Ad Jesum per Mariam

Jesus Tells Us: The First Will Be Last and the Last Will be First. Implications for Our Spirituality

Jesus Tells Us: The First Will Be Last and the Last Will be First. What this Means for Our Own Spirituality! In the Homily, the priest stated he went to Philadelphia, PA for the first time. Being from Africa, and residing on Long Island, it was an opportunity to visit another state. One of the activities of sight-seeing was to take in his first live baseball game. He had watched it on TV but was not completely familiar with all the rules. He stated while not knowing all the rules, he did enjoy himself. One observation, which he enjoyed, was the enjoyment when one team or the other did something good. The crowd roared with approvement. When the other team scored, one set of fans would be joyful and loud. The other set would be disappointed, and their joy would decrease. And so, it went. One group was joyful, and the other group was sorrowful, and vice versa. t was a fun experience and a good backdrop to today's Gospel. Jesus Teaches A Lesson God’s justice is not human’s justice. God’s ways are not the ways of humans. In the Gospel we hear about the parable of the landowner. In the parable the landowner hires people for his field. Later at nine, noon, three and five PM, he goes out to the marketplace. The landowner is busy throughout the day, looking for workers. The landowner does not send other people to look for the workers. He does it. What might be missed in a quick read of this Gospel is that the landowner does not simply hire workers. He wants to establish a relationship with them. He wants to talk with them and meet them. How do we know this? Listen more to this Homily. Jesus came down from heaven as the Mystery of the Incarnation tells us in scripture. The first thing Jesus wants from us is to establish a relationship with Him. He wants us to encounter Him. After doing so, He wants us to work for Him . . . to serve Him. The landowner could have avoided the first group’s disappointment, simply by changing the order of receiving payment. But the landowner wanted to teach all a lesson. Hear what this lesson is and the impact on our Spiritual Journey. Listen to: Jesus Tells Us: The First Will Be Last and the Last Will be First. What this Means for Our Own Spirituality In the Homily we also hear about a Queen of All Hearts' Member: St. Pope Pius X. ------------------------- Image: Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard: Dutch Painter: Rembrandt: 1637 ------------------------- Gospel Reading: Matthew: 20: 1-16 First Reading: EZ 34: 1-11

Broadcast on:: 27 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: other

The Lord be with you, a reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Jesus taught his disciples this parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner, who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. But agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out at about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the market place, and he said to them, "You two go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just." So they went off, and he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock. And likewise, going out about five o'clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, "Why do you stand here idle or day?" They answered, "Because no one has hired us." He said to them, "You two go into my vineyard." When it was evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Someone, the rebels, and give them their pay." Beginning with the last and ending with the first. When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, "These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat." He said to one of them in reply, "My friend, I am not cheating you. You do not agree with me for the usual daily wage. Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Oh, I am not free to do as I wish with my own money. Are you envious because I am generous, thus the last will be fresh, and the first will be lost." The gospel of the Lord. For the weekend, I went to Philadelphia for the very first time. And it was so interesting to have a different view of America, a different state. And one among the things that captured my attention, or else made me happy, was the opportunity I had to watch a baseball game for the very first time. I'd been watching it on TV, but I could not understand. There are people even who were explaining to me, but it was hard. But on this eventful day, I understood almost 80%. It was a good atmosphere, and I enjoyed myself. One thing that I noted was the exchange of happiness, that was happening. When one team was leading, you would see the supporters cheering up, go louder, go louder. And then, when the other team scores, they would go down. So it's like I can't be happy and the other one happy at the same time. It has to be an exchange of happiness. My happiness is sorrow to the other. And the happiness of the other is sorrow to me. But by Andraj, it was a wonderful experience. Because justice is not human justice. God's ways of doing things are not our own ways of doing things. This is what we are getting in our readings today. In the gospel, we hear of the parable of land owner. There's one thing that can easily be missed when we read this parable. It's the commitment, the dedication and the hard-waking that this land owner shows to us. We hear that the land owner wakes up at dawn and moves out to look for reverence. Comes back, goes again at nine, comes back, goes again at noon, comes back, goes again at three, comes back, goes again at five. So the land owner is busy moving out, looking for reverence. He's not sending people to go and look for reverence. No, it is him going out to look for reverence. One important thing that we also have to notice in this. For the land owner moving out, there's something that he wants to do before sending the reverence to wake in his field. He wants to establish a relationship with them. He wants to encounter them. He wants to talk with them. He wants to meet them. He is not sending wakeers to go and look for reverence, but it is him moving out. And we see when we miss them, why are you idle? He's bought that, seeing them idle. And no, no, no, come and wake. So before waking, there is this relationship that the land owner would like to establish with this reverence. And it is after this relationship has been established that the rebels are going to wake in his field. Moving out, our Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven, moved out of heaven, coming down here on earth, the mystery of incarnation. And the first thing that he wants us to do is not to wake for him, no, the first thing is to encounter him, to establish a relationship with him, and then wake for him. If we miss out the establishment of this relationship, whatever we do may be done for ourselves, not for Jesus. But if first we establish the relationship, we understand what Jesus wants us to do, then we wake for him. And then comes this dramatic event, others who came at dawn, others nine known three five, the time for payment comes. So the land owner has been waking all throughout the day, looking for people, establishing the relationship, and then it comes a time to change them, to understand what he wants them to do, to understand what justice means for this land owner. We hear that at the end, they are complaints. Why have you given us the same pay as you gave to those that came at five? The land owner could have avoided this, and the simple way of doing it could have been calling those that came first, and said, "We agreed that I'll give you one dinner. Here's your money go." So they would go. And then he would finish with those, but he started with the last in order to teach them, in order to bring them to his justice. Obviously, when those that came last received their one dinner, they were happy. We have only worked for an hour, and here we have received a day's pay, they were happy. And those that came first, they received what they agreed with the land owner, but they are not happy, not because the land owner has given them little, no. But because the land owner has been just to those that came last. And they say, "Why have you made us equal to them?" Yet they have only worked for an hour. Why have you made us equal to them? They don't want to be equal to those that came at five. Why have we made us equal to them? Why are we getting the same amount? And then the land owner says, "Friend, I've given you what we agreed, and I'm not unjust." It's just that my justice is beyond what you expect, is beyond human justice. I've given you what we agreed, I've just gone beyond my justice by giving these that came last, a day's pay. They don't want equality, yet they forget they don't want equality. Many are the times that we also don't want equality. But we forget that Jesus Christ, who truly is God, left heaven, and became equal as ourselves, becoming human, like ourselves but sin, in order to save us. I remember very well during school days, one interesting day would be the time for receiving exam papers, of written examinations, and then the teacher is giving out their results. So during this time, it was so interesting. You get your paper, considering how hard the exams were, and then you have scored 70 out of 100. So you are happy, after and very well, this is not what I expected to get. And then after a while, you'd say, "Okay, this is how I have scored," but I also look at how my friends have performed. And then you go and check, you find your friend has gotten 90. Immediately you feel as if you felt, "Why has she scored 90? Why has she scored 90? That I have gotten 70, comparison." It's not that we have failed, but we look at how someone has done it better than us. And with that, we feel we have failed. We look at how others are going in life, and then we forget how God has blessed us. It's not that God hasn't blessed us, no, He has blessed us, He loves us, He is there. But because we are comparing ourselves to the others, we feel we are not blessed. Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to be content, to be contented with whatever He gives us. He is just, but His justice is beyond what we deem as justice. He loves us, His love is beyond what we deem as love. When we are there, we fix our eyes on Him. We realize that He is our friend. He loves us, and He is there for each and everyone of us, without making any comparison. And today, Saint Pius X embodies this love that our Lord Jesus Christ is bringing us today. He was a pope in hard times, but his goal was to renew everything through Christ, renew everything through Christ. And he fought seriously against the heresy of modernism, and this heresy held that everything is in motion. There is nothing that is permanent, and they also went against divine revelation. And they also fought against the Bible, and it is Pius X, who put forward the renewal, more especially the retestical renewal, and also encouraged people to encounter God through the reading of the Bible. As a pope, he fought hard to make people understand that God is there, to make people understand that God cares for them. We pray that Almighty God may help us to be contented with whatever He gives us. May help us to follow Him, may help us to wake up, may help us to create a relationship with Him that will help us to save Him better.