Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I received a call from hospice the other day. Someone was requesting a priest. He did not belong to any parish. In fact, I discovered soon that he had been away from the church for a long time. For that matter, he had been away from God. Only about three months back, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As he approached the end of his life, his mind turned to God. But it was not until the last day that he asked for a priest.
When I reached his room, he was already unresponsive. A few family members had gathered around him. Their grief was tangible. I gathered the family around the bed as I began the prayers. None of them made the sign of the cross, except the man’s mother. None of them knew any responses to the prayers either. Since it was his final wish to be reconciled with God and the Church, I gave him the apostolic pardon, I anointed him with holy oil and blessed him with holy water. Before I prayed the final commendation, I explained the blessedness of the moment to the family. The prayer of commendation goes: “Go forth, Christian soul, in the name of the Father who created you; in the name of the Lord Jesus who has redeemed you; in the name of the Holy Spirit who has consecrated you; go forth faithful Christian. May you live in peace this day, may your home be with God in Zion, with Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, with Joseph, and all the Angels and Saints in the heavenly kingdom. Amen.”
As I left hospice, I said to myself, this is why I love being a Catholic priest. But there was something more. It’s about the kind of God in whom I have put my faith that got me. On the very last day of his life, in his very final moments, someone had been reconciled and was on his way to God. That is the kind of God in whom I have put my faith.
I share this story with you in light of Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard. Here are some lessons we can learn from today’s scripture readings.
All Can be First
The parable of the workers in the vineyard is better titled the “Parable of the Good Employer.” In reality, just as the Parable of the Prodigal Son is also called the “Parable of the Prodigal Father,” this parable too can be called the “Parable of the Prodigal Employer.”
Historically, the parable is Matthew’s defense of Jesus’ special concern for the marginalized of society. He was often accused of being a “friend of the tax collectors and sinners” (Mt 11:19). Jesus himself would say, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners (Mt 9:13). This parable defends the generosity of God. It is a parable of the scandalous generosity of God. The parable reveals the scandalous goodness of God. That same scandalous generosity was revealed in hospice that day. As Isaiah says in today’s first reading, “Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving” (Is 55:7).
Here is the first practical implication. For God, everyone is first. May we always remember that no one is last or lost enough for God. No matter where you are in life or how you are doing, for God you will always be first.
Salvation is a Gift
There is yet another lesson that the Parable of the Prodigal Employer teaches us – that salvation is a gift from God. In the parable, those who were hired first received their just reward first. We should not be blind to those who, in the words of those who were hired first, “bore the burden of the day and heat.” God is a good and generous God and those who were hired first did receive the just reward for which they had agreed. God did give them their due recompense. But the latecomers too received the same reward. It was a gift to them.
The point of the parable is that no one – not those who were hired first nor the ones hired in the last hour - is denied God’s gift. The parable is not about the wages, or fairness, or justice in the first place. Salvation is not a competition. Salvation is a gift.
Here is the second practical implication. May we always remember that salvation is not a reward at the end of our life. Salvation is a gift for those who are first and the ones who are last. None of us earns our way to heaven. Salvation always and forever is a gift of God’s goodness and generosity.
Seek the Lord
I would like return to the story I shared in the beginning. The man in the story is not the hero of the story. The moral of the story is not that it is fine to live a life away from God and the Church. The moral of the story is the opposite. As Isaiah says, “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near” (Is 55:6). saw a bumper sticker that read, “Many who wait for the eleventh hour, die at 10:30.”
Here is the third practical implication. God’s goodness, generosity, mercy and love are not to be taken for granted. Rather as Paul says in today’s second reading, we must “conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil 1:27a). Again, as Paul would say, Christ must be magnified in us in life and in death. For us, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:20c-21). We are called to seek the Lord now. We are called to magnify the Lord in life and in death. We are called to live for Christ and at the end of our lives, die in him.
Just like salvation is a gift from God, this Eucharist is a gift. As we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, may our lives magnify the scandalous good and generous God of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Fr. Satish Joseph