HOMILY FOR 9/20/2020: 25TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
DEACON JOHN BARBOUR
Well, good morning or whatever time of the day those of you who are watching this as a pre-recorded mass. My brothers and sisters in Christ, welcome to holy Mass on this 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Hard to believe, but this is the 22nd pre-recorded Mass we have done this year. Time flies, does it not, as we continue our respective earthly pilgrimages in this new normal? Church doors locked, church doors unlocked. Pre-recorded Masses, live-stream Masses. Masks on, masks off, masks everywhere you look. Social distancing the norm. Zoom meetings. Canceling this and canceling that. Not to mention all the illnesses and deaths caused by the virus, civil unrest, political discord, wildfires on our west coast, and still another hurricane on our Gulf Coast.
Reminds me somewhat of a song at the top of the Billboard charts fifty years ago, half a century ago: 1970, to be exact. Sung by the musical group called the Temptations, it was called “Ball of Confusion.” That's what the world is today, and it went in part like this: “People moving [out], people moving [in] / Why? Because the color of their skin / Run, run, run but you can't hide / An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth / Vote for me and I'll set you free […] / Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration, aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation / Ball of confusion, that's what the world is today. Yeah, yeah.”
Today we may also be inclined to say, “Yeah, yeah,” to this world of ours in which we live. It’s still a ball of confusion. However, as Christians—as Catholic Christians—let there be no confusion that in the end we win, that Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior having died for our sins and unlocked heaven gates heaven's gates for us if we but trust and follow him. We must do our part as his created beings, for he calls us to know him, to love him, and to serve him. So to fulfill part of that equation, that obligation to know him truly more deeply with each passing day, let us now, after having heard today's Mass readings, drill down just a bit deeper.
First up, our Old Testament reading. We find the prophet Isaiah encouraging the Israelites in exile in bondage living in the foreign land, living in Babylon. Three things he tells them of encouragement. He tells them to seek the Lord, to call out to him, to turn to him. Seek, call, turn. Good advice then and good advice today, as we too are in a sense exiled or in bondage by the virus. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near, turn to the Lord for mercy. Seek him, call him, turn to him. Amen, amen, and amen. Further, he tells them that God's thoughts are not our thoughts and our ways. Trust in God: he's got you covered—not the way you think it should be or the way you do it, but his way. So humble yourself and trust in him.
Next, Psalm 145, the antiphon: “The Lord is near to all who call upon him.” Call out to him as in Isaiah. As Isaiah exhorted to the Israelites, now the psalmist also tells us the Lord is near, just a prayer away. Call out to him in prayers of thanksgiving and prayers of need. He's always there for us: always was and always will be. Call out to him. Amen.
Then on to St. Paul's letter to the church of Philippi, penned by Paul while imprisoned in Ephesus for proclaiming the good news: that is, Jesus Christ. “For to me, life is Christ, and death is gain,” he writes to the Philippians (1:21). So how about us, seated here today at St. Edward’s Church at Mass? For to me, my life is __________. One word. What would that one word be for you if asked that question? Could you say without doubt or hesitation: “Christ”? Come on, St. Paul. I'm not a saint like you are, for sure, for none of us are yet. But isn't that what we are called ultimately to be: a saint? What would that one word be? And then St. Paul continues: death is gain. We're all passing through, are we not? Death is the great equalizer that all must face. It's the portal that all must pass through to eternal life. How confident are you on this day that at your death, death in fact will be gained? And finally, St. Paul urges us on with this directive: conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ. Is what you think what you say and what you do worthy of the gospel of Jesus?
And, last but not least, in our Gospel reading today from Matthew 20:1-[16], we find Jesus once again telling his disciples a story in the form of a parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who hired laborers throughout the day to harvest grapes from his vineyard from early morning until late in the evening. Some worked a whole twelve-hour day, others less depending on the hour they were hired. Some were even hired as late as the last hour of the work day. No drama here, for sure; it's a nice story about a landowner getting his harvest in hiring help to get the task done, thank you very much. Now he calls the workers forward to receive their pay…and let me start with the last and then to the first.
However, this is the twist in the story: all workers—no matter their starting time—get paid the same. The one who worked an hour got paid the same as the one who worked the whole day. “Unfair,” the grumbling begins. “How can this be?” To which the landowner replies, “Am I not free to do what I wish with my money? Are you envious of me because I am generous? Thus the last will be first and the first will be last.” A story of God's generosity. The landowner—God—calls each of us as laborers or disciples to serve in his vineyard, his kingdom. Some have heeded his call and worked diligently for him early on in their lives. Their reward will be eternal life with him. Others have come to work later on their journey, and still others later in the day or later in life. They too—because God is generous and merciful, as the psalmist tells us—will also share in the rewards of heaven.
So, my friends, fellow disciples, fellow laborers, let us let God be God, for who can know his thoughts and who can know his ways? Three things for you to consider from today's parable: if we leave the reward or the wage to him, we will be overwhelmed by his generosity. Next, nothing is less appropriate in disciples than comparison or competition. We are not to see through our fellow man, but to see each other through. And, finally, grumbling and complaining is an attack on the goodness and generosity of God. Are you envious because I am generous? Count your blessings, my friends. Don't miss the wonder of the grace and the generosity of our God. Amen. Have a blessed week.