Do You Begrudge My Generosity?
Introduction: May you continue to rejoice in the loving-kindness of
our GOD Who reaches out to people throughout their lives so that they will respond
to the divine call to come and work in the LORD Jesus’ field.
People came to the marketplace and hoped that they would
be chosen to work for the day. They were willing to do whatever they needed to do
in order to get money for that day. They would repeat this day after day. This is
how they supported themselves and their families. How grateful they were to be hired
for a day and be paid a fair amount. It is sure they would rejoice if someone hired
them at any time during the day and gave them a job. We can imagine they would particularly
rejoice if someone came late in the day and hired them for just a short job and
paid them for a full day’s work. Some of their fellow workers might envy them for
receiving a full day's pay for a couple of hours of work. How would (or do) you
react when someone seems to get great benefits for doing a lot less work than yourself?
What does this say to you about GOD and about yourself?
GOD’s ways are surely not our ways. GOD is more than
generous, which leads some people to say that GOD is not fair. Speaking to the people
near the end of the exile, Isaiah challenges them to turn from their wicked ways
and seek the LORD Who is merciful and gracious. The psalm picks up the theme of
GOD’s compassion and kindness. St. Paul writes to his beloved community in Philippi
expressing his own desire to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven, but also realizing
that for the benefit of others, he must continue his earthly existence and his ministry.
In the Gospel today, Jesus shares a parable about an employer who hires day laborers
to work in his field and at the end of the day pays each worker the same pay (a
day’s wage) whether the worker laboured for one hour or twelve hours.
Commentary: This is the triumphant
conclusion of the second major section of the Book of Isaiah: God’s ways are
utterly different from human thinking. In many ways, it is comforting to think
that God is not like us. One reason why we cling to God is to be liberated from
ourselves and to be brought into his marvellous light, living a life free from
the restrictions, frustrations, and self-centeredness that surrounds and
penetrates us. Obviously, God does not have our faults of selfishness,
laziness, malice, lust, and greed. More than that, not being bodily or limited
in any way, God does not plan or think like ourselves. God does not think things
out, with ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, working in concepts or sentences. God does not
laboriously plan what to do, weighing consequences, advantages, and
disadvantages! Even our love is always tinged with self-interest and concern
for ourselves. God’s love is entirely generous and outgoing, a limitless
cascade of love, deluging and penetrating each of us.
The psalmist today sings a hymn of praise of the GOD Who is ever near,
slow to anger, and of great kindness. This refrain was probably a common
liturgical phrase and can be found many places in Hebrew scripture (Psalm 86:
15 and Psalm 103: 8; Exodus 34: 6, Joel 2: 13; Jonah 4: 2). It is a saying in
which is important for us to reflect, especially as we realize how often we
have sinned and “missed the mark” of being fully a part of GOD’s plan.
Commentary: The Philippians were Paul’s
favourite community, linked to him with a strong bond of affection and
intimacy, the only community from which he would accept gifts of money. Paul
writes this letter from prison, not sure whether he is to live or die, not sure
which is his stronger desire. For life is his bond with the Christian
communities he has founded, and who still need his help. But the centre of his
life is the total rootedness in Christ, of which death can only be the
completion. As he writes elsewhere, the Christian has been baptised into
Christ’s death, dipped into Christ’s death, and so is soaked in Christ’s death,
waiting only for it to be completed in Christ’s resurrection. If we really
believe this with the strength of Paul’s conviction, it gives a whole new
centre to life, a whole new perspective on the life which is Christ’s. Death
will then not be a matter of fear and dread, but only a slipping into the glory
of the resurrection.
Commentary: ‘It is not fair! They have
hardly had time to roll up their sleeves, and the late-comers get the same wage
as I do, having sweated it out right through the heat of the day.’
– Yes, but God is unfair. What are you going to do about that? ‘But
they didn’t deserve it, whereas I worked all day.’
– Yes, you worked. But how did you deserve even to exist? ‘Well, God
gave me existence, but he might at least be fair.’
– And where would that leave you, if God was fair and gave you what you
deserve? Do you want a God in your own image, vengeful, scheming, lazy,
punishing (other people), complacent, selfish? ‘Hold on! Not completely like
me, but at least I am fair.’
– No. God isn’t fair at all. That is why Jesus enjoyed having
parties with sinners and scum with whom you wouldn’t be seen dead. ‘Well, they
will be different then, when they and I are dead – they’ll be sort of
cleaned up’
– Up to your standards, you mean? Are you sure God wants them
‘cleaned up’ like you? Perhaps God loves them just as much as you. Could Jesus
ever have said, “Blessed are the hungry and dirty and dishonest”?
Reflection: What can work and
wages, welfare and the unemployed tell us about the kingdom of God? In the
parable of the laborers in the vineyard, we see the extraordinary generosity
and compassion of God (Matthew 20:1-16). There is great tragedy in
unemployment, the loss of work, and the inability to earn enough to live and
support oneself or one's family. In Jesus' times, laborers had to wait each day
in the marketplace until someone hired them for a day's job. No work that day
usually meant no food on the family table. The laborers who worked all day and
received their payment complained that the master paid the late afternoon
laborers the same wage. The master, undoubtedly, hired them in the late
afternoon so they wouldn't go home payless and hungry.
God is generous and gives us work for his kingdom
God is generous in opening the doors of his kingdom to all who will enter,
both those who have labored a lifetime for him and those who come at the last
hour. While the reward is the same, the motive for one's labor can make all the
difference. Some work only for reward. They will only put in as much effort as
they think they will get back. Others labor out of love and joy for the
opportunity to work and to serve others. The Lord Jesus calls each one of us to
serve God and his kingdom with joy and zeal and to serve our neighbor with a
generous spirit as well.
Empowered to serve with a joyful and generous spirit
The Lord Jesus wants to fill each one of us with the power and strength of
the Holy Spirit so we can bear great fruit for God's kingdom (the fruit of
peace, joy, righteousness, and love) and also bring the fruit of his kingdom to
our neighbor as well. We labor for the Lord to bring him praise, honor, and
glory. And we labor for our neighbor for their welfare with the same spirit of
loving-kindness and compassion that the Lord has shown to us.
Paul the Apostle reminds us, "Whatever your task, work heartily, as
serving the Lord and not others, knowing that from the Lord you will receive
the inheritance as your reward - you are serving the Lord Christ" (Col
3:23-24). Do you perform your daily tasks and responsibilities with
cheerfulness and diligence for the Lord's sake? And do you give generously to
others, especially to those in need of your care and support?
Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may serve you
joyfully and serve my neighbor willingly with a generous heart, not looking for
how much I can get, but rather looking for how much I can give.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Christ our householder, author unknown, from the 5th
century A.D.
"The householder [in Matthew's parable - chapter 20] is Christ,
to whom the heavens and the earth are like a single house; the family is as it
were the multitude of creatures both angelic and earthly. It is as if he built
a three-storied house: hell, heaven, and earth, so that those struggling may
live upon the earth, those conquered below the earth, those conquering in
heaven. We too, set in the middle, should strive not to descend to those who
are in hell but ascend to those who are in heaven. And in case perhaps you do
not know which one you ought to shun or which one you ought to aspire to, he
has given you as it were a little taste of both while you live between light
and darkness: night as a taste of hell, daylight as a taste of
heaven." (excerpt from an incomplete Commentary on the Gospel of
Matthew, HOMILY 34)
“MERCY TRIUMPHS” (JAS 2:13)
“Turn to the Lord for mercy.” —Isaiah 55:7
We deserve nothing good from the Lord God. He has been
extraordinarily generous to us in giving us life, forgiving our sins, atoning
for them through the blood of His cross, and offering us eternal life with Him.
Our fundamental stance toward the Lord must always be turning to Him for mercy
— for ourselves and for others. Otherwise, we might become envious because He
is generous (Mt 20:15).
Possibly we might have been given the health to work, the grace to
serve God, the spiritual gifts to teach, heal, and witness. Thus, we serve God
readily, in talent and in strength. But
what do we have that we have not received? If we have received it, why are we
boasting as if it were our own? (1 Cor 4:7) God graces us to work for all acts
of service, whether it is for a long time or a short time (Mt 20:12ff). All
good gifts come from the Father above (see Jas 1:17). Even the desire to work
and serve comes directly from God (Phil 2:13).
We might look good to others in a few areas of our service. But
there will be numerous areas of our lives in which we desperately need the
mercy of God. God’s ways are far above our ways (Is 55:9). Let’s make a
practice of reacting to everything by abandoning ourselves to God’s mercy (see
Lk 18:13-14).
The personal action for today: What is
my reaction when I see some people accept GOD’s invitation to enter the Reign
of GOD late in their earthly life? What do I think of GOD’s fairness? Do I
desire to be fully a part of the Reign of GOD? Do I sense GOD’s calling me to
still do more in my life for the spread of the Good News? Who is GOD calling me
to serve and minister to today? This week? This year?
Prayer:
Father, thank You forever for all You have done for me. I will take up
the cup of salvation, the Eucharist, as my act of gratitude to You (Ps
116:12-13). “For My thoughts are not
your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.” —Is 55:8. Praise
Jesus, risen Source of all grace and merciful Judge!