25 Sunday of Ordinary Time
God’s grace is a gift that cannot be earned, and comparison with others can prevent us from recognizing his generosity in our own lives. God calls every person to take part in the mission of Christ because everyone has gifts that are needed in the Church. No matter our age, history, or stage of life, it is never too late to begin again, draw closer to God, and find a new way to serve.
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There is a charming story often told about Pope John XXIII, the pope who convened the Second Vatican Council. He was known for being a bit rotund and for having a very good sense of humour. One day, someone was visiting him and making his way through the Vatican. Seeing all the different staff working there, the visitor was surprised and asked, “Holy Father, how many people work here at the Vatican?” Pope John XXIII responded, “About half.”
Today’s parable is a bit troubling for us. It leaves us uncomfortable, because it has to do with work and those who seem not to have worked very much at all. Jesus tells us about a landowner, who stands in the place of God, going out at different times of the day to find people to work in his vineyard. The real kicker comes at the end, when those who have been labouring in the hot sun all day receive exactly the same pay as those who worked for only an hour. It doesn’t seem fair. It is unsettling. And perhaps that is precisely the point. Frequently in his parables, Jesus wants to make us feel a little uncomfortable. He wants to shake us out of our usual way of thinking so that we can see a deeper spiritual truth that we might otherwise miss.
What, then, is Jesus trying to help us realize in this parable? I would like to suggest three little lessons that Christ might be teaching us through this story that can initially seem so frustrating. The first is that what we receive from God—what we call grace—is something we can never earn. It is given to us entirely as a gift. All we can do is receive it with gratitude and respond to it. Some of the workers in the parable are offended by the generosity of the landowner, but the landowner reminds them that he has been generous to them and is free to be generous to others as well. God is like that with us. Grace is God’s life given to us. By definition, grace is a gift. It is unmerited, and our proper response is gratitude.
The problem comes when we begin comparing ourselves with other people. Then, instead of rejoicing in what God has given us, we can become bitter like the workers in the parable. There is a story told about Andrew Carnegie, who was one of the wealthiest men of his time and became famous for giving enormous sums of money to libraries and other public institutions. After his death, one relative discovered that Carnegie had left him a very large inheritance. At first, he was delighted. But when he learned how much Carnegie had given away to charitable causes, suddenly his own gift seemed small, and he became resentful. Nothing about his gift had changed. What changed was that he began comparing it with what others had received.
We can do the same thing with God. When we compare our lives, our gifts, our opportunities, or our blessings with those of others, we can lose sight of what has actually been given to us. Everything is gift. God has given himself to us. He has given us his Son and his very life. God is generous to all his children, and God has enough for all of us. Our task is not to compare, but to receive his grace with gratitude.
The second lesson is that God wants all of us to participate in his family and in his mission. All of us are important. All of us are needed. In the parable, the landowner keeps going out looking for more workers. He finds some in the morning, but that is not enough. He goes out again and again because he does not want anyone standing idle. He wants everyone participating in the work of the vineyard. In the same way, Jesus wants all of us to be part of his Body, the Church. St. Paul speaks about this so beautifully: we are the Body of Christ. Every person matters. Every person has a place.
Pope Francis expressed this beautifully at World Youth Day in Lisbon when he said that in the Church there is room for everyone. Then he repeated it: “Todos, todos, todos”—everyone, everyone, everyone. The Church is for everyone. There is a place for everyone. God wants all of us to participate. That is another beautiful message hidden in this parable. The landowner, who represents God, wants everyone in the vineyard. If someone is missing, something is missing. Each of us has been given particular gifts, and we are called to use those gifts in the service of Christ’s mission.
Finally, this parable is tremendously hopeful because it teaches us that it is never too late to follow Jesus. Those who came to the vineyard at the very last hour received the same generosity as those who had been there from the beginning. There is no better time to follow Christ than the present. Perhaps we have not prayed for a long time, and we become discouraged. We might think that it is too late to begin again. This parable tells us that now is the time. Now is the time to begin praying again and drawing closer to God.
Perhaps we have gone through much of our life without finding a way to serve in the Church or in the community, and we think, “I could never start now.” This parable tells us that now is exactly the time to begin. Perhaps we are entering a different stage of life—retirement, or simply winding down from the work we used to do—and we wonder whether there is still something God is asking of us. There always is. Regardless of where we are in life, God has a particular mission for us. We can encourage someone who is struggling, call someone who is lonely, visit someone in hospital or in a nursing home, pray for others, or use the gifts we have been given in some new way. There is a mission in the Church for everyone, and it is never too late to begin.
In the end, today’s parable may strike us on the surface as uncomfortable or even unfair. But Jesus is trying to wake us up to the fact that things work differently in the Kingdom of God. God is a Father who is generous to all of us. His grace is given freely to each one of us, and our task is to receive that gift, recognize it, and be grateful for it. Let us remind ourselves today that God is always calling us to participate, perhaps in a new way, in the mission of Jesus. And let us take hope from this wonderful truth: it is never too late to begin following Christ.
