Florida Catholic | Sunday Word

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

It’s not about rewards, but about blessings

September 21, 2008 :: Is 55:6-9; Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18; Phil 1:20c-24, 27a; Mt 20:1-16a

FATHER DAVID SCOTCHIE | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Wearing a judge’s white wig, Father Jeff Nicolas gave a homily from the pulpit, “The matter of the first-hired versus the vineyard owner”:

I now instruct you, members of the jury, to pass judgment upon this case.

As you have heard, the vineyard owner had hired laborers throughout the day to work in his vineyard. At the end of the workday, he had had his foreman pay all the day laborers the same whether they had worked one hour or the full eight hours (Mt 20:1-16).

You heard the plaintiff argue that the vineyard owner’s justification, “What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?” is un-American. The first-hired complained that the reckless pay scale of the vineyard owner made the latecomers equal to those who worked all day in the heat.

Furthermore, the plaintiff contended, you work in order to receive your just reward. Why would anyone want to work for this vineyard owner when he can show up at the last minute and collect an entire day’s wage?

You also heard from the counsel for the defendant. She made the case that the vineyard owner was not the plaintiffs’ boss. He was their patron.

The expert witnesses Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, authors of “Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels,” gave testimony about the patronage system in Roman Palestine.

The expert witnesses testified that a patron is like a parent. A parent gives his or her children unbounded love regardless of whether they work less or more than the other children. In response to the parent’s blessings, children respond with gratitude.

The defendant claimed that the case is not about fair pay for a day’s work, but about gifts. It’s not about rewards, but about blessings. It’s not about marketplace competition, but family providing for its members’ needs.

The decision which you, members of the jury, face is whether to regard the vineyard owner as the boss for whom you work or as the patron to whom you belong.

To say that the kingdom of heaven is like this vineyard owner is to say that you live under the rule of God the patron or God the boss.

Remember that your decision has lasting precedent. To allow the vineyard owner to treat the last as the first will apply to that daughter who has stopped going to church and to that son who keeps getting in trouble with the law. Some will get what is due to them as demands justice. Others will get more than what is due to them as demands mercy.

And remember, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you. The court now adjourns to await your verdict.

To take to prayer: How has the Lord been generous to you?

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