From the heart of the matter (part 2)

Last week’s parable of the mean hearted steward told us a great deal about our own lack of mercy and forgiveness. Of how in the face of the overwhelming love of God towards us we in our own dealings with each other can often be so callous and cruel. It’s a sobering lesson for us to learn. Well, now the lectionary has leapfrogged along to Chapter 20 in which we read the story of the labourers in the vineyard and of their workplace grievance at the action of their landowner. In the interim between the two parables, we have Jesus’ teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, the story of the rich young man, and the danger of riches, all of which prompt Peter to raise his voice once more in question: “What about us”, he says –“we’ve left everything and followed you from day one, what’s in it for us?”. Typical Peter you might well say and Jesus in his wisdom has this story for him, but it’s not just for him, it’s for us too.

We may at times all feel a bit like Peter, in that we too have been giving our all to the job at hand, working hard and making sacrifices and all for what? Is our society listening or paying any attention? By the look of it not particularly. The divorce rates seem as high as ever and the attraction of riches and wealth as the prime motivator of people’s ambitions still abounds. Furthermore, the statistics continue to record a declining trend in affiliation to the Christian Church’s message of love of God and love of neighbour, to a degree that the outlook seems bleak. What does this parable tell us about the current situation we are facing and of how to respond to it?

The landowner’s actions are key. Of course, we are to understand the landowner as Jesus, and we find him in both the marketplace and the workplace, the very centre of a society’s activity; the heart of all that goes on in a community. It is here that he meets us and calls us and so it is in these places that we must continue to proclaim him. Jesus revolutionises these spaces by his offering of not a contract but a covenant to the workers. A contract is a finite agreement which will ultimately end with each party going their separate ways. Jesus however repudiates that by offering us something much more potent. What he offers is an everlasting covenant which is predicated on God’s all-embracing love and will last into eternity, no matter how late in the day we accept it. This is the message we need to announce in our marketplaces and work environments. The Gospel needs us to bring it to life.