Equal Pay for Less Work?

~~~ Ez 34:1-10 ~~~ Psalm 23 ~~~ Matthew 20: 1-16 ~~~

The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall want.

If God's ways were not so profoundly different from our ways

would we be capable

of recognizing him as God?

Jesus became human taking on our physical characteristics,

but he brought inside of him the mind of God the Father.

He literally had, if you will, the best of both worlds...

heaven and earth.

The gospel from Matthew today, one case where we might come

away scratching our heads. Why would the boss give

equal pay to his workers?

Those who had worked all day and those who had worked

for an hour received the same wage. Our first reaction is, this is not fair.

We would be outraged if this happened to us in the workplace today.

Maybe this is exactly why in most companies 

your salary is confidential.

In my educational profession that is not the case;

our salaries are public knowledge.

We somehow equate what we are payed with our self worth,

which might not be entirely accurate.

I think the point Jesus was making was not at all

what we see as the literal picture of his words.

I think Jesus had a much different point to make.

Throughout the scriptures we see events where their is rejoicing

over a lost sheep or a prodigal son.

We hear verses like the last shall be first and the first shall be last.

These words may even leave us perplexed and confused.

These present to us more evidence

that our ways and God's are very different.

Jesus uses our world to teach us about the Father's world;

I use world here loosely.

Jesus is trying to help us grasp something

about the higher nature of God,

that is his divine nature.

We all hopefully want to get to heaven.

If you have believed in Jesus your whole life you may feel

more comfortable about reaching heaven when you die.

Note I did not say you would feel worthy to go to heaven,

but certainly that would be your intention.

Then we have the scenario of the person who has a

deathbed conversion. This person embraces God the best he or she

can in spite of it being the end of their life.

Does God look at them and say,

'Sorry you are too late?'

From my experience with God,

 he probably responds quite the opposite.

He most likely greets them at least as joyfully

as the shepherd who finds his lost sheep.

He most likely says to them,

'I have been expecting you. What took you so long?'

Today is the memorial of the

Queenship of the Blessed Mother.

The alternate readings for today are from the Christmas Liturgy.

How appropriate that we would be brought back to the beginning

when Mary gave herself completely to God.

Without the affirmative answer form Mary at the Annunciation

we would not have had the birth of Jesus.

Today we honor the Blessed Mother for the greatest gift

she could have given to us...

The surrendering of her will to God.

Let it be done to me according to your word.

Mary is leading the way to her son, Jesus.

Invite her to be your example to loving Jesus more.