A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew. However, I wanna use another translation, and, this reading today is a very sensitive read. It has to do, and, you know, with the our lord giving a parable about the men working in the fields, in the heat and the sweat and the labor of the day. And at the end of the day, he gives the the owner gives the same amount of money to the one who worked at one hour as to those who worked from the very dawn. And many people have trouble with this.
Some people, they don't even make use this reading. They put in another one. The first thing about it, remember, when you read them when you read a book, remember it's a book. We're reading Saint Matthew. Saint Matthew didn't write in paragraphs.
He didn't write in chapters. He didn't use punctuation. Now what we read here, that is taken if you begin there, the context is entirely lost. And why people treat the New Testament irrationally with more with more with less sense than the deal with the comic strip, I'll never know. And so in order to to get a a a comprehension of what this parable of our lord and the of the of the vineyard owner and the laborers is all about, you have to go to the previous chapter, to the ending of it.
So I'm beginning there at the end of chapter 19. And Jesus said to them, that is the apostles. Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me in the new age, when the son of man is seated on his throne of glory, will you yourself sit on the 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel? And everybody who gives who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or even children or lands for my sake and for the sake of my name will receive a 100 times more and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.
Now chapter 20 begins with this. Our lord is still speaking. The kingdom of heaven is like and that's what our lord's been talking about. The king my kingdom, not the kingdom of the world. And so our lord continues with a parable.
The kingdom of heaven, he says, is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, the Greek says denarius. Well, how much that is, I don't know. But the thing is it was the accepted daily wage. So our lord or the the vineyard the vineyard owner says, I'll I'll give you the regular union wage.
And so he sent them into his vineyard. This was at dawn, the very earliest light of the day. Then going out about 09:00, he saw other laborers standing idle in the marketplace. And he said to them, you too go into my vineyard and I'll give you what is just, just. Key word here, just.
Not what is generous or magnanimous. So they went off into the vineyard. Then the owner came out again around noon, midday, then later around 03:00 and did likewise. He sent them into his vineyard and he says, I'll give you what is just. Now going out about 05:00, he found others standing around and said to them, why do you stay in here all the day idle?
They answered because nobody has hired us. Then Jesus said to them, you too go into my vineyard. And notice, he didn't say tell them anything, but he's gonna pay them. So when it was evening and the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call together the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first. Now that, from our point of view, was very bad psychology.
Well, when those who had started about 05:00 came, that is they'd worked only an hour, each man received the denarius, the daily wage. Well, when the first then, the men who had been hired and put in the whole day, when the first came they thought because they had seen the guys who were only worked for one hour getting a full day's pay. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more. But each one of them got the usual wage, 1 denarius. Now on receiving it, they grumbled, they complained against the landowner, saying, these last men worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the day's burden and the sweat and the heat.
The owner said to one of them in reply, friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage, a denarius? Then take what is yours and go. What is it to you if I wish to give this last one the same pay as you, or am I not free to do what I want with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?
Thus, the last our lord is still speaking. Now that so much is the parable. Now our lord is speaking straight. Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last. And this is the good news of the lord.
The name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Well, wherever this gospel is read and I made I took a very brief poll to see what the present reaction is among my confreres, and everybody agrees it's unfair. I don't. It's perfectly fair.
But anyway, on the surface, that is your first react it's my first reaction. Put yourself in the place of these men who had worked from sunup to sunset for the for the regular daily wage, whatever it was. The text says denarius. That's what the agreement was. Nobody can dispute it.
They made a bilateral contract. They agreed to the daily wage. Notice there's no question here about social justice. The word had not even that that's a recent word in the English language. There's no question here about a living wage or a just wage or any of that.
It's just this question of the reaction of the men who had worked all day getting the same amount of money as those who worked only one hour and that in the evening towards sunset when it wasn't so hot. So that the ones who had worked all day when they saw the laborers who had labored for one hour getting a full day's pay, they said, well then we're going to get more. And when they came up to get their pay, they got their denarius only. Now then, they they complain about this. What have they to complain about?
Tell me. I know. I feel you know, my sympathy goes out to those guys too. I know I've been with them. But when you sit back and think about this, what's their grief?
What's their beef? What argument do they have? You make an agreement, you make a contract, how can you complain when it's lived up to? No question. It was being lived up to.
No no question at all. What argument do I have? The Greek text does not say generous. It says, why is your eye evil? Because I am good.
That's what the text says. It doesn't say anything about being generous and all that. Why are you the the owner says, why are you evil? Because why is your I evil? Because I am good.
Of course, in this day and age, with all I'm sure this is not the favorite excerpt from the New Testament for the AFFL and CIO. I know that. But how many people that I have talked to about this gospel? How many even mention anything about the man, the laborer, who got the full day's pay for working one hour? He's never mentioned.
Everybody talks about my rights. What right was violated here? Tell me. Supposing supposing this owner had given the man who worked for one hour a proportionate pay. I don't know what it would be.
I don't know how to divide it in areas. Supposing and then left, and on the way home, he sees this guy. He knows the man has a family. He knows he has to put food on the table. He knows that the only way the man can feed his family is by his daily wage of denarius.
And if he only got a one eleventh of that, he would not be feeding his family. So being merciful, being kind, being generous, he gives the man what is remaining of a full day's wage. There would have been no complaint. I mean, well, maybe there would, I don't know. But they would not have probably if they even came to know about it, they wouldn't have they would have seen they didn't have much of a leg to stand on.
Because remember, these people were unemployed. The only way and this is echoed in Leo the thirteenth's insicula, rarum numvarum. The only way a laboring man had to get his food, his shelter, to keep his family was his labor, his work. There was no social security. There was no unemployment insurance.
There was no guaranteed wage. There was no union to help him. Think of the stevedores who are out of work now because of containerized freight. There are many other members are collecting from their unions. There was nothing like that in those days.
Nothing. There was no organized charity of any sort. It had it was private, personal. And therefore, you see, you can easily justify, even from a point of of what we call social justice, the right of the man to get a full day's pay for one hour's work. You can justify it.
And so I don't find anything unfair about this at all. And remember, our lord is using this parable to drive home the truth. He's talking about not the kingdom of this world. He's not talking about day laborers. He's talking about salvation.
And he's talking about how you get saved. Of course, you don't hear much about that this day these days. We're talking about liberation theology, you know. This you don't hear this gospel brought up by the liberation theologians, believe me. So our lord here is using a parable to teach a truth, and the truth he is teaching is this, that there is always hope for the sinner.
And even the last of the sinners, when he's at his worst, there's still hope. And he may turn out, though the last, he may turn out to be the first. That's what our Lord's trying to tell us. You see, you have to take this in connection with that preceding chapter as we have it. But remember, Saint Matthew didn't write by chapters.
And so I find nothing unfair, not in the least. Our lord is using a parable to drive home a truth that the first will be last and the last will be first. You can't get us he teaches it all the time. This isn't something new, but it's not the way of the world at all. But our lord said, my kingdom is not of this world.
And don't let us ever forget it. The world this isn't the world God created. This is the world of man, the city of God and the city of man according to Saint Augustine. That's what we're talking about, and it's contrary to our Lord's world. Think of this, and that's the world we're living in.
And if we set that world up as a standard of our living, who are supposed to be living in Christ's world, we are going to go astray. And I mean astray. You'll and so I find not the least problem, problem, not in the least, but plenty of people do especially especially when they apply it to certain situations to which I now turn. I was ordained in '35, 1930, that's this century of course, and in my little town we had a we had a couple about three or four families. We were pretty close and whenever we got together, we played poker.
We were the poker playing crowd. Now I came back to Delicate City one holiday from Catholic youth, and I was really tore into because this was after 35 but I don't know precisely when in the details or I don't have a clipping or any of them depending on my very fallacious memory but I remember what I need to remember here. There was a very notable notorious gangster who had finally been been caught. He was finally tried and believe it or not he was found guilty, quite extraordinary, and condemned to die. Now this guy had was really this of course was during the prohibition days.
And you name the crime that a man can commit, and he had committed it. So there wasn't any sympathy for this guy at all. Believe me, nobody was sorry for him. Police were patting themselves on the on their back for having gotten or having caught him, and then to get a conviction with the death penalty which was carried out was extraordinary. Today, had been a very different story, I'm sure.
Anyway, when I got back home there, we were having one of our games, the people were scandalized. They really were. Here's the argument they gave me. How can you call this fair? Now these are from good Catholics.
I mean, they wouldn't have missed mass for anything. No meat on Friday, prayer in the homes. They've made all kinds of sacrifices to have a parochial school. I knew these people well, and they were solid Catholics. But they couldn't swallow this, that all the sacrifices they had made in their lives, and they had made plenty.
You can't be a good Catholic without sacrifice. How can you well, I I forgot to put in a very important part here that this man, the criminal, this gangster while waiting to be executed, had a change of heart, asked to see a priest, wanted to become a Catholic and to die as a Catholic. He was baptized, received into the church, and died as a Catholic with a priest by his side in the execution chamber. Now, that's the part they couldn't swallow Because there was a lot in the papers about this that a person receiving baptism and this is right. No question.
Person receiving baptism, all sins, original, actual, all kinds. They're all forgiven if you have the right dispositions, of course. And a man facing the electric chair can be assumed to have the right dispositions. Anyway, they they were grievously scandalized. How can this guy how can you tell us that this man at the end of a life that was absolutely criminal in every way, that he is now safe in heaven, and that that's exactly all I'm going to get or way or however you look at it.
That's what I'm going to get after a life of sacrifice, dedication, trying to pray, trying to live the right life. It ain't fair. And you can't tell me that it is fair. And I said it is fair because you're talking about Jesus Christ and his world, not your world. Of course, it seems unfair.
But remember, that's only part of the story. When we say that that baptism I mean, yes, that baptism wipes away all sin, we're not saying that that person is all prepared to face god face to face or as we say, to enjoy heaven. Is not said. I'll never forget an old professor. We were reading, of all things, Ode to the Skylark.
He was one of the best teachers I ever had. And in the course of his analyzing some of the some of it, he's told us this. He says, remember, you cannot love God, and your heaven will only be as great as your capacity for heaven, as your capacity to see God and to love God. And when you with death, that capacity ends. You can have a cup that holds a pint and you can have an oil can that may hold 50 gallons.
And they're both full, but they're not the the fullness is not the same. Now this is a problem. I know it's not for us worldlings to make judgment. As Christ says, my kingdom is not of this world, and you are of my kingdom. I do not judge as men judge.
Our lord said this many times. Let us listen. Let us hear. Our lord's world, our god's kingdom is the contrary, not contradictory, the contrary, the contrary of this world. So why do we pretend to put them on the same scale?
We're nuts. It's absurd. If you claim to be a Christian, then you must judge as Christ. And our blessed lord said, more than once, the first will be last and the last will be first. In conclusion, I just happened to run across this passage.
It's from the old testament, from Ezekiel, if you please. Now this is very contemporaneous because Ezekiel was one of the major prophets. And old man Nebuchadnezzar, at that time, was king and all that sort of thing of Babylon. That is in Iraq. And the present president over there, he wants to be another Nekabakadan.
So anyway, Ezekiel had been captured and taken into captivity, taken from Jerusalem over to Babylon, which of course is not far from the city of Baghdad today. Now here's what he said to this very objection. It was the fifth century BC, and I'm quoting. He's talking to the Israelites. You say the Lord's way is not fair.
That's from the fifth century BC. We're not discovering anything. I didn't have to worry how to answer that those good people. I did my best. You don't of course, you know you don't win those arguments.
You know that. But it's fun all the same. So, anyway, Ezekiel says, you say the lord's way is not fair. Hear now, my chosen people. Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?
When a virtuous man turns away from virtue and dies in sin, it is because of his iniquity. But if a wicked man, turning from his wickedness, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life. Since he has turned away from his sins, he shall surely live. He shall not die. Notice that use of the word shall in the third person.
It's a parody. The lord's way is not fair, you say. Is it my way that is not fair? Or rather, is it not that your ways are not fair? Fifth century BC.
In the name of the father, of the son, and of holy spirit. Amen.