20th Sunday, Ordinary Time, Aug. 23, 2006

Scripture: Ezekiel 34:1-11. Psalm 23. Matthew 20:1-6.

One of my classmates in Rome at the Pontifical Biblical Institute wrote a commentary on both Mark and Matthew. This Benedictine scholar impressed me as I watched him take notes in a fine script and as I learned about his excellent knowledge of Biblical Greek. I checked into his commentary today to look at this very difficult parable for us Americans. Here is what he said, "Matthew takes the closing remark in Mark 10:31, and by repeating it (reversing the order of 'firsts' and 'lasts') frames the parable which he adds to illustrate the truth that at the manifestation of the kingdom--'pay day' for Matthew --all earthly orders of priority will be turned upside down. This however was not the original meaning of the parable." ..."The context in which the story was originally told may therefore well be some sucah as 9:10-13, in reply to objections that sinners are admitted to Jesus' company and kingdom." I read this after I had written the following for today's parable: This parable is a difficult one for most of us in the U.S.A. and certainly not one that would be favorably read by those who belong to labor unions. But it does make sense in Matthew if we look at the content of Jesus' method throughout the parables of the kingdom. Jesus is speaking to the disciples (thus, we, too are implied as readers and disciples of this parable). It is meant for anyone who takes the time to listen to it or read it. Jesus intends his parables to challenge us to think and to reverse many of our ways of thinking and judging. Not an easy task for control people! It upsets us if we look at it in our ordinary way of looking at "justice." It is achieving its purpose if it upsets us, but we cannot just walk away with our own thoughts. We are called to take on the mind of Jesus Christ when we pray and read the Scriptures. This parable can lead to a momentary conversion experience in which our mindset is turned upside down topsy-turvy, and, our righteousness is put aside for that of God's. If we look at the last lines we will see that the owner of the vineyard is a very kind man and not brusque like the latter workers are. The owner says to them and to us, "Are you envious because I am generous?" (Matthew 20: 15b). The parable is afterall not a parable of the earthly kindgom, but of the kingdom of heaven. It is not about our value system of justice, but about the magnanimous gifts and creative acts of God to call us back to our Creator. This type of reasoning goes beyond our human calculations and logic. We are in the realm of Jesus's way of teaching us through challenging images and stories that make us think the thoughts of God and not our own thoughts. They go beyond what we think into realms of wisdom. To understand this parable we have to think outside the box, especially, outside of our own box!