September 21, 2008, 25th Sunday in OT, Cycle A

The Gospel, today, is strange and delightful because it’s strange! We’ve all heard it dozens of times, and each time, we’re vaguely uncomfortable, for we know we, too, would want more pay for a whole day’s work than what would be given someone for an hour’s lax effort. But, that really isn’t what the Gospel is about at all. If you look closely, you’ll see that land owner went to the town square 5 times throughout the day, and each time he takes everyone who is there. So, when he goes at the end--almost quitting time, and these ne’er-do-wells tell him, “Sir, we’ve been here all day, and no one would hire us,” he knows they’re lying! He's been there 5 times, and they were nowhere to be seen! He knows they’re lazy. He knows they don’t deserve “boo!” Yet, such is not the nature of our landowner. And at the end of the day, each gets what the landowner has to give, for that’s all he has to give. It’s a metaphor for “heaven,” if you will, or God’s love and care. In the end we all get to be with God. And that HAS to be enough! Some “turn” (a verb for repentance in the Bible) early, some of late, and most of us turn little by little, a bit now, a bit more tomorrow. But God’s love is constant and eternal for all His creation, which is why Isaiah realizes that His ways “are not our ways.” We’d have favorites! Or we would penalize! God sees it differently. It’s little by little, turning as we can, that we learn to “magnify Christ” in our lives, as Paul puts it, and this is its own reward, the one that keeps us into eternity. I don’t know about yours, but much of my life is spent avoiding getting hired! I’m “turning as I can,” a little at a time, and hope to be there by the 5 PM visit! May we with the maid of Nazareth say, “My soul does magnify the Lord!” God bless.