Readings of the day: Ezekiel 18:25-28; Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32
Who here wants to go to work in God’s
vineyard? God needs your help urgently. God and our Church are now accepting
applications from the unfailingly reliable; those who have never sinned (or at
least have confessed and repented of their sin right away); have never disobeyed or even
questioned any of the moral teachings of the Church; have never been late or
absent from work without a good reason; have never refused to commit to a task
and then grudgingly committed to it later… The greatest perk of this job in
God’s vineyard is a free VIP pass for you and your household to heaven.
Interviews will take place next week after all Masses. Only successful candidates
will be notified.
If this were the application process for
God’s vineyard, I think interviews would be few. The sacristy would be a lonely
place after Mass; the confessional perhaps not so much... Fortunately, we have
word from one St. Matthew, former tax collector-turned-Gospel writer who is
God’s assistant hiring manager to St. Peter of Pearly Gates Inc., that the
hiring requirements for God’s vineyard have been relaxed. In fact, sinners, tax
collectors, prostitutes, the son who refused to work in the vineyard as he
agreed to do but then changed his mind later, and other miscreants are all gaining
entry into God’s vineyard (along with their VIP passes into heaven) ahead of
everyone else! Does anyone here have any objections to this hiring practice?
Here, I have one objection. It landed on
the desk of the prophet Ezekiel late last night. It reads: “The LORD’s way is
not fair”! This goes to show that even God cannot please everybody… Poor
Ezekiel went into a prophetic angry rant over this complaint that still has yet
to end! Ezekiel says that, “if a sinner turns from the wickedness he has
committed [and] does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life.” Sinners
who repent sometime between now and when they stand at the gates of heaven will
be hired in God’s vineyard; will receive their VIP passes into heaven.
“Fine,” we might say, “but I am still
uneasy with this hiring practice. It is too uncertain to determine who gets
hired; who gets her or his VIP pass into heaven and who does not.”
But is not Jesus saying to us that this
focus on who is hired and who is not; this focus on who gets her or his VIP
pass into heaven and who does not, may be the wrong focus? Should not our focus
be on times when we have sinned; when we have agreed to work in God’s vineyard,
so to speak (which all of us have in our baptism and confirmation), and
wilfully not shown up for work; when we have agreed only belatedly to return to
the work, to a fuller expression and obedience to the Catholic Christian faith
we profess; when we have not loved as God invites us to love; when we have
excluded others whom we judge as less faithful; when perhaps we have considered
others beyond the pale of God’s salvation?
I am not saying that we should test God
by deliberately not living in ways we know to be morally right. I am not saying
that we should disregard the moral teachings of the Church that are meant to
point us toward God and toward harmony in our human relationships. I am not
saying, “Be like the son in today’s Gospel reading who refuses to work in God’s
vineyard.” You may not be hired back if you wait until too late to reconsider;
to repent… But anyway this is up to God, not me. I am not saying that we are
all saved regardless of how morally we live, nor am I saying that we are all
corrupt sinners and cannot be saved no matter how hard we try: No VIP pass to
heaven for you!
No, these are heresies and have all been
tried before. We do not know who will be saved; who will get into heaven and
who will not. For good reason, our Church teaches that there is a heaven and a
hell. We know that many people are in heaven already. They are the saints, and
they are many more than the saints whose names we know. But we do not know if
anyone is in hell. My hope is that hell is good and hot… and empty.
Yet we do not know this; only God knows
who is and will be in heaven and who is not and will not be. God’s salvation is
a mystery to us. We are invited to live this mystery by giving one another the
best possibility of salvation. How do we do this?
Would we not want to give one another
the best possibility of salvation by following the invitation of St. Paul in
our second reading from his letter to the Philippians? Instead of asking who
will get into heaven first; who has the VIP pass versus who will get in later, last,
or not at all, might we seek “any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit” from and with one another? Indeed, might we
encourage one another in Christ; love one another; show one another “compassion
and mercy” before seeking our own interests? Might we seek out workers for God’s
vineyard; “co-heirs” to God’s kingdom as we pray in our Eucharistic Prayer;
people with their flaws, weaknesses, and sins that we all have but who are also
seeking God; seeking salvation as we all are?
Maybe there are people among us who are
like the first son in our Gospel reading today who refuse to work in God’s
vineyard but then, with some encouragement, will change their minds. Maybe some
people we know will be like the second son, full of eagerness at first to work
in God’s vineyard but who will need our encouragement; prayers; forgiveness when
remaining faithful; working the vineyard; seeking and building God’s kingdom is
not easy. We may know people like the “tax collectors and prostitutes,” the
last people we would think of as having a chance at heaven. Do not write them
off; they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, too. God created them and
loves them as God created and loves all of us and wants us all to be saved.
“Complete my joy,” St. Paul says to the
Philippians, “by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart,
thinking one thing.” And what is this “one thing” of which St. Paul asks us to
think? It is not how to hang on for dear life to our own VIP passes into heaven, if we can even be sure that we have them. It is not self-righteously trying to
discern who is saved and who is not: Saved, saved, not saved, saved, no chance…
It is, as St. Paul says, “looking out not for our own interests,” unless we are
looking out for our, hopefully, common interest that is our salvation. But it is looking out for the interests “of others.” This is how, together, we will have the best chance
at the salvation God wants for all of us. This is “the same attitude that is
also in Christ Jesus” of which St. Paul asks that we “have in” us.
So who wants eternal life? Who wants to be
saved? Who wants to work in God’s vineyard in the interests of one another so
we all get there? You are all hired, with a chance at a VIP pass for you and
your household to heaven. Work starts immediately.
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