Our Evil Eye and God's Generosity
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It seems that the gospel for this Sunday supports of the mistreatment and abuse of workers’ rights and their laws. In the end, it was the master of the vineyard who paid all his hired workers with the same pay knowing that some of them worked only one hour, while others spent working several hours in the heat. In our days and time, labor unions would never allow such discrimination as described by the gospel for today. But as we know the parable is not meant to describe the labor laws or work conditions in the times of Jesus. It comes to help us to understand the mystery of the kingdom of God and its righteousness.
I am quite sure, that for a good number of us it happened at least once in life. At some point in life, we came to a conclusion that God has been unfair towards me, that for some reason he has treated me unjustly, that he loves others more, because they are more talented, more successful, they have more materials goods or life opportunities, etc. I think all of us somehow think, that the grass is greener in the yard of my neighbor. We see in media those happy people who often have nothing or little to do with God and his people. At time we think badly of God, judging him to be more generous with others, while being stingy with me.
In the conclusion to the parable for this Sunday, the master responds to one of the laborers who has spent the whole day working for his vineyard: “Are you envious because I am generous?”, which is the translation of a Greek idiom which literally translates as “Is your eye evil because I am good?”
We too often look at God and our neighbor with an evil eye. We suspect a double intention which makes us doubt about their sincerity. And yet God constantly shows us his generosity by showering his gift upon us and calling us to his vineyard from the marketplaces of the world. He calls us to work for him while often we choose to work for ourselves. God calls us to work for him because he wants us to share in the fruits of his vineyard today. He calls us to work for him because as a good employee he never forgets about his laborers.
The heat of the day in the parable represents all the challenges we face following Jesus. But even facing those challenges we can praise the Lord, because he is the one who saves us from them all. The parable for today invites us to look into our hearts to see whether some seeds of disbelief and ingratitude have been planted there as well. Every Eucharist that we celebrate is a celebration of thanksgiving for God’s generous gifts. The gospel invites us first to welcome Jesus into our hearts as the greatest gift of God for us so that we may responds with joy to the invitation of being laborers in his vineyard.
