The Workers in the Vineyard

¹ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
   ³ “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So they went.
   “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶ About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
   ⁷ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
   “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
   ⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
   ⁹ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰ So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ¹² ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
   ¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
   ¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20)

I remembered that this gospel was used during our discernment retreat during our aspirancy days .  We were told that as aspirants to priesthood, we will be working in the Lord's vineyard and we were challenged to be ready in facing the realities of the vocation we are aspiring for.

The first reality is that you might not be able to get what you are initially expecting.  And as days and years go by, I realized how true it is.  I expected a serene and silent environment but it was not what I got.  I also expected that I will not be living the seminary until I become a priest but I did not get what i expected.  I left after five years.  When I left and I got a good job as a call center agent, I considered not going back since I am also serving in the Immaculate Conception Cathedral Parish Youth Council as the Youth Formation Head.  I considered that it will now be my way of serving God. But after four years, I went back to the seminary.  Now, I can say that my experiences show that God's ways are different from our ways.  His plans are always mysterious.  It is good that we plan but we must also surrender ourselves to his will.  We should say to God that no matter what happens, everything will be for the better.

 The second is that God's concept of justice is different from man's. In the gospel, those who work throughout the day thought that they would be payed higher.  But the proprietor gave them the same pay as those who worked for an hour.   In the world, justice is limited to the definition, giving away what is due.  If a person has done something wrong, we punish that person otherwise, if he has done something good, we are rewarded.  It is true.  But in God, it is not true at all times.  Sometimes, we demand to God blessings if we do good things and we do not accept sufferings.  That is why, we do not know God much.  We just treat him as Santa Claus who gives gifts just to those who are "nice".  We do not see the real meaning of suffering because we limit ourselves to the narrow definition of justice.  Plato once defined justice as "harmony".  According to him, justice is not always giving to man what is due to him.  For it is not just to return a sword to its owner who is a madman.  Rather, if there is a harmony between wisdom, courage and moderation, there will be justice.  So I can also say that in God, there is real justice because he holds omniscient Wisdom, omnipotent Courage and he can do what he wills.  We must put ourselves to him if we want to do or attain true justice.

Lastly, God is very patient.  In God, there will be no lates.  There will never be a time in the life of a man when he will be too late to repent.  As in the gospel,  the owner of the vineyard still hires few men to work in less than an hour and still gave them the wage for a full day.  As in case of Dimas, he gained salvation with the long time saints though he repented just shortly before he died.  He gained paradise than the chief priests and scribes.  And he still became one of the most popular saints in the Gospel.