This homily was presented during an online Catholic “liturgy of the word mass” for our parish, St. Mary in Seattle. The readings of the day are included at the end for reference:
I love this parable. I love the idea that eternal life – the Kingdom of Heaven – makes absolutely no sense in capitalism. I love the idea that God’s payment to us is pure unconditional love no matter how much or little time we put into tending God’s vineyard. If we are doing the work of God come pay time, we will receive eternal life. I love the idea that when we compare what we get with what others get, we are no longer doing the work of the vineyard. We can no longer experience eternal life because we are no longer in the mindset to do so. Thus, we put ourselves at the back of the line for receiving payment.
So why would you want to be an early arrival to work? What is your job when it comes to the late or seemingly misdirected workers? And what is the work of the vineyard anyway?
Why Arrive Early?
As the first reading said, “your thoughts are not my thoughts, your ways are not my ways.” Our ways of payment based on production rather than need are not the ways of God. Our thoughts concerning fairness rather than the experience of the work as the payment itself are not the thoughts of God. We are being told that our mindset and attitude about our work matter to whether we experience eternal life.
Jesus tells this parable in direct response to Peter asking what’s the reward for the disciples who already gave up everything to follow Jesus? Eternal life. There is no more or less to eternal life based on how long you have labored. Jesus tells the parable knowing that the society of the day viewed wage fairness as commensurate with output, like us today.
Jesus never says the people who never work get paid. At some point you must do God’s work to receive the payment. If you are truly engaged with the work of the vineyard and doing things aligned with God’s love, then you will be experiencing eternal life. The second you turn your heart towards the work of God, you will be receiving God’s love because you are now open to receiving it. Turn your heart away from God by measuring your work with that of others and you have closed yourself from receiving, going to the back of the line. While eternal life is the same, the plea for starting sooner is that eternal life only occurs in the time you spend fully engaged in the vineyard work.
But what about the people with whose work we disagree? What is our role with recruitment on the vineyard?
Initially I was thinking this reading just meant that God gives the same love to the white supremacist militant who claims to be Christian as the Black Lives Matter peacefully provocative protestor. I thought that God loves the people who claim to be good Christians in the belief they earned what they have through their hard work equal to the native and Black people whose land and labor was stolen to fund the seeds of that hard work generations ago. I read this to mean that God loves the people who believe God is on the side of justice in law and order policies equal to the communities who are being killed by those law and order policies that maintain oppression. That God loves our neighbors who celebrate their faith by coming together with singing and social distancing practices that are scientifically proven to spread pandemic equal to those of us who maintain strict quarantine to respect healthcare workers and vulnerable populations.
Then I realized while my intention may be a desire to equalize us in the eyes of God, my spirit is doing exactly what the reading says not to do. I am still comparing myself and my beliefs and actions to those of other people to decide who should get paid, what and when.
Another person’s journey is between them and God. I will never know another person’s experience of God’s love. I will never know if it is similar to a person who engages in what I believe is the work of the vineyard. And the second I start to wonder, I’m back at the end of the line for actually experiencing eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The love God has for all of us -whether working the vineyard or not – may be exactly the same. But the reading suggests we may only get the payment, experience the fullness of God’s love, if we are doing what God deems is the work of the vineyard. We could be those hired last who receive first with awe and gratitude. We could be those who have believed for years we were doing the work when in fact, it was not truly the love God asked of us and only now are we recognizing that our spirit was not open to identify our shortcomings. We could be long term laborers who must surrender our desire to be arbiter of who gets how much as well as our desire to be first in the eyes of God.
Our work is not-not trying to get the late arrivals to start working sooner. It’s still our job to do that and speak out. But in the end, no matter when people show up, our jobs are the same. Our payment is the same. Questioning payment puts us at the back of the line. Questioning why someone didn’t get there sooner – and the role we may have played in keeping them away – could definitely be the work of the vineyard.
In looking for the 2020 silver linings, I learned that Ruth Bader Ginsberg left this life on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year celebration beginning the high holy days. According to Jewish tradition, a person who dies on Rosh Hashanah was needed to do God’s work until the last minute of the year and is a person of great righteousness. Her righteous advice for our role in recruiting people often and early to work the vineyard: “Fight for the things that you care about but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
Finally, what is the actual work of the vineyard? How do we know whether we are on the side of God? Jesus provides some basics in the preceding chapter.
First husbands may not divorce their wives, particularly in order to marry someone else. In historical context women were completely dependent on their fathers, brothers, or husbands for their livelihood. Divorce meant a woman was unprotected with no income. Today, who is protecting women from being detained by ICE and having their uteruses removed? What does income equality mean when a hierarchy of gender and race still exists in pay scales? It means it’s still complicated and we still need to ensure women’s needs – financial, physical, emotional, spiritual – are being equitably met. Perhaps most importantly, in the words of RBG, “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.” Interesting statement in a Catholic community…
Second was let the children come to me – the kingdom belongs to such as these. Everyone has a place in the kingdom. No one is unimportant including the children. Want to advance the kingdom of God? How are you helping the children feel loved and healed by Jesus? I’m guessing weapons and cages aren’t involved but equitable access to education and healthcare probably is.
Third the man asked what good deed to do to have eternal life. Jesus spouted off the commandments about how we treat one another. The man continues to push, and Jesus says if you wish to be perfect, go sell everything, give the money to the poor and follow me.
In telling the disciples about this man, Jesus claims it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of the needle than the rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The “eye of the needle” was the narrow gate to the protected walled city. It wasn’t impossible for the camel to get through. You had to be willing to unload all your belongings from your camel. While your things were on the ground, you had to convince your camel to kneel down and crawl through the eye of the needle that was built for a single person to pass. If you could convince your camel, you would then be on the opposite side of the gate from all your possessions. You had to be detached enough from your possessions either to trust no thieves would take them or not care if they were all stolen. It wasn’t easy. It isn’t easy. Dealing with it all took time away from doing the work of the vineyard. Doing only an hour of God’s work may enable you to experience God’s ultimate love, but will you really experience that love on the level of the Kingdom of Heaven if the rest of your time is spent otherwise?
Is all the hassle of protecting one’s possessions – which in the US today can most definitely be traced to some form of slavery – worth it?
Jesus says, for mortals this level of detachment is impossible but for God all things are possible. Prompting Peter to ask his question. Jesus uses this parable to show the reward of eternal life is not just detachment from our possessions, as Peter and the disciples had done. It is also detachment from being rewarded for our detachment. And detachment from comparing our reward to that of people we judge as more or less detached than us.
Jesus is never telling us to be perfect. Only God can be perfect and make us so. Our work in God’s vineyard means applying the commandments to our interactions with all people, especially women and children. One can see how fighting oppression in any form to ensure the women and children are cared for is imperative to the vineyard. Then our work is detachment – from possessions, from comparing, from results.
This builds on the forgiveness we heard Ed talk about last week. No one has wronged us by doing less but receiving the same from God. But we still may need to let go of a grudge about it. It is not for us to judge how God loves or keep tabs on who is doing how much of the work. It is our job to defend women and children by disrupting oppression and to encourage others in finding their job on the vineyard. Do your thing, trust that the more you do, you will not receive more reward, but you may have more opportunity to experience the fullness of it. Trust that the minute you start comparing your work to that of others, your attention has been diverted from the payment.
This parable doesn’t address those of us who start the work but get distracted. We only get paid if we come back. So, know that we are human, not perfect, just as Jesus said. Work to be perfect with God’s help if you wish. Practice detachment – from possessions, from comparing your eternal reward to that of others. Expect that all are being paid the same. And just keep coming back. The payment of unconditional love will always be there.
Now off to our next community vineyard project – the Harvest – get ready to unload some of your camels in support of the food bank!
Reading 1: Isaiah 55:6-9
Seek our loving God while God may be found, call God who is very near. Let the scoundrels forsake their ways, and the wicked their thoughts; let them turn to God for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says our God. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.
Reading 2: Phil. 1:20-27
A reading from St. Paul to the Philippians.
Brothers and sisters: Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Gospel: MT 20:1-16
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o’clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”