Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I began our parish retreat, ‘Discipleship: Encountering Christ Everyday,” by outlining the hierarchy of beings. I suggested that encountering God is a complicated reality because of the huge gap between who God is and who we are. The difference between God and us is like the difference between a bug and us. If a bug or a bull-frog were trying to describe human beings, what would they say? I am not trying to raise a bizarre question to draw your attention. I am merely trying to draw your attention to the first reading from Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.”
If Isaiah’s words are true, then is it possible for us to make any judgments about God? The answer is that as human beings we will never know everything about God. However, we can make some judgments about God. We can do that because, first, we are imbued with rationality. Even though God’s rationality is infinitely superior to ours, nevertheless we have the ability to reason out divine realities. Second, we can make judgments about God because of God’s self-revelation in history, in Scripture, and in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the closest we will come to knowing God. In spite of Jesus’ revelation, our full knowledge and understanding of God will only happen when we see God face-to-face. Meanwhile, parables, like we have in today’s gospel, help us understand God a little better.
In my three points today, I would like to focus on the parable of the Good Employer and its implications for us.
1. The Need for Analogy. What does God look like? My childhood image of God was that God is old, male and spoke English. I bet you that many people today still think that way. I later realized that my image of God was totally inadequate. The 12th Century theologian, Thomas Aquinas taught that when it comes to God our human language falls terribly short in capturing the fullness of God. The only way to describe God, according to him is through analogies. So when Jesus calls God “Abba,” Jesus was not trying to teach us that God is male but that God is like a father who loves his children, provides for their needs, protects them and gives them security. Jesus also used feminine imageries to talk about God. For example, in the same gospel from which today’s gospel is taken, Jesus says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling!” (Mt 23:37) Jesus was not teaching that God is female, but rather, he was using the analogy of a mother hen to teach us that God is like a mother who offers love, security and care to her children. In other words, our language will always be inadequate to describe God or to know God’s thoughts. However, analogies provide us a way to imagine and talk about God.
2. Man made God in His Image and Likeness. That brings us to the parable of the Good Employer we have in today’s gospel reading. What is the context of the parable? The parable is Jesus’ response to the rejection of his revelation of God. We conclude this because right after this parable, Jesus predicts his suffering and death at the hand of the chief priests and scribes. Before I go into the meaning of this parable, I would like to focus on an important reality – the rejection of the God of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the scriptures not only record human rebellion, human disobedience and human waywardness, but it also records the human rejection of God. Jesus was rejected because some human beings wanted God to be what God was not. They wanted God to be in their image and likeness. In their understanding, someone like Jesus could never be God. In their minds, God is righteous and just. And if God is righteous and just, there how can God also be kind and merciful and go after the one stray sheep? It did not make sense to them to welcome back the prodigal son, to give refuge to the adulterous woman, or to eat with tax-collectors and sinners. But that fact is that this is the kind of God that is revealed in Jesus. And some people rejected a God who could be just and merciful at the same time. Jesus tried to communicate to them that God’s thoughts are not their thoughts, and God’s ways are not their ways. But they did not buy that argument. They put him to death.
3. God is Just AND Merciful. That brings us to today’s parable. Daniel Harrington, the Jesuit scripture scholar says that the parable of the Good Employer defends Jesus’ special concern for the marginal people in Jewish society. People were complaining about him that he was associating with disreputable people. Jesus defends his association with sinners by appealing to the generosity of God. According to Harrington, God is both just and merciful. Those who were hired first received a just reward because the employer paid them what was to due to them. On the other hand, the fact that the latecomers received the same amount reveals God’s mercy and compassion. This parable offers a rich doctrine about God, more specifically, the connection between God’s justice and mercy. On the one hand, just like the laborers who were hired first, we can be sure of God’s reward. On the other hand, just like those who were hired last, we can sure about God’s kindness, mercy and generosity.
This message is very timely for us today. We are so divided in the church today between those who consider themselves worthy of communion and those who feel marginalized. There are those whose along with families are the perfect example of Catholic doctrine and those who are struggling with their divorce and remarriage, with their own sexuality and sexual orientation, with an abortion or pornography or addictions. And we can point fingers at each other. But here is the point that Jesus is trying to make. None of us merit the kingdom because of our righteousness. The Kingdom is ours only because God is both just and merciful. There is only one thing we can count on for sure - God’s generosity.
- Fr. Satish Joseph