Reflection on the Sunday Readings for 9/21/08 by Dawn

You can find all the readings for this Sunday at http://www.usccb.org/nab/092108.shtml

"My friend, I am not cheating you.

Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?"

(Matthew 20:13-15)

I am a rule follower. I purchase all my music legally. I cross in cross walks. I don't talk on my cell phone when driving. I don't even talk on my cell phone when filling my gas tank. For me rules and guidelines make life safe. I think everyone should play by the rules: you obey the rules, you achieve the goal... no short cuts.

Perhaps that's why today's Gospel reading can be challenging for me. The landowner pays the workers the same amount - whether they worked 10 hours or 2 hours. This does not go according to the unwritten "rule" that if you do more work you get more money. In this case there is nothing illegal being done - just someone who is being generous. I can guarantee, though, if I were one of the people that worked all day long, I would feel cheated. I guess you could relate it to waiting at the toll booth (not having an ez pass). Imagine you had to wait in line for ten minutes to pay and just before you reach the booth, two more lanes open up. The people behind you didn't have to wait nearly as long as you did, it might seem unfair - those people didn't have to wait as long as you did, and now some of them are ahead of you! In reality, those people just happen to be in the right spot at the right time - it has nothing to do with justice.

At the end of the parable the landowner says to the grumbling workers "Are you envious because I am generous?" That thought stops me. Am I jealous because someone else receives what I consider to be unmerited gifts and/or forgiveness? Unfortunately I have to admit that I am almost always jealous. That sense of injustice then results in a stumbling block to my living a content life. I would guess that happens to most of us - something in us reacts negatively when it seems that life isn't as harsh on someone else as it is on us.

If we think of this parable in terms of grace and forgiveness, instead of in terms of money, we are challenged even more. We need God's grace and mercy, but if it's true for us, is it true for our biggest enemy? Does the murderer and terrorist deserve to be forgiven by God? The answer is yes. God is the generous landowner who freely forgives and offers grace and mercy to all who turn to Him.

Here's another piece that makes this parable even more challenging: we are called to do the same. We need to offer forgiveness instead of revenge; love instead of hatred; mercy instead of vengeance.

I am called to love the person who seems to win, even though they didn't follow the rules.



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