Sunday Meditation: The Generous Landowner

Last Sunday we heard the parable of the merciful servant.  This week Jesus tells us the parable of the generous landowner. 

 

Jesus told his disciples this parable:

"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner

who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.

After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,

he sent them into his vineyard.

Going out about nine o'clock,

the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard,

and I will give you what is just.'

So they went off.

And he went out again around noon,

and around three o'clock, and did likewise.

Going out about five o'clock,

the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,

'Why do you stand here idle all day?'

They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.'

He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'

When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay,

beginning with the last and ending with the first.'

When those who had started about five o'clock came,

each received the usual daily wage.

So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage.

And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,

'These last ones worked only one hour,

and you have made them equal to us,

who bore the day's burden and the heat.'

He said to one of them in reply,

'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?'

Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."

~Mt 20:1-16

So the first thing you need to do in understanding this parable is don’t think of this as an economic treatise.  Jesus says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner…”  Isn’t it interesting though that so many parables in the Gospel of Matthew use an economic analogy?  Look through Matthew’s Gospel and you will find them, including the one from last week.  It’s as if Matthew the tax collector was drawn to this metaphor.  So if that’s not how to think of this parable, Bishop Robert Barron tells you how you should.

 

Isn’t it marvelous the good Bishop mentions my beloved St. Catherine of Siena?  Of course I had to embed this homily once he did that!

Do not begrudge God His generosity when it comes to the Kingdom of Heaven for you may be that laborer hired at the eleventh hour.  And if you are the laborer hired first, then you were blessed to be in the Kingdom the whole time.

Meditation: “Are you envious because I am generous?”