You too, go into my Vineyard

Today Jesus tells us a story that, at first hearing, seems rather unfair. A landowner goes out early in the morning and hires workers for his vineyard. He goes out again at nine, at noon, at three, and even at five o’clock. At the end of the day, he pays everybody the same wage.

Those who worked from morning until evening naturally complain: “We have borne the day’s burden and the heat.” Humanly speaking, we understand their complaint. They are thinking: “If I worked more, I deserve more.”

But Jesus is teaching us that the Kingdom of God does not operate according to our calculations of deserving. The landowner says, “Are you envious because I am generous?”

That question goes straight to the heart.

Sometimes the greatest obstacle to our happiness is not what we lack, but what somebody else has received.

We can be grateful for God’s blessings until we see another person receiving something we think they don’t deserve. Then our gratitude disappears.

Jesus asks us today: Can you rejoice when God is generous to someone else?

The workers who came late were not paid because they worked more. They were paid because the master was generous

Perhaps some of us feel that we have come very late. Do not be discouraged. It is never too late to answer God’s call.

And perhaps some of us are struggling because someone else has received a blessing we wanted. Today God says to us: “Rejoice in my generosity.”

Let us therefore ask for the grace to stop comparing, stop competing and stop counting what others receive.