In the gospel of today’s Mass (Matthew 20:1-16) we hear the parable of the vineyard workers.
In this parable we hear that the landowner pays all of his workers the same wage even though some of the workers were late-comers, only working part of the day. When the workers who toiled the full day complain about the perceived injustice, the landowner is quick to admonish these workers, insisting that they should not question the landowner’s generosity.
There are many ways to interpret what Jesus is telling us in the parable. The most obvious is that God is generous with his love, mercy, and forgiveness and that this generosity has no partiality. God loves each and every one of us to the same degree – God is not playing favorites. We are all equal children in God’s eyes and Jesus wants us to realize this.
Along with this interpretation, we realize that those late-comers could very well be those of us who are late-comers to Christ, or maybe those of us who acknowledge Jesus but waiver in our faith or do not fully live out the life of a true disciple. But like those late-comers in the parable we are given every chance to live and work in God’s vineyard. Some of us recognize God’s call early in our life, others realize the call much later. But God loves each of us to the same degree for God’s love in every case is infinite and unconditional.
One last take away from this parable might be that we should never make judgements on how worthy someone is of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness. Jesus wants us to realize that we are all equal because we are all beloved children of God, all redeemed by his death and resurrection, all worthy of the blessings that God bestows on us. Rather than judging harshly, Jesus wants us to forgive lovingly. And for those of us who might ask – doesn’t God’s justice demand varying “rewards” or even varying degrees of condemnation – in this parable Jesus is telling us that – as Pope Francis reminds us – “God’s love is God’s justice”.