1st February Trinity
 |
| Van Gogh |
Matthew 20: 1-16
[But many who are last
will be first, and many who are first will be last.] The kingdom of the heavens
is like a man, the master of his house, who went out early in the morning to
hire workers for his vineyard. Agreeing to pay them one denarius a day, he sent
them out into his vineyard.
At about 9 o’clock he went out and saw others standing
in the marketplace, and he said to them, “Go also into my vineyard, and I will
give you whatever is right.” So they went.
He went out again at about
noon and at 3 o’clock and did the same. At 5 o’clock he went out and found
others standing there, and he said to them, “Why do you stand here all day
idle?” They said, “Because no one has hired us.” He said, “You, too, go into
the vineyard.”
And when evening came, the
master of the vineyard said to his steward, “Call the workers and give them
their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.”
Those who had been hired
at 5 o’clock came forward, and each received one denarius. Therefore, when it
was the turn of those who were hired first, they expected to receive more.
However, they too also received one denarius each. They took it, but they began
to grumble against the master of the house. “These men who were hired last only
worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden
of the work and the heat of the day.”
However, he answered one
of them, saying, “Friend, I am not being unjust to you. Did you not agree with
me for one denarius? Take what you have earned and go. I wish to give to the
man hired last the same as I give to you. Have I not the right to do as I wish
with what is mine? Or do you give me an evil look because I am generous? Thus
will the last be first and the first will one day be last. “
1st February Trinity
February 7, 2016
Matthew 20: 1-16
This gospel
reading about the day’s wages is often used to illustrate the idea of social
justice. And it is indeed that. But it can also be explored on another level.
We are all
of us sent from heaven to fields of earth, to work here for the Master, the
Lord of the Harvest. Some of us have arrived early and labored long. Some of us
have been sent more recently. But each of us laboring toward one goal – the Lord’s
harvest of human virtues, grown here on earth.
And in the
end, our reward, our ‘one denarius’, is the earning of our own individual selfless
selfhood. Some must labor long and hard; others seem to achieve it with what
only appears to be less struggle and effort.
A part of
what Christ is trying to tell us here is that a desire for a greater reward
than another runs counter to the ideal and goal of selfless selfhood. Demanding
more in comparison to others is not selfless; in fact, it is spiritually
counterproductive. The harvest the Lord is trying to bring in will be the
selfless virtues of all of humanity.
Those who
have worked longest and hardest to achieve them will rejoice for the others; for
we are all working together toward the same goal. And the Lord of the Harvest is generous.
