Wednesday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, August 23, 2023

Matthew 20, 1-16

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, he 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, he 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.”

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.”  The Lord’s keen insistence on comparing the Kingdom of heaven to everyday places and situations disconcerted the Jews of the time because, led by the Pharisees, they interpreted very literally the word of the Prophets concerning the Kingdom such as, “But in the days of those kingdoms, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never by destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people: and it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms: and itself shall stand for ever” (Daniel 2, 44).  And who would be the Ruler of this Kingdom? “The Lord has said to me: You are my son, this day have I begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the Gentiles for your inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for your possession.  You shall rule them with a rod of iron, and shall break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2, 7-9).   Passages from the Scriptures that talked of a suffering Redeemer were simply not discussed.  We see this, for instance, in the case of the Ethiopian official who came to Jerusalem to adore God in the Temple (cf. Acts of the Apostles 8, 26-39).  Because of the thorough misconception of what the Kingdom of Heaven really was, the Lord spent much time teaching about it.  

In this parable, the landowner, that is, Almighty God, goes out at the beginning of the day to hire laborers.  Here we should reflect that before him, we are all laborers.  Now, the situation in the parable is a very common one in human history and remains so today: day laborers lined up at a central location, hiring themselves out for a day’s wage.  These are not necessarily skilled workers.  They do not know a trade, such as blacksmithing or carpentry.  They will work out in the sun from dawn until dusk and make just enough to eat for that day and maybe to afford a place to sleep that night.  “You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.”  Perhaps not many laborers were to be found at dawn and so the landowner goes out at a later hour, though still early, and hired those whom he now finds.  He will give them what is “just”, presumably meaning the usual daily wage adjusted for the later start.  “And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise.”  Now, either the landowner has underestimated the amount of work that needed to be done that day or he returned to town hoping that more laborers would turn up, since he had known all along that he did not have a sufficient number.  “Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around.”  This late hiring suggests a further possibility: that the landowner was determined to hire everyone who wanted a job.  His purpose was less about the work than about hiring workers.  This seems absurd, and the people hearing the parable for the first time must have felt this, particularly in light of what else the landowner does.

“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.”  The landowner stands custom on its head in paying first the last-hired.  The only possible reason for this action would be to show forth his extensive wealth and his wide generosity.  This ought to remind us that, ultimately, all that God does is for the sake of his glory.  This is not an easy idea to understand because we humans tend to think that everything he does is for our sake.  We do this because our wounded human nature causes us to think that everything is always all about us.  But it is not.  God created the universe in order to glorify himself and he sent his Son into the world in order to glorify him.  As Jesus taught the crowds about his coming Passion and Death in obedience to the Father, he cried out, “ ‘Father, glorify your name.’ A voice therefore came from heaven: ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again’ ” (John 12, 28).  He is infinitely perfect and is infinitely worthy of all glory.

“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?”  Here those who have worked the full day object to the perceived lack of what is “right” and expect more, but they have received everything they lawfully agreed upon, regardless of what anyone else received.  In spiritual terms, we can see this as the Gentiles who are converted “late in the day” whereas the Jewish Christians believed from the beginning.  Since St. Matthew is writing to Jewish Christians, he may have meant for them to take the Lord’s words as a counsel not to nurse jealousy towards these “later” arrivals to the Kingdom.  We may also see this as an exhortation that it is never too late to convert, even up to the moment before death.  This does not diminish the long day’s work of those who went to work at dawn, for we who truly love God do not work in his vineyard solely for heaven, but also for the sheer joy of pleasing him.  Along with this there is the undeniable fact that the one who works the longest and hardest for something enjoys it more than the one who does not.

“Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”  These words also concluded yesterday’s Gospel Reading, when the Lord Jesus explained how those who put earthly wealth before their spiritual welfare would be “last”, that is, condemned, while those who gave up everything to follow Jesus, making themselves the “least” of men on earth by holding in contempt what earthly people prized (and so meriting their enmity) would be “first”, that is, judged worthy of the eternal joys of heaven.  Let us be God’s good servants, rejoicing in the rewards he gives to us, which are greater than we could hope for.