Readings
I - Ezk. 34: 1-11
II - Mt. 20: 1-16
THE LAST SHALL BE THE FIRST
Today’s Gospel passage is about the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. It is a subversive story of Jesus where all the labourers hired for the vineyard at various intervals of time are being paid equally with the message that the last shall be the first. The story epitomes the equality and justice that reign in the kingdom of God. The equality is that everyone was paid the same despite the number of labour hours they contributed; and justice is that every worker was given what was promised to him. The labourers of the early hours were unhappy about the equality and justice because they were envious that the other person who arrived later them too was paid equally. The parable of Jesus subverted the rule of the contemporary world order. The kingdom of God is the right of all persons and the one who walks on the way of the Lord inherits it from the very moment he/she decides to align his/her life to live by the law of the Lord.
The parable is an invitation and encouragement to all those who are astray from the kingdom of God. It is an invitation for a deep spiritual conversion and an encouragement that it is never too late to amend our lives for inheriting the kingdom of God. Like those labourers of early hours do not become envious instead appreciate and welcome the rhythm of change in the other for the better because all are children of God and there is no one greater or smaller in God’s kingdom. May our mind and heart resonate with the prayer, “Lord Jesus, give me a great and magnanimous heart like yours”.
