25th Sunday, Year A                                                                                     September 21, 2014

Gospel Equality and Fairness

The trade union movement was founded to defend the rights of workers, who were often the subject of exploitation. It remains a valuable corrective even into today’s world, where, for all the progress we have made, there is still an enormous imbalance in the distribution of wealth. Indeed Pope Francis, especially in his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, has not been afraid to challenge the dangers of the economics of market forces, not to mention his equal determination to tackle modern forms of slavery. The social teaching of the Catholic Church, based on a concern for the common good, is widely respected and we rightly see it as rooted in the teaching of Jesus. 

How then do we respond when Jesus presents us with a parable about the kingdom of heaven being comparable to a landowner, who hires workers in his vineyard and pays them all the same wage, no matter whether they worked throughout the day or just for an hour or two at the end? No doubt we can imagine ourselves joining the grumblers if we had been among those who had slogged for the entire day and had received no extra recompense, albeit that we were paid what had originally been agreed. In the first place we need to consider the context in which Matthew has Jesus telling this story. The Pharisees had repeatedly sought to catch Jesus out and on each occasion he had calmly tried to redirect their thinking. Also he had just encountered a man of great wealth, who was not free to follow him because his riches had enslaved him. The parable of the landowner is not a parable that calls for a trade union demonstration. It is a parable that sits neatly alongside the whole of Jesus’ teaching, where life’s latecomers, no matter what the cause of their misfortune, are not to be judged but welcomed and looked after. It sits neatly alongside the parable of the Prodigal Son and all the wrong people whom Jesus sought out and ministered to. It is the upside down world of the Gospel, which can only be understood by children who don’t have to earn the love of a father who dotes on them. 

It remains hard for all of us to be imbued with this gospel message where the first shall be last, and the last first. As our societies become more sophisticated we set up complicated checks and balances and introduce insurances and protections to ensure our safety and our right to compensation should things go wrong. Yet even in our own time we have plenty of examples of people who have liberated themselves from this kind of suffocation and have sought to live more simply, reaching out to their brothers and sisters in need. Among them is our own Pope Francis, who wants a Church, where people are willing to take risks. One thing is for certain: God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s ways not our ways. The heavens are high above us and we are called to reach for them!
Timothy Buckley CSsR
© Redemptorists 2014

2664A.rtf

	Antiphons for the Mass

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON (or a hymn) I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord.
Should they cry to me in any distress, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (Ps 144)

Antiphon: The Lord is near to all who call him.

RESPONSE: The Lord is near to all who call him.

Lector: I will bless you day after day and praise your name for ever. The Lord is great, highly to be praised, his greatness cannot be measured. R.

Lector: The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love. How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures. R.

Lector: The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds. He is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts. R.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION Alleluia, alleluia! Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son. Alleluia!

COMMUNION ANTIPHON (1) or (2) (or a hymn) 
(1) You have laid down your precepts to be carefully kept; may my ways be firm in keeping your statutes.
(2) I am the Good Shepherd, says the Lord; I know my sheep, and mine know me.

Today’s Readings Isaiah 55:6-9; Philippians 1:20-24, 27; Matthew 20:1-16
Next Week (26th Sunday of Year A) Ezekiel 18:25-28; Psalm 24; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32