At first glance Jesus’ parable of the workers who come late to the field and receive a full day’s pay seems “unjust”…why should those who didn’t work a full day be paid a full day’s wages…especially when those who worked a full day receive the same pay? God’s mercy and love falls, like a gentle rain, on the just and the unjust! No one is left out of God’s Reign, no one is left unloved! While that sounds all warm and fuzzy the truth is that a whole lot of “Christians” don’t buy it and don’t like it! I believe that if we really understood this parable, and Jesus’ point, we would be having a very different debate on many social and political issues like: racial justice and white supremacy, immigration reform, refugees, universal access to healthcare, the national budget, war, a just wage….and the list goes on.
We are called to love as Jesus loved us…to build up the Reign of God…and in the Reign of God even the latecomer gets the same love. As Christians we are called to try and look at these issues through the lens of God’s justice, not human justice. God’s justice challenges our own sense of what is fair. While we know we are not to live by “an eye for an eye”, in fact, far too often it is very much how we in deed define “justice”. Far too often we seek retribution, not justice.
Throughout the Gospels Jesus shows us that justice is about repairing damaged relationships, about making sure that the poor, the immigrant, the marginalized, and all those who are left out -- that they are included…regardless of when they arrive, regardless of what color their skin is or where they were born.
What is my own sense of what is “just” or “fair” in light of this Gospel? How “just” are my relationships? How does this Gospel call me to respond to current social issues such as the demand for racial justice and an end to systemic racism, fair and just immigration reform, the refugee crisis, a just wage and access to decent healthcare?
Blessings,
Fr. Tim
We are called to love as Jesus loved us…to build up the Reign of God…and in the Reign of God even the latecomer gets the same love. As Christians we are called to try and look at these issues through the lens of God’s justice, not human justice. God’s justice challenges our own sense of what is fair. While we know we are not to live by “an eye for an eye”, in fact, far too often it is very much how we in deed define “justice”. Far too often we seek retribution, not justice.
Throughout the Gospels Jesus shows us that justice is about repairing damaged relationships, about making sure that the poor, the immigrant, the marginalized, and all those who are left out -- that they are included…regardless of when they arrive, regardless of what color their skin is or where they were born.
What is my own sense of what is “just” or “fair” in light of this Gospel? How “just” are my relationships? How does this Gospel call me to respond to current social issues such as the demand for racial justice and an end to systemic racism, fair and just immigration reform, the refugee crisis, a just wage and access to decent healthcare?
Blessings,
Fr. Tim
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