What a great gospel parable for us and our culture today! Again, I say to you, the Word of God is applicable in every time and every place: it is the Living Word of God.

Today Jesus speaks of a landowner who needs to hire laborers to work in his vineyard. The Master hires workers at all times of the day but pays them each the same wages. That in-and-of-itself might be considered unjust by some in today’s culture—after all, does the landowner have a right to own a vineyard and to expect others to work in it…for his profit, even for pay?

Our parable today is about justice and it employs the darker side of the human condition to illustrate how jealous, self-serving and unrealistic some members of humanity can be. As I mentioned in last weekend’s homily on the mercifulness and amazing power of pardoning—both from God and from us—we can see the healing power of forgiveness—for the one who needs to be healed and for the healer.

The landowner has work to be accomplished. And throughout the course of the work day he seeks out workers. Some begin “at the crack of dawn,” others come later in the morning, some at mid-day and others at mid-afternoon—and yet even others come at the days’ end—but all are paid the same total wage. Indeed, it does seem unfair—it certainly does to me. If I had been up early, worked hard all day, bore the heat of the sun and the pain of a bad back, I too would have been mightily upset to receive the same total wages which are also paid to the “Johnny-come-lately” who maybe just collected the boxes at the end of the day but still received the same payment. Unfair! But is it?

From a faith and not employment vantage point, we see that this gospel is about coming to
Christ in faith. It is about being drawn to God and becoming His adopted son and daughter, His
disciple—and the payment, Eternal Life is the reward for being a Christian.

Many people are called to God at an early age. Faith seems to be easy, religious practices are
enjoyable and have great meaning, and so the journey seems easy. Others find faith and then loose it. Perhaps a tragedy in life deflects them from turning toward God in a time of need. An illness may challenge their beliefs, or doubt might just derail belief all together. Others might enjoy life with little thought of Christ or little care for others around them, they are
wrapped up in a career, seeking its height and its successes but then later on, something more is needed and God is found. Perhaps faith comes at different levels—like the gospel of the sower and seeds; some will never find God, they will be lured by another “light,” another “savior.” The road of every faith journey is different and we are not all gifted with the same talents or the same level of talents.

But in the end, the Vineyard of God is open to everyone—even those who enter lightly and then leave for a time, those who simply pass it by during thejourney of life and only look from the outside in— never entering…until one day…perhaps even on a death bed. And if at the end-time they accept the Lord, they profess their love and acknowledge God, they actually come to Him—is their place at the table of the Lord dependent on the length of the faith or the depth of
belief? Do we want a “level” of Eternal Life or do we want Eternal Life? Period.

Perhaps that’s the mystery of faith—we won’t fully understand God until we see Him face to Face, until He makes us like Himself in Glory—and the Kingdom is revealed to us fully. What then might the Vineyard look like, and how will we perceive our fellow “workers?” Will there be “levels of Christian believers?” Perhaps God’s payment plan is best.