Wednesday, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time Sometimes in the parables that Jesus speaks people behave in ways that others would find surprising or even foolish. The behaviour of the father in the parable of the prodigal son comes to mind. He gave an extraordinary welcome to a son who had done nothing to deserve it. The reaction of his older brother in the story is in keeping with how many people would have reacted if that had happened in real life. This morning’s parable of the workers in the vineyard is a little bit like that parable. The behaviour of the owner of the vineyard would have been considered very strange and even foolish in Jesus’ time; he gave a day’s wages to workers who only worked one hour. Many people tend to react to the parable somewhat negatively even today. Just as we often feel sorry for the elder son in the parable of the prodigal son, we tend to feel sorry for the workers who worked all day and yet got the same as those who worked for an hour. Yet, the workers who worked all day got a day’s wages for their work, which is what the vineyard owner promised them. What is strange and unsettling is that those who worked for only an hour also got a day’s wages. Jesus began this parable with the words, ‘the kingdom of heaven is like...’ The parable is saying something about how God relates to us. Jesus is saying that God is extraordinarily generous. There is nothing calculating about how God relates to us. God’s giving is not dependant on our doing. There can come a time in our lives when, for one reason or another, we can’t do a great deal. Jesus seems to be saying that this has no impact on how God relates to us. God does not ask us to be deserving but to be receptive, and the share what we receive from him with each other.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 07:49:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015