I was hoping to be here last Sunday but I had to go spend it with my sister as she was not well and she needed me to do some work before her going to the hospital. I was happy to hear from pastor Samuel on Thursday and when I told him my intentions to come here this morning, he asked me to do the homily.
I accepted without blinking an eye but when I sat down and read the Gospel for today, I thought, "This is difficult one to talk about"
We are told that the Gospels were written many years after Jesus' death and resurrection, maybe some say, sixty years had gone by. There were no recording machines and no computers and these texts were first written in Greek and so what has come down to us may be not the exact words of Jesus himself. Knowing this, I ask myself...."what lesson was St Matthew trying to convey to the people around him at the time and for us today, what message can we draw from this Gospel for our own spiritual life?"
We are told that Matthew was the only one who used this expression about "the Kingdom of heaven". He was the only one of the writers of the Gospel also to talk about this parable of the landowner. They say that when he wrote it, he wrote it especially to give some lessons to the Jews of his time. Remember that the Jews considered themselves to be "a chosen people", and if they lived in accordance with the laws and commandments they will be rewarded. They were in a way, the workers of the first hour. But St Matthew wanted them to realize that God calls everyone even those who were recently converted. They too will be rewarded by receiving his kingdom.
But let us look as I said before to see how does this story serve us today. As members of the Christian community, how do we stand?
The landowner who goes out early in the morning is the Lord and Master of the vineyard and he comes out four times to bring workers to his fields. He pays what he promised. He is a just Lord as keeps his promise. But His way of acting is so different from the way of the world. In today's society, one speaks of Justice and how each worker has to have a just salary etc and so in that light we may ask, why did he give so much to those who arrived last? It does not seem fair. "I have given you what I promised" he said. God rewards us not because of our work but according to His good will.
One of the early fathers of the Christian Church, St Gregory, in a commentary said that the vineyard represents the Universal Church, which through the ages have produced many good stock, Saints all through the ages. The master keeps bringing in more workers, the Patriachs, Then the teachers of the Law, Then The Prophets, then the Apostles and now in our times he is looking at us and inviting us to come and work in his vineyard. In whatever measure or degree we have done right actions in good faith, we have been a labourer in His vineyard.
"Come and work in my vineyard and I will pay you what is right" says the Master, says the Lord. We are invited to give up our idleness and to work. It seems as though there is no time for retirement as we are constantly being invited to do something....I think I know about this. When I left the monastery, I thought that I would have more time for myself but this is not the case. I have to tear myself away in order to find time to rest. I leave on Monday for a month and this week Wednesday I was telling someone how sad I feel to leave some sick people at a clinic where I work behind and the person said to me "Rolph, sometimes we believe that this physical body can do so much but you know sometimes we can do so much more at a distance, through our prayers."
God's ways, God's vision of time is not like ours. I remember when I was young hearing that so many years are like a day in God's eyes but now when I look back at my 68 years, I can say....they went by like a dream. My whole life may seem like a couple of hours in God's sight.
The Land owner, The Master goes out early in the morning....the time of our childhood....we remember the story of Samuel and how when he was just a boy. God called him "Samuel, Samuel". The third hour is the hour of the youth. St Mark was so young when he too was called. The mid-day hour is that age when we were in full force of strength. The sixth hour is the age of maturity. The ninth hour is what people call old age (like me). I am so touched when I am traveling on the bus and someone gets up to give me their seat. The eleventh hour is that age when we really begin to bend. But all through life we can still do something in God's vineyard even by our presence, by our being. My Mother used to say "be wise, be quiet, like the beard of an old man". God calls us at very moment of our life.
There are some people who at the very start of their life have had the opportunity to live a Godly life and have, with their family, been workers in the vineyard. They will receive what God promised. But then there are some who lived very differently. I know one gentleman who told me that most of his life he spent in the business-world and in worldly pleasures but a serious illness has brought changes to his life and in his old age he has come to know God and now that he is pronounced as being with a cure-less disease, cancer, he is doing wonderful ministry, he is working in the vineyard.
And so "the first shall be the last and the last shall be the first is not meant to discourage those who devoted all their life to working for God, but rather it was said for those who came to God at an older age, so that they may know how much He loves us. "Call the labourers and give them their wages, beginning from the last to the first" Because we have obtained mercy, we will receive the reward first, we who belong to Christ and after us, those who worked first, for God's ways are not ours.
St Paul in his letter to the Romans (Romans 16 V 9) "The Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy for it is said "beginning from the last unto the first"
God rewards us not in the measure of what we do, but according to His good will. In this story of St Matthew, Jesus reveals that everything is a gift, even our salvation. We do not gain the kingdom but rather we accept heaven, his gift of Eternal life as a gift of the Father. For this we sing and praise Him.
Amen