Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
In my household, there are three children. We thank God everyday for their presence in our lives and most of the time, they are a joy. We love to have fun with them yet as parents, we wear a variety of hats. One of the tougher roles is helping them stay balanced. We work hard to be aware of their habits and help them see the patterns they are creating for themselves when they focus only on their own desires. Sometimes when things are out of balance with one or all of them, we have to intervene in order to help them hit the reset button. This may mean going to bed sooner, digging in more on their homework or maybe even skipping desert so as to help them gain perspective on their choices.
In today’s reading from Ezekiel, we encounter a prophet who is trying to teach about choices through the “Parable of the Shepherds.” His style seems so familiar that we can almost forget this is an Old Testament prophet. The shepherds to whom Ezekiel speaks are the kings of the time. The people of Israel really looked to their kings as they did a shepherd. The kings were the ones to guard and guide the people. However the kings had become self centered and regarded their roles as one of entitlement and not responsibility. A prophet can prophesize however if the people who need to hear it aren’t listening, the message falls on deaf ears.
There are times when the message and/or the messenger are so familiar that they are easily discounted. It is in those times that things need to be turned on their heads so as to sharpen the reception of both the hearer and the message. This can come as an act of discipline or an action that shakes up the paradigm. In the parable from Ezekiel, God alone will come and replace those who were originally called shepherd of the sheep. This theme is echoed in the response “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” (Ps 23:1)
The gospel continues to move the conversation off of our own selfish wants by sharing the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. This parable has an unlikely ending. The landowner pays the workers all the same even though they have each worked separate amounts of hours. The story’s ending may seem unfair to many of us yet it is a reminder that God’s ways are not our ways.
How is the Lord challenging each of us to take our focus off ourselves? Has there been some event in your own life you think is unfair or that God might be missing the cues of how to run the world according to your plan? Reflect on these happenings, perhaps the Lord is trying to use these situations to set things straight in your heart so that you will mean it when you pray, “Thy will be done.”
-Michael Montgomery