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.
We may have seen laborers waiting in towns hoping 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. We are 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 echoes
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 labored
for one hour or twelve hours.
First Reading: Isaiah 55:6-9: ‘My thoughts are not your
thoughts.’
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 ourselves. One reason why we cling to
God is to be liberated from ourselves and to be brought into his marvellous
light, living a life freed 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 out-going, a
limitless cascade of love, deluging and penetrating each of us.
Responsorial Psalm 145:2-3. 8-9. 17-18: The LORD is close
to all who call him.
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 on which it 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.
Second Reading: Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a: ‘For to me to
live is Christ.’
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 either 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.
Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16: ‘Do you begrudge my generosity?’
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”?
Meditation: 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 complain that the
master pays 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 life-time 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 which 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" (Colossians 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).
I'm here to work: “If…I
am to go on living in the flesh, that means productive toil for me.”
—Philippians 1:22
In today’s Gospel passage, the workers for the harvest said,
“I’m here to work.” Jesus, however, wants to purify their motives. Are they
working for themselves and their own reward, or are they working for the Master
and His kingdom? Like St. Paul, all of us who work to bring in the harvest for
the kingdom of God are challenged to say, “I’m here to work for the Master and
to give Him a fruitful harvest” (see Phil 1:22-24).
When we disciples of Jesus work for Him with a focus on our
own reward, that’s trouble. We need to work for Christ and His people, and
forget about “What’s in it for me?”. Let’s focus on “What’s in it for Jesus?”
and “What’s in it for God’s people?”. Since God’s thoughts are not our thoughts
(Is 55:8-9), let’s ask for the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). What if Jesus
asked, “What’s in it for Me? What do I get out of working and suffering in the
heat of all the trials I endured?” (see Mt 20:12) What if Jesus went on strike,
threatening to stop forgiving our sins or hearing our prayers until He got what
He deserved from us?
Therefore, let us be like Jesus and St. Paul. Let’s work for
God’s sake and for a fruitful harvest to present to Him (see Mt 9:37-38). May
we be generous like our Master (Mt 20:15). Let us gratefully work long and hard
for the privilege of bringing joy to the Master (Mt 25:21) and to bring the
kingdom of God to as many people as possible.
Prayer: Father, do
in me whatever You must in order to do through me whatever You will. “Turn to
the Lord for mercy; to our God, Who is generous in forgiving.” —Is 55:7. Praise
Jesus, crucified Messiah and risen Lord! Alleluia!
The personal action for
today: What is my reaction when I
see some people accept the 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? Whom is God calling me to serve and
minister to today? This week? This year?
Saints Andrew Kim Taegon,
Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions: The
first native Korean priest, Andrew Kim Taegon was the son of Christian
converts. Following his baptism at the age of 15, Andrew traveled 1,300 miles
to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years, he managed to return to his
country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai
and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to arrange for more
missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He
was arrested, tortured, and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul, the
capital.
Andrew Kim Taegon’s father Ignatius Kim, was martyred during
the persecution of 1839, and was beatified in 1925. Paul Chong Hasang, a lay
apostle and married man, also died in 1839 at age 45.
Among the other martyrs in 1839 was Columba Kim, an
unmarried woman of 26. She was put in prison, pierced with hot tools and seared
with burning coals. She and her sister Agnes were disrobed and kept for two
days in a cell with condemned criminals, but were not molested. After Columba
complained about the indignity, no more women were subjected to it. The two
were beheaded. Peter Ryou, a boy of 13, had his flesh so badly torn that he
could pull off pieces and throw them at the judges. He was killed by
strangulation. Protase Chong, a 41-year-old nobleman, apostatized under torture
and was freed. Later he came back, confessed his faith and was tortured to
death.
Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in
1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers.
Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside
world except for taking taxes to Beijing annually. On one of these occasions,
around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated
Korean Christians to study. A home Church began. When a Chinese priest managed
to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found 4,000 Catholics, none of whom
had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10,000 Catholics.
Religious freedom came to Korea in 1883.
Besides Andrew Kim Taegon and Paul, Pope John Paul II
canonized 98 Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred
between 1839 and 1867, when he visited Korea in 1984. Among them were bishops
and priests, but for the most part they were lay persons: 47 women and 45 men.
We marvel at the fact that the Korean Church was strictly a
lay Church for a dozen years after its birth. How did the people survive
without the Eucharist? It is no belittling of this and other sacraments to
realize that there must be a living faith before there can be a truly
beneficial celebration of the Eucharist. The sacraments are signs of God’s
initiative and response to faith already present. The sacraments increase grace
and faith, but only if there is something ready to be increased.
