Ken Overberg, S.J.

25th Sunday,  Sept 21, 2008
 
Today’s gospel tells us the familiar parable about the landowner who hires workers at different times throughout the day, but pays them all the same daily wage (a denarius). As usual, we have several layers here: the original parable of Jesus and the reworking of the parable into the gospel narrative by the evangelist.
 
Many of Jesus’ parables challenged the expectations of his Galilean audience.  The empire of God is not what they had anticipated. The original form of today’s parable does not attempt to explain divine justice but to stir the audience to wonder how God truly acts for them.  Rooted in his intimate experience of Abba God, Jesus describes a God of surprise, a God of generosity.
 
Matthew weaves the parable into his own narrative, now stressing that the first will be last and the last first.  In Matthew’s community, the “latecomers” were probably Gentiles, for the community was a mix of Jews who believed in Jesus and also of Gentiles. Evidently there was tension between the two groups, with some considering their status as an entitlement.  Matthew’s reworking of the parable warns the leaders not to be presumptuous that they deserve more (see The Word in Time, revised edition, by Arthur Dewey, p. 68).
 
The first reading, from the unknown prophet we call Second Isaiah speaking to a people in exile, introduces the theme of God’s generosity and reminds the people—and now us—that God’s ways are not our ways.  In the second reading, we begin Paul’s letter to the Philippians, a community very dear to his heart.
 
Let’s listen to God’s word!

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The life and teachings of Jesus still challenge expectations.  How often are our values, our response to those different from us, even our image of God profoundly influenced by our culture’s view of common sense and political and economic realism?  
 
As in Matthew’s community, tensions still exist among different groups.  We too may shun some “outsider” as unworthy of the same pay, of God’s generosity.  Perhaps people of different religions, different cultures, different sexual orientations, different politics.
 
Too easily we forget the God revealed by Jesus.  The God who carefully balances the scales of justice does not exist. The God who is immune to our suffering does not exist.  The God who keeps a ledger of our sins and failings does not exist.  No, the God of Jesus makes the rains fall on the just and the unjust; God watches over the widow and the poor; God welcomes the marginalized and hosts a banquet for the prodigal son (see God for Us by Catherine LaCugna, p. 397).
 
In our ordinary lives and in this election year, we need to be attentive to the depths of our values and convictions.  Who is the outsider—the latecomer—in your life and how do you respond? What is your image of God?