“Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with those who were hired last and ...” (Mt 20:8)

“Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.” (Mt 20:8)

Today’s Passage: Mt 20:1-16

Meditation: Was it a righteous thing the landlord did to the workers who came first? “When evening came, the owner told his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.’” (Lk 8:4) The people who came at the eighth hour are still in queue while the last ones are already at home with their wages. I do remember some moments when I happened to be in queue for some or other reasons. Sometimes I found that people were very restless to admit one who was late and trying to get into the frontline, but there were also few beautiful moments where I saw people who really helping others, though they were late. In most of the cases those people who were helped were elders, disabled, or women. They thought that these peoples deserved it in its real sense and were allowed to go early. And here, what did it happen to the workers of the vineyard? According to the workers who came first, these last ones don’t deserve any special consideration and even they should not be given a full day’s wage. When people knew that the other one deserved they proved themselves very kind, generous, and helping. Therefore, the main problem is that often we know only their names not their stories. We mortals are only capable of making judgments seeing the outward appearances of others (1Sam 16:7). Why should this landlord call these people who were wasting their time throughout the day doing nothing? Was it not a waste too? Do you believe that these lazy people will work hard eight times more than the first ones and prove themselves profitable? I don’t hope so. Then, it really goes beyond our judgment and justification. Like Job let us also lay our hands on our mouths (Job 40:4) and listen to his true judgment. He is the one God “who makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.” (Mt 5:45) 

                          

 Prayer:    Lord God, we thank you and praise you for your daily eternal bread. It is marvelous to know that you raise the lowly without belittling the other and there begins our Christian joy. With this joy let us sing the song of thanksgiving today and throughout our life, “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Ps 136:1)  Amen!

Greetings:       Take courage! God is with you! Have a nice and blissful Sunday…