Do not begrudge God’s generosity-HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 20TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Do not begrudge God’s generosity-HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 20TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Judges 9:6-15; Ps.21; Matthew 20:1-16a

In the gospel reading of today, Jesus told a parable to his disciples teaching us that we should not begrudge God’s generosity. The point made by the parable is that whatever comes from God is not a payment for whatever good we may have done but an act of His generosity. Our efforts to do good are only co-operation with the gratuitous Grace of God. So, let no one feel deserving of God’s blessing, neither can we accuse God of being selfish when our desires are not meant as we would have expected.

Another point this parable teaches us is that fact that everyone does not have equal opportunity in life. Some are more opportune than others; some were earlier opportune than the others. Whatever be the case, what is of utmost interest to God is that we make the best use of whatever opportunity we’ve got. Being always at our BEST is the watchword.

This was simply the case of the labourers who arrived the vineyard at latter hours. Calculating by time, those who came in the first hour worked more but going by opportunity, all the labourers arrived the vineyard at the very hour they were opportuned to be called by the householder. Therefore, it was no fault of theirs that they did not arrive the vineyard earlier.

Giving one denarius each to every labourer was Jesus’ way of teaching us through the parable that in the sight of God we are all equal. Whether you die a rich man or a poor man, an illiterate or an educated person, influential person or a commoner, it is the same heaven that awaits us all if we do God’s will and die in a state of peace with Him. There is no VIP session in heaven.

But does that insinuates that we should not work hard to be very good Christians; that is, should we just settle for the basic minimal that we think can guarantee us heaven? The answer is NO. God will judge us not based on our output alone but on the ratio of our output to the opportunity he gave to each one of us.

From those who have been more opportuned or earlier opportuned, God will demand more output. Therefore, heaven, comes to us when we make the best use of our time here on earth. Anything less than our best disqualifies us from belonging to heaven. Therefore, there is no need of comparing ourselves to others. Only God has the making scheme for such evaluation.