Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Mercifully chosen

          We have all been mercifully chosen by God to labor in his vineyard.  Let us not look down on those who have come to labor "late in the day"!  If you have not presented yourself in the marketplace as someone who is able to be chosen, that is, elected by God for the grace of eternal life, then go today!  Even if it is "late in the day", God will not fail to find you and choose you to go out into his vineyard and receive a "full day's wage"!

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Homily: 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle A
          Pope Francis, after being elected the pope, chose for his papal motto the same motto he had chosen when he was ordained a bishop: “Miserando atque eligendo”, meaning “by having mercy and by choosing”.  In choosing this motto, what Pope Francis hoped to acknowledge was  that he did not see his election as pope (or as bishop, for that matter) as being something that he earned through any merit of his own; but rather that it was because he had been “looked upon mercifully” by God, that he was chosen anyway.  I mention this here because I think that this, in a way, is the hidden theme behind the lesson of today’s Gospel reading.
          First, of course, we must emphasize that Jesus, in giving us this parable, is speaking about the end of all time, for he states: “The kingdom of heaven is like…”  Therefore, this is not a lesson in how to be a generous, more “Christ-like” business manager; but rather it is a lesson about the meaning of life and what it is that we are all doing here.  With that in mind, let’s look at the parable.
          Jesus gives us the image of a landowner (who, in this case, represents God) who goes out to hire laborers for his vineyard (who, of course, represent us).  Now, before we run past this detail, let’s first take note of something.  Those laborers went out to the marketplace hoping someone would come and hire them for the day so that they could earn money; presumably to provide for themselves and their families.  In other words, they acknowledged that they were, in a sense, powerless to acquire what they needed on their own and so were looking for a generous landowner who could provide it for them in exchange for some commitment of labor.  They, therefore, went to the marketplace in the hope of being hired.  And so the first lesson we learn from this parable is that if we want to be receivers of God’s generous mercy we must make ourselves available to God’s mercy by turning away from our self-reliance and seeking his generous election.
          This, in fact, is the message that we heard from the prophet Isaiah in the first reading: “Seek the Lord while he may be found,” we hear Isaiah proclaim, “call him while he is near … let [the wicked] turn to the Lord for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving.”  Therefore, while it is true that the Lord will come to us to choose us for his vineyard, it is also true that he will only do so when we have turned away from the illusion of self-reliance and have “gone out to the marketplace” to give ourselves over to his generosity.  Then, having been mercifully looked upon and chosen for God’s kingdom, we will go out to labor in his vineyard.
          Then, in the parable, we hear that the landowner goes back to the marketplace four more times and finds other able laborers who were “standing idle”, indicating that they had not been hired for work.  This, of course, indicates that God never ceases to seek out those who are lost or abandoned; but it also shows just how abundant the labor in his vineyard is: “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few”, Jesus says in another place.  Here we see that there is no limit to the number that God will choose to go out into his vineyard.  God, therefore, is constantly seeking those who turn to seek him.  Therefore, we (that is, those who already have been mercifully chosen by God) must share in God’s mission to choose more laborers for his vineyard by calling those “standing idle in the marketplace” to go, as Isaiah exhorts us, and “seek the Lord while he may be found.”
          My brothers and sisters, I cannot emphasize this point enough.  We must go out, like the landowner, and seek those who have no direction, who are “standing idle in the marketplace”, and invite them to come into the Lord’s vineyard.  Jesus’ parable states that at 5:00—the last hour of the workday—the landowner goes out and finds still more laborers standing in the market and he asks them, “Why do you stand here idle all day?” and they reply, “Because no one has hired us.”  It is a truth of our time that when asked why an individual hasn’t joined a church, a majority of those who are un-churched will say that it’s because they have never been invited.  We must, therefore, be that representative of God who, finding them having “stood idle” most of their lives, invites them to go out and find deep meaning and purpose in their life by working in the vineyard of the Lord.
          Finally, my brothers and sisters, having been looked on mercifully by God who chose us for his vineyard, we must not fall victim to the temptation to look down on our brothers and sisters who have come “late in the day”, so to speak, into the vineyard to labor.  This is the sin of the laborers who were hired first in Jesus’ parable: they forgot that they had been recipients of the mercy of the landowner and thought that they deserved more than what had been given to those who came late in the day to work.  Instead of being thankful for the grace of being able to provide for themselves and their family for another day, they became jealous of the others who earned the same amount with less labor.  Therefore, my brothers and sisters, we must not allow ourselves to forget with what mercy God has chosen us and the grace that he has bestowed upon us and so become jealous of our brothers and sisters who, perhaps, have come only recently to know and experience God’s merciful election and the grace that comes with it; because, by God’s mercy, they are co-heirs to the kingdom of heaven with us.
          And so, my brothers and sisters, as we daily respond to God’s mercy and his generous call to go out into his vineyard to labor for his kingdom, let us not forget our responsibility to invite those around us to join us in this joy-filled work; for the promise of “a full day’s wage” is available to them, even if they’ve gone out into the vineyard late in the day.  And let us resist the temptation to be jealous of God’s generosity to all his laborers, for this only breeds bitterness in our hearts and contempt for one another and for God.  Rather, let us celebrate God’s generous mercy in choosing each one of us—the mercy won for us by the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus—the mercy that we turn now to offer back to him here on this altar.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – September 20th & 21st, 2014

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