In our first reading from Isaiah this Sunday, we are made to understand that God does not think the way that we do.  Armed with that knowledge and moving to the Gospel according to Matthew 20:1-16 we can understand the parable of the vineyard owner who pays all his workers the same wage whether they worked one hour or all day long.

The parable in the Gospel of Matthew is not meant to depict a model employer; it is meant to illustrate God’s distribution of His gifts of grace.  He who works in the vineyard of the Lord is rewarded, not based on seniority but on the very fact that he works in the vineyard.  The focus is on the extreme generosity of God’s gift to the seemingly least deserving. 

God does not think as we do; we do not think as God thinks.  That is the root of misunderstanding of God’s grace.  The sun shines daily on the just and sinner alike.  So it is with God’s love.  God loves all the same.  It seems to us that there is an injustice being done in the Gospel.  The men who have worked hard all day for a wage they bargained see that the men who worked only one hour are being paid the exact same amount, as are all the other men who arrived in-between!  The vineyard owner responds to the grievance by saying, “I want to pay everyone the same.  Am I not free to do what I want with my own money?  Or are you angry because I am generous and kind?”

Last week we discussed forgiveness.  How can we expect God to forgive us if we do not forgive others the same?  God forgives all sin through the blood of Christ Jesus, even the sin of the worst who approach God with a truly and sincerely repentant heart.  We might consider that as unjust, as the men in the parable who worked all day, because we can see the similarity to someone who has not sinned gravely in their life, has kept God’s covenants and has been forgiving who learns that God will love and accept a terrible sinner as easily as He will accept the righteous.

We cannot hope to understand God’s ways while using men’s thoughts and actions to define them.  If we consider ourselves “only” to be worthy of God’s love then we do not in the least understand the love of God.  Many people in the time of Jesus thought that they, and only they, were loved by God and not “others” who believed differently or who sinned.  That is the reason that Jesus taught us using this parable, to illustrate the difference between our way of thinking and God’s.

The Psalm this week is Psalm 145: The Lord is Near (Please click on #12124 to listen to the Psalm setting)

Peace be with you,

Elaine