A JOB WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO EARN ACCORDING TO YOUR NEED.

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. YEAR A.
September 21, 2008.
(First reading: Isaiah 55:6-9) (Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18)
(Second reading: Philippians 1:20-24, 27) (Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16)


A JOB WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO
EARN ACCORDING TO YOUR NEED.

The parable of "the Workers in the Vineyard" says that at the end of the day the owner of the vineyard paid all the workers the same wage even though some had worked longer than others. "When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage" (Matthew 20:9-10).

Why did the owner of the vineyard do so?
- Because all human beings share the same human dignity, they all have the same human needs; and

- Because justice is served only when every person possesses what is necessary for him to meet all his human needs at the highest level demanded by his dignity, no more and no less.

God calls all people to acquire what is necessary for them to fully meet their human needs.
It is the fulfillment of God's justice that all human beings must acquire what they need. That call is issued to all. The gospel says: The owner of the vineyard went out to hire laborers "at dawn... at about nine o'clock... around noon... around three o'clock... [and] about five o'clock".

The owner of the vineyard makes every effort to ensure that no one is left "standing here idle all day". To all of them, the owner made the same call: "you too go into my vineyard and I will give what is just". (Matthew 20:1-7).

The ones who oppose God's justice.
They are the ones who "grumbled against the owner of the vineyard" (Matthew 20:11), the ones who are opposed to human equality, the ones who want to place themselves "above" other human beings, the ones who are enemies of the universal well-being of humanity, the ones who seek the division among people, the ones who want to accumulate the wealth for themselves, the ones who always want more than what they need.

To them God says: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways... As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:6-9)

Those who are against God's justice have succeeded in accumulating the world's wealth in their own hands while in the process dispossessing their fellow human beings.

And, what is their accumulated wealth used for?: For the strengthening of their power to continue to dispossess other human beings. They use their accumulated wealth to make themselves the "first" above all other human beings. In the eyes of the Lord, they are, however, the last; as Jesus says in his gospel: "The first will be last" (Matthew 20:16).

Today Jesus calls all human beings to work for him. Working for him involves two integral elements, namely:
a. To earn what is necessary to meet our needs; and

b. To respect the equality and unity among all human beings.

That is the work which allows us to earn according to our need.