“The Kingdom of God is like WHAT?” by Rachael Flanagan
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The first time I heard the parable of the landowner, I was like, “Wow, Jesus got it wrong this time.” Up until that point, I could basically nod along with everything I had heard about in the Bible and what I learned about faith – it all seemed to make sense. But this passage always rubbed me the wrong way. The story goes something like this:
Cue Dream boarder:
The scene is a rural village along a sparkling sea, with rows and rows of grape vines, just as the sun is spilling over the horizon. The wealthy owner of the nearby vineyard ventures into the marketplace and sees several strapping young men, dressed to impress (as far as things go in this town), proactively looking for some honest day labor. The landowner approaches them and says, “How would you fine lads like to make $100 bucks? Come work in my vineyard.” The lads think to themselves that they have found themselves a good gig. They thank the man for the opportunity, shake on it, and get to work. It’s a hot day and they spend hours working hard under the sweltering sun, hunched over picking grapes, hauling heavy barrels across the hilly terrain and pruning vines with dull blades.
The heat of the day passes and well into the evening, the landowner goes back into the market place. This time he sees a few guys sitting around, mindlessly flipping water bottles and staring into space. He approaches them and says, “How would you fine lads like to make $100 bucks?” The boys clamor to their feet and join the others in the field.
Now (here is the kicker). One hour later, the guys from the morning have filled 50 barrels with grapes and the new guys have finished 5. It’s quitting time and the landowner calls everybody down for their payment. He calls the new guys up first. “Here is $100 for your work.” The guys who put in a whole day start to get excited. “Nice, we must have misunderstood the day rate. It must be $100 an hour. We probably made close to $1000 today!” But when the landowner calls them up in turn, imagine their disappointment when the morning guys were handed their payment of $100 for their whole day’s work. “That’s not fair! You’ve cheated us!” the guys shout. The landowner replies “I am not cheating you. Is this not what we agreed on? And what if I wish to give these guys over here the same amount as you? Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?”
Dream Boarder out.
“And kids, that’s what the Kingdom of Heaven is like,” said Jesus.
And that’s when I threw the chair. How is that like the Kingdom of Heaven? It’s not fair. The guys who only worked an hour shouldn’t have been paid the same wages as the guys who worked all day. It’s absurd. An outrage, I say!
How often do we feel like this in life? I’ve worked so hard at singing for the past 10 years, taking lessons, practicing scales, and this new girl shows up who has never taken a lesson in her life, and she’s a natural and is immediately given all of the solos and leads in the school musical. Or – I’ve worked so hard to save up money for a car, stashing away all of my restaurant tips for the past 5 years just so I don’t have to spend 2 hours a day taking the bus to and from school. So I buy a 2007 Chevy Cobalt and am happy until my coworker decides he wants to buy a brand new mustang and pays cash for one the next day.
“Are you envious because I am generous?” the landowner says. Perhaps we should consider these words. If the comparison never took place – if that tactless landowner would have just paid and dismissed the morning guys first – everyone would have been perfectly happy. But sometimes when we see how much other people are blessed, it can cause the illusion that we are not blessed. Why is that? Why can’t we be happy with what we have, and at the same time, be happy that other people have been generously blessed? Jesus says this is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like, and perhaps it isn’t fair. Some people in Heaven were righteous their entire lives. Other people lived sinful lives and repented at the last minute, and they are still with God in Heaven. Maybe God’s mercy isn’t fair, but that’s the point, or it wouldn’t be mercy.
So this might be a reading we all need to wrestle with, and when we feel ourselves becoming envious of what other people have, we can remember the landowners’ words which echo God, “Are you envious because I am generous?” Because someday, we are going to find that we are the late workers and are going to be grateful that God has been merciful and generous to us.
