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
The LORD is just in all his ways and holy in all his works.
The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.
R. The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
Second Reading - Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a
Brothers and sisters: Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Gospel - Matthew 20:1-16a
Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, '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?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Reflection
On Christmas morning, each of the children bounded down the stairs and raced towards the living room, their woolen socks sliding across the polished hardwood floor, their eyes wide with expectant joy, their hearts pounding restlessly with anticipation. One by one, each of the four children squealed with delight as she or he discovered a magnificently wrapped package under the tree designated for him or her. They seized the boxes, furiously tearing through wrapping paper and tossing aside cellophane to uncover the present within. Josie got a dollhouse—a brilliant white Victorian with pastel pink and blue trim. Tim, a bit older, found a bike helmet, which was actually only part of his present, since a new bike awaited him in the driveway outside. Alyssa received some new clothes, and Alex, the oldest, got a digital camera, his first.
But before any of the children began to enjoy his/her own present, all immediately began scanning the room to compare their own with those received by the others. Tim’s bike certainly looked expensive, Alyssa thought; especially compared to a couple of sweaters and some jeans. That digital camera couldn’t have been cheap, Tim remarked silently to himself. As the morning went on, and the siblings unpacked the rest of their presents, opening gifts from their grandparents, emptying out the smaller items in their stockings, each made a mental list of what the others had received, comparing it to their own pile and trying to figure out how much money had been spent.
Such is the theme of today’s Gospel, and it’s a persistent one in human life. So pervasive is this human tendency to compare and feel jealous that we often times do not even realize we are doing it. I remember, one time, listening to a group of girls about to graduate from high school, talk about where each was going to college. But accompanying the discussion of their own schools were comments about where other classmates of theirs were headed—always with editorials to the effect of, “…I’m still mad Allie got accepted at Loyola when I got wait-listed. I got better grades than her AND I applied early!”
Intermingled with the excitement over their own college destinations was jealousy, bitterness, and resentment about the perceived injustice of the whole process. That certain people who didn’t “deserve” to get in had been accepted one place, while others who worked much harder were turned down.
So often in life, we get so caught up in the comparisons that we do not even enjoy our own accomplishments or gifts! The runner who sets a PR at the marathon, but who still finishes behind her friend. The law student whose article is accepted for publication in a Law Journal, or offered an associate-ship at a firm, but not a journal or firm as prestigious as those his roommate had managed to get. Instead of celebrating the blessing of being offered a job at all, we wallow in resentment at the blessings enjoyed by another. Especially those that are perceived as unfair.
Jealousy poisons our relationships with others, Jesus tells us, and it is wholly incompatible with the joy of the Kingdom. The master of the vineyard did not owe the laborers hanging out in town anything. It was out of generosity that he invited them to come work in his field. In fact, these workers were just standing around, waiting for something to pop up. The master goes to them! He is the one to initiate this whole relationship. So it is with God—always, God reaches out to us, drives to where WE ARE, rather than waiting for us to come to him.
At the end of the day, when it comes time to receive the reward for their hard labor, the men are not grateful to the master for this opportunity—rather, they focus on the “unfairness” of his decision to pay everyone equally. Such is the nature of jealousy—it prevents us from enjoying that which is meant to be blessing! Instead of the various men expressing their appreciation and thinking how they will spend the money, e.g. to buy dinner for their family or patch the hole in their roof, they become consumed by indignation towards both their benefactor and their peers. How toxic is such jealousy! It is able to transform the experience of receiving a gift, and to turn it into a negative experience, just like the children on Christmas morning who, rather than run outside to try out their new bike or take photos of the snow with the new camera, instead sit and stew over the sense of perceived inequality. Or, again, the college-bound seniors who, rather than articulate their gratitude even to be able to go to college and their excitement over starting at the new school, instead devote some of their energy to grumbling about their classmates who didn’t deserve to get in where they did.
We often think of “sin” as acts—stealing an ice cream bar from the lunch stand; lying to a friend; skipping Mass. Doing things (or failing to do things). But throughout the Gospels, and especially in Matthew, Jesus encourages us to conceive of sin as a disposition—an attitude, or way of being in the world. A mode of going through life. And it is these attitudes with which he takes the greatest issue—rather than striking your brother, it’s problematic to harbor enmity or anger in your heart towards him. Rather than committing adultery, it’s problematic to go around cultivating an attitude towards members of the opposite sex as though they were primarily physical objects of our gratification, rather than whole persons with whom we ought to be in full human relationship. And here, the problem is in failing to feel gratitude to God for the many blessing in our own life, and instead to become jealous at the perceived blessings others are receiving, relative to us. Thus, too, to allow jealousy and rivalry to take root.
What each of these attitudes, or ways-of-being, has in common, Jesus tells us, is that they are not of God and not conducive to a life of human flourishing. They are, rather, utterly antithetical to the joy of Heaven to which we are called and the life of selfless love to which we aspire. If we allow it, it will infect every moment of our day, preventing us ever from enjoying the beauty of the world and the fullness of relationship.
If we go to a wedding reception, and all we can focus on is, “How nice it must be to have rich parents who can afford to throw such an extravagant affair at such a posh hotel,” then we will be unable to celebrate authentic joy with our friend that s/he has found the person to spend the rest of his/her life with, and that we are invited to be a part of that life. Jesus calls us to let go of these jealousies, to relinquish those sources of bitterness to which we cling so tenaciously, so that we might truly enjoy the many blessings in our own life and celebrate the blessings in the lives of those around us. Only then will we begin to experience some taste of the joy that awaits us in the Kingdom.
Note: If you would like to print out a copy of this reflection, here is a link to the public Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uchO0Az8gkAVBOzADeiBZlOANqOYi-zaqRcZCB7l8YE/edit?hl=en_US
Questions for Reflection
1) Can you think of any experiences from your own life when you compared what you had received with that given to someone else? Any time when you screamed aloud or thought to yourself, “No fair!”
2) Are there any areas of life where you are struggling to be grateful to God for what you have, relative to others? Romantic relationships? School awards or fellowships? Job offers? Do you think this frustration or bitterness affects your relationships with any of your friends or colleagues?
3) How does it strike you that, in the original parable, the master pays all of the workers the same wage? What might that mean for us, as Christians? Does it seem “unfair” to you that the individual who leads a life of wanton, reckless self-indulgence but who converts at age 87, might receive the same sized hut in Heaven that you, faithful Churchgoer who tries to live according to the Gospel, will? How do you reconcile Jesus’ description of God’s justice with your own?
