If you can confess to having gone to Walmart once in your life, there is the distinct possibility that you have had the following experience:  You are in line, a rather long line, waiting for your turn at the cashier to purchase your items and go on your way.  There is someone ahead of you that is purchasing an unmarked item, and the cashier leaves the register to go find the price, since the department won’t answer the phone.  In your mind, you go through the sequence of your day that brought you up to this point, and then immediately you contemplate, perhaps with some annoyance, the things that you yet have to “do” and this present inconvenience, to put it mildly,  of having to wait in line.  Suddenly, to your right, a cash register opens, and the three people behind you move over to that register.  You are very mindful that the last person in line had just walked up to the register you were at, just 30 seconds before and now was the first in line to check out at the newly-opened register.  The injustice of it all!

 In Matthew’s gospel today (MT 20: 1-16), Jesus’ parable begins with the familiar, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”  The story goes on to describe a landowner who is looking for workers to labor in his vineyard.   At the very crack of dawn, there are several people eager to work and, after agreeing for the “usual daily wage,” they go into the vineyard.  Later in the morning, the landowner finds other people who were “standing idle,” so he invites them to go work in the vineyard, telling them “I will give you what is just.”  Again at noon, three, and finally at five o’clock in the afternoon, the landowner finds others “standing around.”  When asked by the landowner why they were idle, they replied that “they hadn’t been hired.”  So he tells them all to go into the vineyard.

 Now, at the end of the day, all the laborers come out of the vineyard to receive their “wages.”  The ones, who were there earliest in the day, knowing that the “straggling” laborers only worked a few, and in some cases only one hour of the day, fully expected that they, who had worked all day, would receive MORE.  Much to their dismay, all laborers, including those who only worked one hour of the day, received the “usual wage.”  Their grumbling took voice when they confronted the landowner, “These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.”

 I do not suggest that this story could not be very significant in addressing the unfair labor/wage issues that prevail in our world today.  There is no question of that harsh reality and the call that we have to effect changes that promote just and fair wages in line with the undeniable dignity due each human person.  But, what if we look at the parable from another possible angle?  What if we ask ourselves precisely “WHO” is this landowner?

 The landowner is looking for people, seeking them out constantly, and inviting them in.  He (or she if you prefer) is doing this all day long, almost every hour on the hour.  It’s almost as if the “work” that the landowner is sending the laborers to do in the vineyard is beside the point for the landowner.   He is asking them questions about their lives, like, why are you just “standing around” unengaged?!  And I wonder… what is this “daily wage” that everyone is agreeing to exactly?  Is it the “same” for everyone or not?

How often might we mistake generosity for something earned, a gift for something we must work for?  This is radical stuff, completely countercultural from what we see and experience in our every-day life.  Do we really have to earn anything from God?  And does it matter how much we “do” in God’s eyes?  How often do we get into the “counting” game and compare our efforts and earnings with those of others?  Do we sometimes, perhaps unconsciously even, complain to God that “you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat?”  I confess that I do.

 What if the Kingdom of heaven really is like….a generous heart, a welcoming smile, an invitation to engage and participate….include, and eyes that see with concern and care?  Could it be that those who labor to love are the ones who truly bear the day’s burden?

 Peace,

 Thomas