Many years ago I used to take two
grandchildren on my Saturday errands. They were pretty young, about
five and three. I would of course try to bribe them into being good
by promising a treat. Once I let them pick out penny candy. After
we got back to the car the three year old began crying; it turned out
that she had grabbed two fistfuls of the candy and could not hold any
more, and was very bothered by the fact that her brother might get
some.
A lot of sermons on this gospel
passage leave you to think that Jesus is telling us not to be
jealous. That's a good message. But there is a lot more here than
that. Before this passage is another which I'm sure you remember.
It is about the rich young man who chose not to follow Jesus because
he had many possessions. Jesus comments that it will be hard for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Then Peter asks, “We have
given up everything to follow you; what then will there be for us?”
And Jesus promises that they will receive a hundred times what they
have given up, and eternal life besides.
And that is when Jesus says, “The
kingdom of heaven is like a man, a land owner...” The parable we
hear today.
So Jesus is expanding on what he has
just told Peter, about the reward for giving up everything and
following him.
So we need to see this parable like
Jesus' audience did. First of all, landowners, especially rich ones,
were suspect. Part of the Mosaic law was that every fifty years land
which had changed hands would be returned to it's original owner.
The Jewish people, needless to say, stopped doing that fairly early
on. People who were rich, and rich meant land, were considered to
have done something dishonest to acquire their land. One thing they
often did was try to pay their workers less than the usual daily
wage. But this landowner agrees to the usual wage. The usual wage
was enough to keep your family fed and have a little extra; it was
sufficient, it was all you needed. So those first workers went away
happy.
Then at the end of the day, seeing
that those hired last are getting the usual daily wage as well, the
first workers think they deserve more, but they don't get it. And
that's the point Jesus is making to Peter. He is saying, you will be
rewarded, Peter, you will receive all you can handle. But when you
asked that question, your premise was wrong. In the kingdom of
heaven, everyone will receive all they can handle. There is no
finite pile of stuff to fight over, to be jealous about. God has no
limits and wants to give you everything you need. There is no such
thing as more or less in the kingdom of heaven.
So a lot of us might sympathize with
the workers who bore the heat of the day; we might sympathize with
Peter After all we come to church, we try to live good lives, we
pray, we treat others with human decency. And we know there are
people out there who don't. And the natural inclination is that we
should get more than they do. But hard as it is to understand,
that's not the way it is in the kingdom of heaven.
So why is Jesus telling us this
parable? Maybe it's a little disappointing to know that Saint
Theresa and John Paul II and I and my uncle Louis who drank heavily
and had been married three times and had been sent to jail twice but
had a deathbed conversion and received the sacraments – all of us
are going to receive from God all that we need to be perfectly happy
for all eternity. But the kingdom of heaven is here, now. We don't
have to wait till we die. And God gives his children, whether
Catholic or Muslim or atheist, all that they need to live, and live
comfortably. He gives them what they need to be happy in this life
and in the next. And those of us who are trying to bring about the
kingdom have to turn away from that idea that God's gifts are finite
and some of us deserve more than others. Those of us who are trying
to bring about the kingdom have to remember that God wants everything
good for everyone, and we are God's instruments in this world.
A man died and went to heaven. He had
lived a very holy life, dedicating himself to helping the poor and
disadvantaged. He had worked tirelessly for justice. He lived a
life of prayer. And when he stood before the judgement seat, he was
assured that he would have a wonderful mansion, a porche, lots of
great friends – anything he wanted, for all eternity, because God
wanted him to be happy. And the next person in line was a man who
had lived on the margins. He got to church Christmas and Easter; he
threw a dollar bill into the collection plate. He grudgingly gave a
few dollars to the Saint Vincent de Paul society, but only when
asked. And his temper tantrums made the lives of his wife and
children miserable. And at the judgement seat, after weighing the
good and the bad, he was told that he would begiven a wonderful
mansion, a porche, lots of great friends, anything he wanted for all
eternity, because God wanted him to be happy. And the first man's
heart was filled with gratitude and he welcomed the second person
with open arms.
Go and do likewise.
