Overview:

Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

A Reflection for Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Are you envious because I am generous?
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Find today’s readings here.

The parable in today’s Gospel posed a bit of a challenge for me, since I unfortunately relate quite strongly to the feelings of the “bad guys.”

A landowner hires workers for his vineyard throughout the day. Each worker is paid the same amount, despite the discrepancy in the number of hours worked. Those who started early in the morning are understandably upset: “These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.”

They are not being malicious or inappropriate. It is natural to feel the way they must have felt. We all act this way—we reasonably look out for ourselves and operate with a certain level of self-respect.

The message of the parable is that God loves us all equally. There is no set number of hours we can work to “earn” more of God’s love. It is a beautiful concept and one with which I wholeheartedly agree.

But it can also feel a bit unfair. If God is going to love us all the same anyway, then why do the right thing? Why work hard?

A true understanding of this message requires dismissing the ego. We work hard and “do the right thing” because it is how we are called to act in this world. We owe it to ourselves and to the people around us to operate with kindness, loyalty and treat others the way we want to be treated.

The story also shines a light on our tendency to fixate on the negative instead of practicing gratitude. The landowner did not wrong the morning workers in any way. He gave them exactly what he promised them, and yet they viewed him as unfair. The only basis for their discontent is that they watched other people be “made equal to [them].” The obsession with the earnings of other workers fuels nothing but the ego.

We are challenged to view the world in a more positive and generous way, which takes practice and patience. The morning workers agreed to a job for fair compensation, and their employer held up his end of the bargain entirely. This instance should be a cause for gratitude. It is also a reminder to focus on what is within your control, since we are not meant to understand how God works. I imagine that in God’s mind, the fact that each worker in this story receives an equal wage is as simple as the equation 2+2=4. 

It is only our responsibility to act as good, kind human beings and not care if we are “first” or “last.” Because that order seems to get shifted around all the time.

Jackson Goodman is the Strategic Programs Manager at America Media, creating mission-driven events in partnership with Jesuit schools and parishes. He is a graduate of Fordham Prep and Boston College.