“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,/ nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord” (Isa 55:8). In our relationship with God, we may be tempted to calculate our standing on the basis of human conceptions of justice. Today's readings challenge us to accept the surprising ways of God's mercy. Let us be open to God's mercy to others, as we sing our responsorial psalm: "The Lord is near to all who call him" (Ps 145). The first reading from the concluding poems of Second Isaiah is an invitation to the wicked to repent. It is modeled on a priestly invitation to come to the sanctuary for sacrifice, but Second Isaiah makes this appeal in exile where the Jews have no sanctuary. The prophet stresses two important features of God's call. First, it comes at certain propitious moments: "Seek the Lord while he may be found,/ call to him while he is near." Second, God "is generous in forgiving," and his mercy is beyond all human reckoning. “As high as the heavens are above the earth,/ so high are my ways above your ways/ and my thoughts above your thoughts.” For the next four Sundays our second reading will be from Paul's letter to the Philippians. As is evident from today's reading, Paul writes this letter while he is in prison and awaiting trial for preaching the gospel. He is not sure whether he will be condemned to die or be released so that he may continue his apostolic work, but he sees advantages in both possibilities: "I long to be freed from this life and to be with Christ, for that is the far better thing; yet it is more urgent that I remain alive for your sakes." Paul's faith tells him that the outcome is in God's hands and that in either case "Christ will be exalted" by bringing forth "life" from a situation which, to human eyes, is fraught with death. “For, to me, ‘life’ means Christ; hence dying is so much gain. If, on the other hand, I am to go on living in the flesh, that means productive toil for me . . .” The Gospel parable is traditionally called "The Laborers in the Vineyard," but it might be better entitled "The Generous Vineyard Owner." Jesus' story gives us a glimpse of both God's generosity and the revolutionary character of "the reign of God." The "owner" and "vineyard" are traditional images, drawn from the prophets (see Isaiah 5 and Jeremiah 12), for God and Israel. In the first half of the parable, the owner, apparently anxious to complete his grape harvest, hires workers at "dawn," "mid-morning," "noon," "mid-afternoon," and finally "late afternoon." Concerning the workers hired at dawn, we learn that the owner "reached an agreement with them for the usual daily wage." So far, the parable, with its anxious vineyard owner and unemployed day laborers, seems to be a typical picture of agrarian life in the time of Jesus. In the second half of the parable, however, we, and those who had "worked a full day in the scorching heat," are shocked by the owner's actions. For some unstated reason, he instructs his foreman, "Call the workmen and give them their pay, but begin with the last group and end with the first." Then, in defiance of any profit driven business practice, he gives those hired at the last hour “a full day's pay.” Naturally, the full day workers, having endured the indignity of being paid last, “supposed they would get more,” but they too “received the same daily wage.” The dialogue between the disgruntled all day workers and the owner contains the punch line of the parable. Understandably, the full day workers are upset at the apparent injustice of their being paid the same wage for twelve hours of work as those who only worked an hour. But the master of the vineyard reminds them, “My friend, I do you no injustice. You agreed on the usual wage, did you not? Take your pay and go home.” Then the owner goes on to give an explanation for his behavior. “I intend to give this man who was hired last the same pay as you. I am free to do as I please with my money, am I not? Or are you envious because I am generous?” God's generosity is not calculable on a human scale of "good business" or justice, and, in fact, often strikes the dutiful as injustice. In Jesus' own ministry, he was often criticized by the religious leaders for his association with "tax collectors and sinners." Within Matthew's community, there was concern about the entrance of Gentiles into an originally Jewish Christian community. To all those who would put limits upon those called to "the reign of God," Jesus says, "`I am free to do as I please with my money, am I not? Or are you envious because I am generous.' Thus the last shall be first and the first shall be last."
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