Isaiah 55:6-9/Psalm 145/Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a/Matthew 20:1-16a
As the saying goes, "It is better late than never." Well, we say a case of this saying in today's Gospel. In the beginning of the Gospel, the owner of the vineyard hires the first group of workers and makes an agreement that they will be paid the daily wage. The first group of workers started to work at the earliest time, let's say at 4:30, 5:00 or 5:30 in the morning.
While the day went by, the owner of the house still recruited more workers. At the very last hour before the work day ended, like approximately 5:00 in the afternoon, the owner hired another group of workers. He could have been contented with the workers that would work for the whole day under the heat of the sun. But no. The owner chose to look for more workers because he is very compassionate.
Once the work day ended, the owner of the vineyard paid the workers. This time, the order of those being paid were reversed. The last group who worked for only one hour were paid first and they received the daily wage. The very first group, the group that worked the longest, thought that they would receive a larger pay because of their hard work for the whole day. But, instead of what they were expecting, they received the same pay as the last group. Each group of workers received the same pay.
In our eyes, this would deem to be unfair. If we think according to human judgement, what the owner of the vineyard did was an injustice. The workers worked very hard for a very long time in order to earn that right. Why did the owner of the vineyard pay them the same way as he paid the other groups? Why? How come their pay was not raised for their hard work for the full day? This is an injustice. This is corruption. If we base our thinking according to human justice, this in not right. What the owner did was very unfair.
But, the owner of the vineyard cleared the misunderstanding. The owner of the vineyard said that he did not cheat on them. Why? First and foremost, that was their agreement. How could there be an injustice if they both made an agreement? So, no injustice whatsoever on the part of the owner. The workers and the owner of the vineyard made an agreement. So, there is no injustice in what he did.
Second, he is the owner of the vineyard. The owner of the vineyard is the boss. He gets the final say on a particular thing, like in payment. The workers were probably jealous because the owner of the vineyard is very generous. Despite all the riches the owner had, he still is very generous. Take the very last group that worked in the vineyard for example. The owner still hired the very last group because of his generosity. No one would accept them. But, the owner of the vineyard accepted them and paid them the daily wage.
God continually expresses His generosity towards us. Even though we are late in turning back to the Lord, the Lord will still express His generosity towards us. Nothing would hinder or stop the Lord from being generous towards us. The Lord God will not do anything unjust or cheat us. Instead, the Lord will show us how generous He is towards us. God is very generous towards us out of His love for us. God continues to show us His generosity, mercy and compassion towards us each and everyday of our lives.
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