“So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Mt 20:16) A lady used to beg her parish priest daily to pray for her wayward son. However, one day she did not appear. The priest discovered that her son, while driving in a drunken state, had gone into the river and drowned. Not knowing how to console her, he closed his eyes and prayed. In his mind he pictured the three crosses raised on Calvary. One thief was transformed in just a moment of repentance. The priest told her, “Don’t despair; the time was enough for God to save your son. Go home in peace.” Do I belong to the “first or the last” category that Jesus mentions in today’s Gospel parable? If I am last, like the wayward son apparently was, let me repent and return to the Lord without waiting for the last minute. But if I think I am first, I must be all the more careful to hold fast to my blessed position. Let me not be self-righteous or tempted to boast by claiming to be one of God’s chosen. Let me help those who are seemingly last as the Lord himself is generous and would helped them. And if someone who is last moves up, let me not grumble like the envious labourers in the parable (Mt 20:11-12), but instead rejoice. FRUIT: The surest way for me to be first is to help another to that position.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 04:03:58 +0000
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