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Greetings, SBT Readers:
Working online has its hazards, especially when it comes to all the horrific news stories that surface with each log on; each day brings unsettling images and graphic accounts of human tragedy and, sometimes, stories linger on as I continue with my activities. One such story was the recent account of two Las Vegas teens who deliberately ran over a cyclist -- a retired police officer-- just for the fun of it and then delighted in sharing video footage of their crime until someone turned them in. Despite all the evidence and perhaps because of their age, the teens expect a "slap on the wrist" for this and other exploits. The teens' complete lack of remorse shocked me, but it was the response of one of their mothers that made the most impact: "I don't know if God can forgive this."
The crime was so horrific that, from a human perspective, forgiveness would be a challenge to anyone affected by the senseless murder, especially the family of victim Andreas “Andy” Probst, 64. Scripture, however, reminds us that God's loving mercy is infinite and that amazing grace can transform the most hardened of hearts, bringing home lost sheep, missing coins, and prodigal sons and daughters. The Christian response, then, is not only to believe that God can forgive all things, but that God longs to rehabilitate every sinner -- including us!
As our Jewish brothers and sisters prepare to celebrate Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, may we be aware of our own need for forgiveness and pray that the world will be renewed, for our sake and for that of future generations...
Many Blessings!
Elizabeth
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
Link to Readings
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said
to his foreman,
'Summon the workers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.'
When those who had started about five o'clock came,
each received the usual daily wage. So the first workers
thought that they would receive more, but each of them
also got the usual wage. And upon being paid, they grumbled against the landowner, saying,
'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made
them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.'
He said to one of them in reply,
'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree to work
for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last worker the same as you? Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?'
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Mt 20:1-16a
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways," says the Lord (Is 55:6-9).
There are so many ways of looking at the Parable of the Vineyard Workers but when juxtaposed with our first reading from Isaiah 55, the text challenges us to recognize how differently we think from God; in fact, the parable turns upside down our notions of economic justice and fair labor practices. Like the vineyard workers who put in the longest hours, we are inclined to think that the vineyard owner is completely unjust. But is he?
If we put ourselves in the shoes of the hot and exhausted laborers who have been out in the vineyard since dawn, we can imagine their rage at being paid the same as those who showed up in the late afternoon; conversely, if we see things from the perspective of the new hires, we can now imagine their delight at being able to go home with enough money to feed their families and pay the rent. Most of us, however, will identify with what I call "older brother thinking" -- in other words, we are as limited in our thinking as the older brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32). Like the hard working vineyard laborers, the older brother has shown up on time and worked hard all his life; meanwhile, his ne'er do well younger brother" has not only wasted his inheritance but has brought shame and disgrace upon the family. Nevertheless, the father in this parable lavishes love upon the wayward son just as the vineyard owner lavishes money upon the new hires. The older son, like the industrious laborers, feels hard done by; after all, it is the younger brother who gets the ring, the party and the fatted calf...
In general, the parables puncture our notions of what is fair and how God should act. If we read them closely, we may begin to see how our thinking and God's thinking are typically not in alignment. Though we like to imagine that God views reality through our lenses, the parables jolt us into the discovery that our way of thinking is not only too small but that it is shaped by our own self-interests. Imagine, if you will, that you are one of the 99 righteous sheep abandoned in the wilderness while the "good" shepherd takes off after that wretched lost sheep (Mt 18:12-14; Lk 15:4-7). Or imagine that you, like the rich man in the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Lk 16:19-31), live in an affluent neighborhood but there is now a homeless encampment outside your front door-- how would you react? Of course, the right response would be to say that we would tend to our brothers and sisters in need, but given the surge in crime and the recent pandemic, we are more likely to call social services to step in than to invite the down and out into our homes.
The Parable of the Vineyard Workers leaves us feeling uncomfortable, as do all the parables. It invites us to look beyond our own interests and narrow perspectives and to literally see as God sees -- that is, the total picture, from every angle, every motivation, every circumstance. We don't know, for example, why no one hired the last workers-- Lack of work opportunities? Lack of documentation? Lack of experience? Lack of references? Physical disabilities? Prison record? Discriminatory practices? All we know is that some workers put in time and that the newcomers got paid the same for doing next to nothing. We scream, "Unfair!"; God says, "There is more to Divine arithmetic than the ledger!"
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