Deacon Bruce Maltzen's
Homily for September 21, 2008
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A (readings here)
Homily for September 21, 2008
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A (readings here)
I used to work at a job where I managed about 15 software and electrical engineers. It was my job not only to oversee their work, but also to determine their pay raises each year. I worked hard at being equitable, making sure that each person was paid according to their competence, quality, amount of work and number of years of experience. I tried to be equitable. I graphed out each person on a pay scale and then tried to determine from their effort and quality where they belonged on the scale in comparison with each other. If they were worked harder, smarter and more diligently than someone else more highly paid, I attempted (within the limits placed on me by the company) to make it more equitable, giving more to the harder worker and a little less raise to the one who wasn’t working up to the level I felt they could. I was trying to be just in the area of pay.
Needless to say when I read this Gospel, I feel a little worried for the ones who started work in the morning and got paid the same as the one who only worked one hour. It didn’t seem to make sense in my terms of equitable pay for equal work. Actually I thought that if this guy kept this up, he’d go broke as most people would wait for work at the last hour, now expecting to get paid the same amount as those who worked all day.
But then I started to ask, just what is God trying to teach us here. He can’t possible mean that we should pay everybody the same no matter how much they work? Could he? There has to be something much more to this than that.
We, especially we Americans, who work so hard to be just in all our dealings, always look to see if someone is not getting his “just dues”. We are all about equality and justice. But then I thought, God is also about mercy and love. So therefore he must be telling us something about that, especially when he ends the parable with
Needless to say when I read this Gospel, I feel a little worried for the ones who started work in the morning and got paid the same as the one who only worked one hour. It didn’t seem to make sense in my terms of equitable pay for equal work. Actually I thought that if this guy kept this up, he’d go broke as most people would wait for work at the last hour, now expecting to get paid the same amount as those who worked all day.
But then I started to ask, just what is God trying to teach us here. He can’t possible mean that we should pay everybody the same no matter how much they work? Could he? There has to be something much more to this than that.
We, especially we Americans, who work so hard to be just in all our dealings, always look to see if someone is not getting his “just dues”. We are all about equality and justice. But then I thought, God is also about mercy and love. So therefore he must be telling us something about that, especially when he ends the parable with
“Are you envious because I am generous?’
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
And remember that he started this parable with:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.”
So he IS talking about the Kingdom, not about our being just, but the landowner then represents God and the workers represent those who were listening, his disciples, the Jews and also us. Now if we go back just a couple of verses into chapter 19 of Matthew, we find out the following:
Then Peter said to him in reply, "We have given up everything and followed
you. What will there be for us?"
19 Jesus said to them,
"Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son
of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or
brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my
name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.
20 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be
first.
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.
We begin to realize that he is stating how God understands things and how he sees them and how he works with us. This isn’t about justice, it isn’t about how we see things, but about mercy and grace. Jesus is telling us that God’s grace cannot be earned, it is a gratuitous gift. It isn’t about earning it by doing things, but about God loving us so much that he gives us what we need when we do His will. Not how much of His will we do, but just for doing His will when we find it. We are like the laborers standing in the middle of town, hoping desperately that someone will hire us today, so that we can go home with at least something. And along comes God who asks us to work in his vineyard. All we need to do is say, “Yes” and go out and start to do the work. We needn’t worry as the first laborers hired, if we will be paid justly, as God is merciful. We will get what we need.
Too often we look over our shoulder to see if what we are given is better than, or at least as good as, what someone else has made. Often we compete with each other to see who will get the most, whether its money, love or even graces. But Jesus does give us this parable for us to follow. We are to live our lives as the master, seeing the needs and living according to a life of mercy, which is more than justice.
Too often we look over our shoulder to see if what we are given is better than, or at least as good as, what someone else has made. Often we compete with each other to see who will get the most, whether its money, love or even graces. But Jesus does give us this parable for us to follow. We are to live our lives as the master, seeing the needs and living according to a life of mercy, which is more than justice.
We are so fortunate to have a God who is more than Just.
Justice or Mercy – which would you have?
Justice or Mercy – which would you have?
In talking about mercy and justice, it is the church’s duty and obligation to teach us on matters of faith and morals. As the United States Bishop’s have recently spoken in union on a topic, and which our local Archbishop John Nienstedt has also spoken on, and Fr. Zehren has so eloquently written about in our bulletin and which I have been asked about so many times by members of our parish, I would like to read something from the United States Catholic Council of Bishops*1 which deals with an issue very dear to the Catholic Church. It is an issue that many of you have told me needs to be taught to us directly, so I quote from the Bishops -
[There have been claims recently from prominent Catholics] that the beginning of human life is a “personal and private” matter of religious faith, one which cannot be “imposed” on others, this does not reflect the truth of the matter. The Church recognizes that the obligation to protect unborn human life rests on the answer to two questions, neither of which is private or specifically religious.
The first is a biological question: When does a new human life begin? When is there a new living organism of the human species, distinct from mother and father and ready to develop and mature if given a nurturing environment? While ancient thinkers had little verifiable knowledge to help them answer this question, today embryology textbooks confirm that a new human life begins at conception. The Catholic Church does not teach this as a matter of faith; it acknowledges it as a matter of objective fact.
The second is a moral question, with legal and political consequences: Which living members of the human species should be seen as having fundamental human rights, such as a right not to be killed? The Catholic Church’s answer is: Everybody. No human being should be treated as lacking human rights, and we have no business dividing humanity into those who are valuable enough to warrant protection and those who are not. This is not solely a Catholic teaching, but a principle of natural law accessible to all people of good will. The framers of the Declaration of Independence pointed to the same basic truth by speaking of inalienable rights, bestowed on all members of the human race not by any human power, but by their Creator.
I digress for a moment to quote that to you from the Declaration of Independence-
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
And back to the Bishops –
Those who hold a narrower and more exclusionary view have the burden of explaining why we should divide humanity into those who have moral value and those who do not and why their particular choice of where to draw that line can be sustained in a pluralistic society. Such views pose a serious threat to the dignity and rights of other poor and vulnerable members of the human family who need and deserve our respect and protection.
While in past centuries biological knowledge was often inaccurate, modern science leaves no excuse for anyone to deny the humanity of the unborn child. Protection of innocent human life is not an imposition of personal religious conviction but a demand of justice.
The next quote is from the Bishop’s recent article *2:
Respect for Unborn Human Life:
The Church’s Constant TeachingFrom earliest times, Christians sharply distinguished themselves from surrounding pagan cultures by rejecting abortion and infanticide. The earliest widely used Documents of Christian teaching and practice after the New Testament in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the “Didache” (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) and “Letter of Barnabas,” condemned both practices, as did early regional and particular Church councils.
Modern science has not changed the Church’s constant teaching against abortion, but has underscored how important and reasonable it is, by confirming that the life of each individual of the human species begins with the earliest embryo.
Given the scientific fact that a human life begins at conception, the only moral norm needed to understand the Church’s opposition to abortion is the principle that each and every human life has inherent dignity, and thus must be treated with the respect due to a human person. This is the foundation for the Church’s social doctrine, including its teachings on war, the use of capital punishment, euthanasia, health care, poverty and immigration. Conversely, to claim that some human beings do not deserve respect or should not be treated as “persons” (based on changeable factors such as age, condition, location, or lack of mental or physical abilities) is to deny the very idea of inherent human rights. Such a claim undermines respect for the lives of many vulnerable people before and after birth.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states (No 2271):
“Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.
Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law”.
So, as we attempt to form our conscience and to do the will of God, we need to read and include the teaching of the Church. Just as in the Gospel, Jesus told us a parable that we might learn about the way of God (which is and can be so high above our way), the Bishop’s have given us a teaching so that we might understand the way of God and how it is carried out in His church and his people. The way of God is justice and mercy, but mostly mercy, he gives us what we need, and we need this teaching.*1 “Bishops Respond To Senator Biden’s Statements Regarding Church Teaching On Abortion”, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2008/08-129.shtml
*2 “Respect for Unborn Human Life: The Church’s Constant Teaching”, Fact sheet by the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/constantchurchteaching.shtml
