Homily Ordinary 25A: The generous ways of the Lord

 Homily for 25^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2026

Introduction

As a student, I did not like group assignments!  Why not?

Because a few of us would do most of the work, while others would do very little, and yet at the end of the project, everybody received the same grade.  “Why should I share my A, with them?” I would ask.

So, I can understand the feelings of the workers in today's Gospel. Some of them worked the whole day or most of the day in the hot sun. Others arrived only at the last hour. And yet, when the time came to be paid, they all received the same daily wage.  You can almost hear the first workers complaining: “That's not fair!”

And, to be honest, I think most of us would have some sympathy for them.

Scripture and Theology

But then we hear the Lord say through the prophet Isaiah in our first reading: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.”  Today’s gospel passage is an example of this great chasm between our ways and the ways of the Lord.

In the parable, the Master keeps his end of the agreement.  He agreed to pay a day’s wage to each of the workers, let’s say $100; and $100 is what he pays them at the end of the day.  That is justice: keeping one's word, treating each person as they deserve.  We must therefore say that God is just.

But God often does not treat us merely in the ways we deserve; he goes beyond justice and is generous to us.  That is why Jesus has the Master pay the late arrivals a day’s wage, for less than a day’s work.  He does that probably because as heads of families they too needed the money to feed their families, who prayed: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Thus God is both just and generous.

If God's ways combine justice with mercy, fairness with generosity, human beings tend to think only in terms of strict justice that leads to feelings of envy. The early arrivals in the parable, for example, think that they are being treated unjustly, because they are receiving the same wage as the late arrivals.  In fact they wonder why the Master is making the late arrivals equal to them.

And yet they are wrong in claiming an injustice, since in truth the Master was just to them, giving them what he owed them.  Because they have a limited understanding of what justice is, they think that life is a zero-sum game.  If others get more than they deserve, it means they are receiving less.  That is why the Master asks them: “Are you envious because I am generous?"

This parable was originally addressed to people like the Pharisees.  Like I felt outrage at the lazy kids in the group getting a good grade, the Pharisees also felt that it was unfair for Jesus to invite into God’s Kingdom sinners such as tax collectors and prostitutes, as well as the unclean and unworthy foreigners, non-Jews who did not even know God’s law, much less keep it.  With this parable Jesus teaches the Pharisees that God’s love is much more generous that their human minds could ever imagine.  God has promised eternal life to those who do his will.  All those who respond to his invitation and do his will, whether throughout their lives or only at the last hour, shall receive eternal life. 

So Jesus is teaching us something about God's generosity.  God does not treat us merely according to what we deserve.  If God gave us only what we deserved, none of us would have much to boast about. Instead, God gives us something greater.

·        He gives us mercy.

·        He gives us forgiveness.

·        He gives us grace.

·        He gives us the opportunity to begin again.

And he gives us eternal life—not because we can somehow earn it as a wage, but because he loves us and gives it to us as a gift.

And let us remember: eternal life is eternal. If God gives eternal life to someone who comes to him at the last hour, that does not take anything away from those who have served him faithfully all their lives. God's generosity to another person does not diminish his generosity toward us.

Christian Life

Unfortunately, our ways today are not God’s ways.

·        Our ways tend to measure a person's worth by what he or she can contribute, while the Gospel teaches us to recognize the dignity of every human person.

·        Our ways tend toward comparison with each other rather than gratitude for what God gives us all.

·        Our ways tend toward “everybody must pull themselves up by their own bootstraps,” rather than the teaching of Jesus that we must lift one another up.

Isaiah was correct that our ways are not God’s ways, our thoughts not God’s thoughts.

·        Is it any wonder, then, that our society sometimes treats the unborn and elderly badly, because they don’t seem to offer much to society?

·        Is it any wonder, then, that our society sometimes treats immigrants and refugees badly, because they are regarded as outsiders who do not yet belong?

·        Is it any wonder then, that our society treats the poor and homeless, the mentally impaired and prisoners, even the sick, because they have not made as much a contribution as we have?

These might be our ways; but they are not the Lord's ways.  We must go beyond mere justice that focuses only on what people deserve and learn the Lord's generous ways, in which we give people what they need, without envy.

And yet, from the very beginning of the Church, Christians have tried to live by the Lord’s ways, rather than by the ways of the world.  They have been known for our concern for the weakest members of society.  Through hospitals, orphanages and schools, they have taken care of the sick and suffering, children and the elderly, not because those they cared for were Christians, but because we who serve them are Christians; not because those whey served deserved it, but because they needed it.  Christians have tried and continue to do so today, to temper justice with mercy, fairness with generosity like the Lord who has been merciful and generous to us.

Conclusion

In a few moments we shall approach the altar of the Lord, to offer his sacrifice and to receive his Body and Blood.  These are gifts which we have not earned, but have received because of the Lord’s generosity.

I hope that when we meet the Lord, he will not have to ask us, “Are you envious because I am generous?” But rather, that he will be able to say to us: “Well done, good and faithful servant, come and share in your Master’s joy.”  And he will say that because we learned, not to be envious of others, but to be as generous to others as he has been to us.