Homily for Wednesday, 20 August 2014– Memorial of St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Wednesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Ezekiel 34:1=11; Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6; Matthew 20:1-16

How fair would it be if somebody were to arrive at work on time or early every day without fail, and then if somebody else were to arrive late consistently or not at all many days? What if, on pay day, the employer were to give the same wage and bonuses to both employees? I do not think this would be very fair of the employer.

Now, what if this employer were God? Our God may be exceedingly generous with the late-arriving employee to the vineyard in today’s Gospel, but unless God intends to stir up anger in the workplace, to give the same wage to the late arrival as to the employee who has worked all day is not a very fair employment practice!

“The last will be first, and the first will be last.” Would not the workers in the vineyard who have worked all day be justified in complaining about the late arrivals receiving the same daily wage as they do? And yet does not our Gospel reading today remind us not only of God’s generosity, but first and foremost to ask ourselves: What have we already received from God’s generosity; God’s mercy; God’s grace?

Our competitive social environment does not do well with “the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Competition in a society can be positive. Our society glorifies “the last” who rise to be “the first.” We call this “the American dream”: that anyone who works hard, at least ideally, can reap the prosperity of our land. But we do not regard well those who are prosperous seemingly with little effort of their own.

How does this affect our Christian faith? Let us take the example of the person who comes into our faith; our Church late in life, or the person who has lived a dissolute lifestyle who repents late in life? Are these people not to receive the same eternal life as all of us are promised; the same wage as those who have worked in the vineyard all day, to use the metaphor of our Gospel reading today?

“The last will be first, and the first will be last,” precisely because we cannot earn entry into God’s Kingdom. Our God is more generous than we could ever be through our generosity in return. Christ died and rose so that “the first” and “the last” would inherit God’s Kingdom together.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, whose feast we celebrate today, once said that many people want to be canals of God’s grace when it would be better if we thought of ourselves as reservoirs. Water, like God’s grace, flows through a canal; it is not allowed to build up as in a reservoir. When the reservoir becomes full, it overflows. So it is with God’s saving grace to the world if we let it fill us to overflowing. Once we are full, we cannot lose anything; we remain full while the overflow enriches the world.

God’s generosity; God’s grace saves us; fills us to overflowing if we let ourselves be reservoirs of this generosity; this grace. And so “the last will be first, and the first will be last,” with no distinction among the faithful in God’s vineyard; God’s Kingdom.