Readings: Judges 9:6-15; Psalm 21; Matthew 20:1-16
In today’s Gospel, we have the parable of a landowner who hired workers for his vineyard at different times. When the day’s job was completed, he paid the last as much as he paid those who were employed earlier. Those employed earlier protested against his sense of justice but he silenced them.
This parable teaches us that God is God and He does whatever He wills. He is unquestionable; He is never unfair to anyone. He treats everyone better than we can ever deserve and He doesn’t want us to compare our lives with anyone else because He deals with us as individuals.
However, today, I want us to reflect on two important messages.
I. The patience of those hired labourers.
Even though it was late, the eleventh hour and very unlikely that anyone would hire them at that time, the labourers didn’t give up and they waited in hope. Eventually, they were blessed even more than they had hoped for, just because they waited and didn’t give up.
An important message for us is that we should not be too quick to give up or describe any situation as hopeless. There are many blessings in life that many people will end up not receiving, many testimonies people will not be privileged to give, many songs of praise that people will not be able to sing, many inspiring stories of success and victory that many will not be privileged to tell, all because they gave up too quickly.
II. God’s thinking.
Those who were disappointed in the owner of the vineyard were disappointed because they expected him to act in a particular way and he acted differently from their expectations.
One of the reasons we often think God disappoints is because He acts differently from our thoughts and expectations. We need to understand that God is not bound by our logic, method, reasoning or our expectations. We should pray that our reasoning should align with His, not for His to align with ours.
Our best reasoning often falls short of divine wisdom. In the First Reading, we see the story of the failure of human reasoning. The people of Israel reasoned that Abimelech would be a great king, but they were wrong. It was like making a thorn bush a king when there are olive trees, fig-trees, vine etc. to choose from.
May the Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit, grant us the patience that obtains great blessings and brings us to a place where our thoughts and desires will conform with and not contradict divine thoughts and plans.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on August 23, 2023.