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The Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Grant us, O Lord, not to mind earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to cleave to those that shall abide; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 20)
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The Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost
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Scripture citation(s): Matthew 20:1-16
A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
on
Matthew 20:1-16
✛
The Good Employer and the Evil Eye
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Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Today’s Gospel is traditionally called the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, but it could just as well be called the Parable of the Good Employer.¹ Either way, the Parable would not set well with the National Labor Relations Board; but Jesus contradicts the standards of this world in order to give us a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven. His parable teaches that the kingdom of heaven is a place not only of God’s justice, but also of God’s mercy and generosity, and that God’s justice and mercy are in harmony.
Secondly, Jesus in this parable shows that the mercy and generosity of God offend us when we think in the terms set by the kingdom of this world which is passing away. Third, Jesus warns us against a danger that can bury us in the kingdom of this world and prevent us from entering the kingdom of heaven. The danger is the deadly sin of envy.
The action in the Parable of the Good Employer happens at different times of the day and in two different places. The calling and hiring of the workers starts at the first hour and continues throughout the workday in the marketplace, which is an image of the world. The payment of the laborers occurs at evening in the vineyard, which suggests the end of this world’s “day” and the advent of the kingdom of heaven.
The kingdom of heaven breaks into the kingdom of this world each time the Lord, the Good Employer, calls anyone into his service. He hires us for a denarius, a full day’s wage, which is the symbol of eternal life, when we heed his call. Not only that, his call gives our life a purpose; we no longer, in the words of the parable, stand around idle but are given honorable work, jobs to do, errands to run, as workers in the vineyard.
Jesus’ hearers would have acknowledged the vineyard as the biblical image for Israel, the people chosen by God, the community of faith. The image of the vineyard also applies to the Body of Christ, the international form of Israel, the holy Catholic Church. Who then are the various workers in the vineyard?
It is not hard to see the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ day, the ones who had long been religiously observant, as those hired at the start of the day. Likewise, it is fairly easy to see people like the despised tax collectors, whom Jesus attracted with his message of mercy, as the ones who were hired at the eleventh hour. But this sort of identification should not be pressed too hard. Saint Matthew does not make this identification himself, and it is clear that the Evangelist has a perennial message for the Church and for each of us, all the time, wherever we may be on life’s way. Any person here this morning may be one of those hired early in the morning; at the third, the sixth or the ninth hour; or at the eleventh, the last, hour of the workday. In any case, the parable is intended to surprise the hearers with a powerful message about God’s goodness.
The “rub” in the Parable of the Good Employer comes in his response to the grumbling of the earlier workers at the time of payment. They had from the start agreed for a day’s pay but begrudged the Employer’s giving the same pay to the latecomers. He calls them on it. Another possible rendering of, “Do you begrudge my generosity?” is “Are you envious because I am generous?” or better still, “Is your eye evil because I am good?” Several translations prefer this last rendering.
Our word, “envy” derives from the Latin, invidia, literally suggesting the “evil eye,” the source of what may well be the deadliest of all sins. Envy has been well defined as “sorrow at another’s joy.”² Its root is dissatisfaction and its consequence is its deadly glance at the happiness of others. Most profoundly, envy is sadness caused by ingratitude. Many Christian writers, in line with Scripture, attribute the fall of Satan from his status as an angel of light to his envy, his evil eye, arising from his ingratitude for his state in life as he coveted the goodness and glory of his Creator. “Is your eye evil because I am good?” says the Good Employer.
We can be tempted to sympathize with the grumbling laborers, until we remember what we ourselves have been given – a full day’s pay for all eternity. And the fact is, we have not really earned it. Our work, no matter how long, has often been spotty and marked by any number of flaws. We have not done all that is commanded us, let alone done it perfectly. Furthermore, we have been forgiven, and paid, more than we have deserved. The “day’s wage” is the gift of eternal life. We may have worked longer than others, but where do we get the right to mind the business of the Good Employer and criticize him? How can we possibly know what he knows?
The Parable of the Good Employer says that God is good, and his goodness includes both his justice and his merciful generosity, which he has revealed once for all in the life, death and resurrection of his Son. Second, the parable shows God to be particularly just and generous as he calls each of us as his children, employing our gifts and talents in his service; God animates our lives with meaning and purpose as we go to work in his vineyard. Third, Jesus here says that God directly and personally rewards each one of us with full payment, eternal life with him in his kingdom, even if he calls us and we answer him at the last minute, like the repentant thief on the cross next to Jesus. Such a moment of grace is worth a whole lifetime, and it is rewarded as a life’s work. But it is God’s gift, not our merit. No matter how long we have may have lived and walked with God, we are rewarded far beyond measure, infinitely and eternally, whenever we turn to him.
I finish with a warning about the Laborers in the Vineyard tempted to grumble against their fellow workers and their Good Employer, and a word about gratitude. Let us beware of the evil eye of envy! Let us mind our own business by being thankful and, more specifically, by counting our blessings. The devil is the father of envy. That evil eye blinds us to the kingdom of heaven and puts us back in the marketplace, the shambles, of idleness and worldly strife. Gratitude receives the kingdom of heaven with a heartfelt, lifelong, Thank you!
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
__________
¹Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., The Gospel of Matthew, Sacra Pagina series, pp. 282-285.
²See The Catechism of the Catholic Church, pp. 607-608, quoting St. Gregory the Great, St. John Chrysostom and St. Augustine, defining envy as a deep sadness.
