TEXT: The Holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew 20:1-16

A motto of the Benedictines is -- Laborare est orare,  meaning, "to work is to pray."

St. John Chrysostom said, "Labor is our portion lest we should make this world our rest and not hope for the hereafter."  (Homilies)

It was Saint Bernard who said, "He who labors as he prays lifts up his heart to God with his hands." (Ad sororem)

The kingdom of heaven is filled with the meanings expressed above by the saints.

Thomas a Kempis adds, "Why seekest thou rest, since thou art born to labor?"  (Imitation of Christ, 2, 10)

Work is good, and labor is honorable in this world, and, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus pursues the issue of labor with his disciples.  We listen and we learn from these words today.

1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius  a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

When our Lord came to begin his work as the Son of Man, Jesus went into the Vineyard and chose for his work the twelve disciples, who would become apostles, since he would send them out to labor.  We might see in this story of the vineyard laborers a call to ourselves, but, it is better to see that the work began with the twelve disciples that Jesus chose for the ministry that would become the Church.

Others would come later, some at the 3rd hour and some at the sixth hour. . .

3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place;
4 and to them he said, 'You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went.
5 Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.

Then, at the eleventh hour, he went out and hired some more that the work might be completed according to the plan of the work in the mind of the owner of the house and lands.

6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing; and he said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?'
7 They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'

So, as the story goes, all of them went into the Vineyard and labored according to the time they were called to work.  Some labored early, some into midday and afternoon, some even into the early hours of the next day -- all together, the whole "team" completed the task set before them -- the working in the Vineyard.

8  And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.'
9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.

Everything went very well, until the first people that were hired to labor came to the front of the line to receive their wages.  Each, up to that point, had received a denarius, a day’s wage at the time.  All seemed pleased.

Then, the first came to the front of the line.

10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.
11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder,
12 saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'

This is so much like labor disputes of the 19th and 20th centuries.  These disputes will likely continue.  And, from a totally worldly point of view, it does seem a little unfair.  After all, the first hired did do more work in the worse part of the day.  They were much like the first Christians who labored in the heat of the day when the stakes were highest.

I would advise the hearer though that the day is not over and the stakes are still high for being a Christian.  One need only to read the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to see the hardest times may still be ahead for many of us.

But, the point is not wages and the amount we "worked" for.  The point is the "grace" of God and the fact that God gives the gift of eternal life to all who come to work in the field, the Vineyard.

The day’s wage was a denarius.

The Master said,

13 But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?
14 Take what belongs to you, and go; I choose to give to this last as I give to you.
15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?'
16  So the last will be first, and the first last."

How rich this passage is for us.  How the grace of God is portrayed.  God is rich in Mercy, and, God in Mercy, desires to bestow upon all the gift of eternal life, the wage of the day.

Truly, there will be great rewards for some, when the gold, the silver and the precious stone remain, as spoken of by I Corinthians chapter 3.  Some who have labored in harder times will receive great rewards.  But, the fact remains that God is gracious to all who come to him for salvation by grace through faith and baptism.

Faithful are the many who stay in the background in humble adoration of Jesus, like the example of Mary, our Mother.  Though a sword pierced her Immaculate Heart, and she suffered, it was  Maria who was spared from a martyr’s death and assumed into heaven and glorified through her Coronation, a picture of what likeness might come to all the saints and us in glory.  (Cf. II Corinthians 11:1-6)

There will be diversity in reward, but, the denarius for each of us will be the same -- eternal life in Christ and through our Lord Jesus Christ.

May we be thankful for this wage, as we labor in our "day" in the blessed "vineyard" where all the saints have worked and prayed in labor and honor.



Deus et Sanctissima.