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| “Parable Of The Laborers In The Vineyard” By Harmenszoon van Rijn Rembrandt |
Reading 1: Isaiah 55:6-9
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.
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Commentary on Is 55:6-9
The passage
begins with an exhortation to seek the Lord through prayer (call him while he is near) and to repent
from sinful ways asking God's forgiveness. The author captures the
perfection of God's thoughts (and of Christ's actions prophetically) expressing
the perfection of God contrasted with the fallen nature of man and his sinful
nature. It is taken from what is known as “Deutero-Isaiah”, that part written
after the Babylonian exile. Using words common to the Old Testament (see Amos 5:4, and Psalm 9:11), the prophet exhorts the people to return to
God. The essential paradox of God’s presences is explained; “God is
transcendent yet near enough to help; man is helpless yet expected to act
energetically, the ways of God are exalted yet required of man.”[4]
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Responsorial Psalm: 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.
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Commentary on Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18
Psalm 145 is a hymn of praise and thanksgiving. The psalmist echoes the exhortation to seek
the Lord actively in the final strophe “The Lord is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.”
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Reading II: 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.
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Commentary on Phil
1:20c-24, 27a
St. Paul writes during his imprisonment. In these verses he contemplates
his own martyrdom. While death is seen
as a return to Christ which the Apostle desires, his mission and continued
service is seen as being united with Christ’s life on earth. This passage concludes with an exhortation to
the Philippians that they might live lives worthy of Christ.
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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.”
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Commentary on Mt 20:1-16a
The parable of
the Laborers Hired Late continues the dialogue from Matthew 19:30 “the last will be first, and
the first will be last.” The inference here changes slightly in that
while in Matthew 19:23-30 the Lord referred to those who would follow him into
eternal life; here he broadens the scope to imply that those called later to
faithful service would receive the same reward as those first called.
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Reflection:
Scripture today gives a
unified call to come to faith in God and Christ. Taken out of context one might believe the
Gospel parable of the Laborers Called
Late might be seen as an invitation to procrastinate in responding to that
call. After all, why commit to the
difficult path our faith requires if those who turn to an easier path and come
late to faith will receive the same reward as we who strive to follow that path
through most of our lives?
There must be reasons beyond
the promise that comes at the end of the journey. One of these is shown in St. Paul
What is it then that makes
life worth living? It is clearly not the
excesses of the hedonistic goals society seems to embrace. This lifestyle and world-view lead to
spiritual death. If wealth is what is to
be pursued, there will never be enough and even when great wealth is accumulated
those who achieve it find it an empty promise, a hollow shell with no life, no
warmth; no peace. No, life does not find
fulfillment in “things”.
Neither does life find
fulfillment in labor, even labor for a worthy cause. Fulfillment comes from an inner peace and inner
peace comes from the satisfaction of knowing that one is valued, supported, and
protected by God. That nothing can take
that peace from us while we remain in that living relationship. And when we enjoy that peace in communion
with others similarly motivated and infused, the resonance of their peace
enhances our own.
Looking at those laborers who
came late we see that, indeed they will receive a reward for their labor. Placed in the context of faithful service
however, those who have labored long have received the rewards of their labor
in the sense of fulfillment one finds in doing good things well. To put it
another way, who would find their life’s experience better; a person who lived
most of their life as a slave or one who lived their life free?
It is spiritual peace and the
joy that flows from it is what motivates us to take up the mind of Christ as
soon as we can and maintain it throughout our lives. While those that come late may receive the
same reward, we who stay on the path longer derive greater joy in the promise
fulfilled.
Pax
In Other Years: Feast
of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The Picture Used Is “Parable Of The Laborers In The Vineyard” By Harmenszoon
van Rijn Rembrandt
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
[4]
Jerome Biblical Commentary, ©
1968 Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood
Cliffs, N.J., 22:49, pp. 380
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