Primum est vivere
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
2008-09-21
Matthew 20:1-16The story of the “workers in the fields” is one of Jesus’ better-known parables. And most people are well aware of its most common interpretations. There are two of them.
We frequently hear about how the workers who show up later in the day – and some at the end of the day – are the recipients of a full day’s wage, the same wage as those who showed up in the marketplace early in the morning looking for work. This coincides, of course with the Church’s teaching that no matter when in life you choose to follow Christ, whether very early, or even on your deathbed, you will receive the same glorious reward, eternal life in the presence of God.
The second lesson to be learned relates to the “grumbling” that emanates from the disgruntled workers who toiled all day in the sun, only to receive the same amount of pay as those who worked only about an hour. The landowner rebukes them, and reminds them that he has paid them a just wage, and that what he pays the others is his business, not theirs. Jesus is telling us that we must not become prey to envy, or to greed, and that we should actually rejoice when others are able to share in the prosperity of the Father.
So, now you’re sitting there saying, “Wow – two valuable lessons. Is he done? Gee, I wish all homilies were this short.”
Well, before you nominate me for the world’s briefest homilist award, I ask your patience as I examine one other aspect – one other interpretation – of this particular gospel reading.
It’s not often discussed, but it has great – and grave – implications for us today.
I’d like to talk about those workers who showed up later than the others: the ones who weren’t on time, the ones who barely made it to the marketplace in time to be hired.
Who were they? Why were they so late? What could they have possibly been doing that would keep them from getting to town in time to find work, work that must have been necessary to pay the bills, to keep a roof over their heads, and to feed the family.
We are sometimes quick to judge.
“Slackers!” we say. “The lazy bums. They were sleeping late, because they stayed out all night drinking! I get up every morning at dawn to find work. If I can do it…so can they!”
Perhaps we don’t say these words exactly, but you have to admit there is a tendency in today’s world to assume the worst about people and to make rash judgments about them without taking the time to examine their particular situation.
While some of those who showed up late may have been irresponsible and worthy of a bit of criticism, I’m sure many of them were late through no fault of their own.
What if these workers lived far away? What if they had no means of transportation and their journey to town took hours? What if they had an accident on the way? What if they were physically impaired? In short, what if they were doing the best that they could?
When we look at this parable from the perspective of those who were late – the underprivileged, those on the fringes of society, the lost, and the forgotten – we can quickly see a connection to what’s happening in today’s world. These are the poor, the unwanted, the deprived and the irrelevant. This is the classic story of the “haves” grumbling about the “have-nots.”
But, the Catholic Church has always been THE place of refuge for the have-nots. Remember the Sermon on the Mount? Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, the hungry, and those who are persecuted.” The Church has always lifted up the lowly and offered comfort to those in need. Hear the last words of today’s gospel reading, “Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
So, who are the people we’re talking about – the ones who are “late to work”…or never even get there?
They are today’s poor. They are the sick who don’t have adequate healthcare. They are the financially broken. They are able-bodied workers who have no car. They are single mothers trying to keep a job and care for infant children. They are immigrants trying to better their lives in a foreign land that utilizes their services on the one hand, but doesn’t like them on the other.
But, I would be remiss, no negligent, if I didn’t mention one other group of the unwanted, the irrelevant – they are victims of abortion and euthanasia.
Every year in America alone, 1.2 million babies are killed by abortion, and the total since abortion was legalized in 1973 is estimated at over 48 million. 48 million lives snuffed out. 48 million souls fashioned by a loving Creator and sent to this world, denied their God-given right to life.
And, every year, talk of a compassionate, loving and induced death for the elderly and the terminally ill is forwarded by those who would have you believe that there is no value in suffering, no reason for pain, that at some point in life, there is no reason to live.
These are the most vulnerable. These are the most poor, the most unwanted, the most deprived and the most irrelevant by this world’s standards.
But, by the Church’s standards, they are the most wanted and the most relevant…specifically because they are the most vulnerable. Remember today’s Gospel… “the last will be first.”
Don’t get me wrong, the Church tells us we should AND WE MUST fight for respect of human dignity in ALL persons, but we must defend the most vulnerable, the most innocent first and foremost.
It seems that every four years we as a people discuss abortion on a national level. Many fervently defend the dignity of life from conception until natural death. “This is THE most critical issue,” they say. “All else flows from this one issue.”
But, then, many will tell you that this is just one issue among many, many issues. “The world is not black and white,” they tell you. “This is a complicated issue among many issues regarding the quality of life…all life.”
But, to whom should we listen? Perhaps we should turn our ears to the Truth…to the Church.
Pope John Paul II spoke to this very point of the primacy of life when he said in his Apostolic Exhortation called Christefideles Laici, “Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights – for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture – is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.”
That’s right, he said you are fooling yourself if you think that you can provide adequate healthcare to those who cannot afford it, provide homes for the homeless, and offer jobs to those without work – while still advancing the cause of abortion and euthanasia…killing the unborn, the innocent and the vulnerable. It’s a bit like rearranging the deck chairs of the Titanic. What an illusion we have created for ourselves, to borrow the Pope’s word, when we call ourselves compassionate, yet deny the first breath of air to the unborn child, or the dignity of a natural death to the terminally ill patient.
And by the way, how incredible it was that John Paul himself would become a living…and dying… testimony to his own words.
And why must we do this? Why MUST we place such a priority on defending the vulnerable? It’s simple…because they can’t. They are incapable. And, if we don’t protect these human persons each with a perfect human soul created in the image and likeness of God himself, then who will?
We as a Catholic people, as the Body of Christ here on earth, must fight for those who cannot fight, stand up for those who cannot stand and speak for those who cannot speak.
Like the workers who through no fault of their own were late to town, yet still received a full day’s wage, we must defend those who through no fault of their own are fashioned to come into this world and are so selfishly denied that opportunity, as well as those who are so cruelly taken out of this world before their natural time.
The last will be first.
This is what Right To Life is all about.
In the Latin, primum est vivere. The first thing is life.
Comments
Thomas P. "Ed McMahon" Dorian
2008-09-23Comment Good stuff Deej. Any flack yet? What document and when was Pope John Paul 2's quote published? YIC...Mark Romer
2008-09-24Thanks for putting a copy of this up. Now I can share it with Kathy.Did you record this at HR? It sounds like it. Did you use the tape deck, or did you put some other recording device into the sound system?