“Thus the last will be first and the first will be last”
Mt.20,1-16
Rev. Alexander Diaz
Every Sunday the word leads us to face ourselves, to find ourselves, to find the valuable grace of God in our lives, to be able to see His love and mercy, His gratitude and His generosity for each and every one of us. Today’s readings as in all the previous Sunday’s readings, are amazing, incredible, because they show in a very clear and rich way the goodness and kindness of God. The reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah presents God giving us as a gift, His total and free forgiveness. The forgiveness the Lord gives to the ones who try to live in accordance with the demands of faith, is an act of mercy that has no comparison among human being. God gives us the opportunity to look for Him and find Him, He is clear when He makes this call: ”Seek the Lord while he may be found” (Is. 55,6). Lots of people ask themselves, as I have done in many occasions myself, where is God, where is His presence and at the same time I realize, that He is closer than I think. He places Himself in our path so we can find Him and follow His footsteps. But we become blinded by our own complexes and whims. All the opportunities He gives us have a just value and we should take advantage of them. Only the one who take advantage of these opportunities will triumph completely in this life. On the other hand, if we don’t take advantage of them, we are self-damning ourselves to fail and always stay behind. Full of frustrations, in an act of cowardice in this absurd and senseless life. Therefore, the call He makes us to look for Him, is a call to be alert, to awaken us, to open our eyes and feel how close God is to us. He is so close, that if we really perceived His presence, His look of love will vividly penetrate our hearts. This is the reason why, in today’s gospel, Jesus presents us the example of the rich man who goes out, looking for the ones who have nothing to do, the ones who waste their time, because according to them, nobody wants to hire them.
God goes out time and time again looking for each one of us, to hire us to come and work in His vineyard, at any time of our lives, he is always there to give us the opportunity to keep us working towards our own salvation. Nobody can say, he is good for nothing, and should never say he was never called to work in the task to extend this kingdom of life.
This parable really summons my attention, the generosity of God when making this call. Some He calls in the morning, others at noon, yet others late in the evening. The human logic and to a certain point to do justice in our human eyes, is that each one should receive was is rightfully theirs for the time worked, nevertheless God thinks different than all of us, He even tells us so in the first reading, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways”. (Is. 55,8), it is hard to accept and to understand.
Why is this? Jesus, who is the owner of the fields and relates the parable, does not explain to us the reason of this apparent “injustice”. Therefore, to analyze and understand the message hidden in this story, we should realize, first of all that the Lord is not trying to give us a lesson in psychology about the moral of the salary. The parable is not trying to stimulate the lazy ones not to work and the lukewarm to leave their conversion for a later date. Instead He tries to indicate to us that God can call at any time, first thing in the morning, or late in the evening or even at midday or when He so desires and we should always be ready to respond no matter the time He calls us – be it the time it might be –without hesitation, without looking for excuses and without delaying our answer to Him. The salary will be the same for all because Jesus is talking to us about our eternal salvation which is for everyone and anyone who wants to be and work in the Lord’s vineyard.
Jesus also wants to warn us about our jealousy, the sin of wanting what belong to others, what they have should be ours instead, ours alone. This diabolic desire make us feel frustrated, mad, annoyed for the goods received by others. How many people literally destroy their fellow man with their hate, their excessive rancor caused by their jealousy. They will destroy their neighbor because of the promotion received from the generosity of their superiors, or for the personal qualities that this particular individual have on his personal and integral development. The Lord warns the jealous laborers that complained and demanded: “Are you envious because I am generous?”
God does not admit rivalry or jealousy among His children, He wants us to be happy with the goods that belong to our fellow man, as if they were ours. If not so, we are jealous, which is a sin, a hidden sin, one we feel very often, more than we might be aware of. If we want to be faithful to the Lord, from the first hour, we have to be happy with the ones that come in the last hour. We have to rejoice and be happy because these are the souls that are receiving their salvation. And we have to also rejoice because the ones who came in early, had the opportunity to serve the Lord all their lives or most of their lives. The final phrase is also controversial, but we should notice the fact that the Lord repeats it with great insistence in the Gospel, it refers to different situations: “The last will be first and the first will be last” (Mt. 19,30). What is the significance of this sentence to the Lord? The first thing we should be aware of is that He does not say that the last are the only ones to get there and that the first will not get there. Simply He inverts the time of arrival. Hence, the most important thing is that everyone, the first and the last, will get there. It signifies that God offers salvation to all: He welcomes the sinners and the non-believers that have just converted in the autumn of their lives. At the same time, maintains with His Grace, those who since their childhood and youth have lived united to Him.
The final pay, today’s Gospel tells us, is not the quantity, the number of services we render that counts, but the love with which we do it. Eveything God gives us with His grace, we don’t deserve. What He gives us is not a paycheck, but a gift, it is not a salary, but His Santifying Grace. This gift of His Grace should encourage us to be more faithful to Him, to become Saints. The Christian should not go out looking for Christ to receive a salary, but should work joyfully and be happy to serve God and our fellow men. We should not think about the rewards or the compensation we will receive for our work and/or our services. We all have to learn from the mercy of God and His generosity. To work for the Gospel is an honor. It is an honor to be called to participate in the adventure of bringing others closer to the presence of God. Even if this means to cope with the heavy weight of each day.
Don’t be afraid to live under God’s presence. AMEN!!
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