“Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.” Matthew 20:8b

If I were to ask you, “Why is it important for Christians to do good things?” I imagine that most would say, “We do good things so that we can go to heaven when we die.”  But there is an error in that kind of thinking.  

I would imagine that most of us visualize our judgment when we die as all our good deeds and all our bad deeds placed in a balance.  If our good deeds are more than our evil deeds then we will be admitted into heaven.  Like the workers in this weekend’s gospel story, we believe that we “earn” the reward given to us through our own accomplishments, rather than recognizing it as a generous gift from a merciful God.

Jesus told the parable of the vineyard workers to illustrate God’s generosity.  The owner (God) places no stock in the hour we start working, or how much we accomplished. What counts, at the end of the day, is whether we are in the vineyard working or not. When you die, God will not review your list of achievements, but will ask, “Are you in or not?” 

Are you in the vineyard?  No one achieves salvation on his or her own.  It must be in and through the community of God’s holy people.

 Are you working in the vineyard?  Are you working to build up the kingdom of God?   The work of the vineyard includes the corporal works of mercy – feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting those who are sick or in prison, as well as the spiritual works of mercy – instruction, counseling, comforting, forgiving and praying.  The work of the vineyard also includes the liturgy.  In fact, the word liturgy comes from the Greek word meaning public work or community work.

And for those who are not working in the vineyard, the parable contains an urgent question for you as well: “Why do you stand here idle all day?”

So why do good works?  The reason we perform the works of mercy and we participate in the liturgy is to give praise and thanks to God and to elevate our thoughts towards God.  And of course the ultimate form of thanksgiving to God is the Eucharist.  The very word Eucharist means thanksgiving.  It is the source and summit of our Christian faith.

Blessings, 

Deacon Jack

St. Clare of Assisi

Houston, TX