a very good parable!

Ha! By giving this entry the title I did, here I am critiquing Jesus' parable about the landowner and his workers that we heard today. It seems like such audacity! However, it IS a good parable. It's one that makes us squirm because we've all been there, done that.

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Mt 20:1-16a
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o'clock,
the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.'
So they went off.
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o'clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o'clock,
the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,
'Why do you stand here idle all day?'
They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.'
He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
'Summon the laborers 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 when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,
but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it 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 with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or 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."

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Haven't we all cried "foul!" when we thought we were getting the short end of the stick, while someone else seemed to be showered with gifts? Jealousy can definitely rear its ugly head! I love, love, love this parable. It shakes my thinking up in an uncomfortable, disconcerting way and makes me realize that God's ways are not always my ways, my thinking is not always aligned with His. Isn't it interesting that Jesus felt He had to speak this parable and now, years later, it's just as appropriate for us to hear as it was for His disciples to hear back then?

The thing is don't we, in our heart of hearts, really wish that everyone we know (including ourselves) will be in heaven one day? Sometimes it takes a long while for us to put into practice what Our Lord tells us to do. In some ways, it can become a lifelong learning curve.

I look at each of our lives as a process. Perfection can elude us for most of our lives, even when we very diligently work at it. I believe that, in heaven, everyone will be rejoicing with everyone else. It won't matter that some of us led entire lives of debauchery and sin, only to be given one final opportunity to come to the Truth at the very instant before our deaths so that we could repent. We will have arrived and it will be beautiful!

Back here on earth, it is a challenge for us not to be jealous. We want the best. We want to be first. That is not how God's generosity works. He is kind and merciful (and slow to anger, thank heavens!). We must not judge what we have or have not against what others have been given. What I've discovered is that God is waiting for us to love Him entirely. When we can do that, no matter how long it will take, heaven will await!

I, for one, am very thankful for the beauty around me. I am grateful for my gracious, generous God who is merciful and who loves me without end. I am also glad He gave me parables in which I can see my own shortcomings. These are little lessons that can polish my soul. Awesome!