In her programme "There's more in the Sunday Gospel than meets the eye", Jill Bevilacqua
reflects on the Gospel for the Twentyfifth Sunday of the year. Listen: Gospel MT
20:1-16A Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of
heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his
vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he
sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, the
landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them,
'You too 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 did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, the
landowner found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand
here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He
said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.' When it was evening the owner
of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers 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. Did
you 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? Or
am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because
I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."