20th September 2020. 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Mt 20, 1-16
How right Isaiah was when he says on God’s behalf, “my plans are not your plans, my ways are not your ways”. And in this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus shows us this clearly in the parable of those who go to work in the vineyard at different times of the day, and all receive the same pay. How can he pay the same to the one who worked all day and the one who was only there for a while? But there is no injustice, because the first one was paid what was agreed, even if with the following ones he was more generous.
Jesus is not setting an example of distributive justice, but of God’s love. Let us remember what happened to the “good thief,” crucified with Jesus: “Today you will be with me in paradise”. The whole life of a thief and at the end, at the last moment, in that encounter with Jesus, he gets paradise.
Why should I sacrifice my whole life, if I can reach the same thing in the end? Who hasn’t thought of this at some time or other? Who is there who doesn’t believe that “God owes him something” for what he has done during his life? So many masses, so many sacrifices, so much endurance…
But isn’t this the attitude of the brother of the Prodigal Son?
God’s ways are not our ways. His justice does not follow human criteria. It is based on love without limits. And it is much more generous than we might think.
God is all love, and with love, the more you give, the more you have.
Juan Ramón Gómez Pascual, cmf
