25th Sunday of Ordinary Times

Readings for:25th Sunday of Ordinary Times, Year A

Reading 1     Isaiah 55:6-9 

Psalm           Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18  

Reading 2     Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a 

Gospel         Matthew 20:1-16a  

REFLECTIONS:… from Father Daniel     

     Theme of the Sunday:God Does Not Think the Way People Do. The message of the Gospel today may confuse us. This would be a good sign because it would mean that we realize how our thoughts are different from God's. The first reading puts us on our guard against trying to pull God down to our level, pretending that his thoughts are our thoughts. But his thoughts are as far from ours as heaven is far from the earth. In the second reading we are given the example of Paul. He did not work for a reward, though he knew that he had worked harder than anybody else(1Cor 15:10). His reward was the ability to love what God gave him.

Today’s gospel parable offers us a powerful insight into the logic of God. We hear Jesus tell his disciples a parable in which people come to work at all different hours of the day but all are paid the same in the end. Jesus tells us this is what the Kingdom of heaven is like and it doesn’t sound as if the Lord and Master of the Kingdom plays fair. The owner of the vineyard practiced two virtues: justice and mercy. In Justice he paid what he promised and in mercy he paid enough for each worker to be able to support his family for another day. God is not constrained by our logic. God cannot be locked into the way we do things. God may choose to be exceedingly generous. Why? It is his nature to be that way. What do you think Jeus was trying to tell us about this parable? Jesus was telling us why he was always willing to reach out to sinners or those who are slow to respond to his invitation, something he was frequently criticised for doing. He wants us to know it's never too late to find God if we wish to.

A teacher was giving a math lesson to the children of her class. She asked a little boy in her class; “If you have five dollars and you asked your father for another five dollars, how many dollars would you have? The boy answered, “five dollars.” The teacher shook her head and said, “ You don’t know your math.” “Teacher, you don’t know my father” came a little boy’s voice.