Isaiah 55:6-9 / Philippians 1:20-24, 27 / Matthew 20:1-16
This time of the year can be termed as “exam time” because there is the PSLE, the N level exams, the O level exams and the A level exams.
Exam fever don’t just affect the students. Parents get stressed over their children taking the exams, grandparents will try to quell the anxiety of their grandchildren, and priests will be busy as parents bring their children to them to ask for a blessing for the exams. And after that the teachers will be perplexed over the marking of the exam papers.
Yes, exams are a big thing in Singapore because the results will indicate to the students what their future would be like.
The “A” students will have everything going for them – the best schools, scholarship offers, overseas exchange programmes, and the best of opportunities.
But those on the lower end, those who can barely make it or fail to make the mark, will have to make do with whatever that is left for them.
And as in the education system, so it is in the job market. People are paid according to their academic qualifications and their capabilities. So it can be said that people are paid for what they are worth.
So our minds are shaped and formed by market forces. More so in the job market, the better qualified we are, the more capable we are, the higher is our worth, and the higher will be our pay.
So in the world market, our worth is measured in dollars and cents. How much we are paid is an indication of how much we are worth in the eyes of the world.
And that’s why today’s gospel parable bothers us and disturbs us, because it rattles our minds and penetrates deep down into our hearts to see how we understand justice and fairness.
This gospel parable brings back childhood memories when our siblings and our classmates seem to get more than us: a bigger piece of cake, a bigger apple, nicer clothes. It’s just about someone else getting more and better.
Our response to that is: “It’s not fair and square.” As long as somebody’s square is bigger than ours, then it is not fair.
This gospel parable also makes us squirm and look away as it brings back memories of our adolescent and adult years, memories of how we were not selected and left out on the side-lines, of how we were looked over and not promoted.
In other words, it’s the experience of rejection and devaluation. And to make it even more hurting, we may be called “stupid” or “useless” or “hopeless”.
These are the memories that we want to hide away and lock up in the furthest corners of our heart.
But today’s gospel parable digs deep into our hearts and brings up those memories and makes us look at them again.
Because there are times when we know how it feels to be waiting to be hired. As the hour turns into days and into months, our self-worth is also draining away. We feel unwanted, rejected and dejected.
And we may not even have that 11th hour opportunity that the workers had. The end of the day may mean that there is nothing there for us. And so in our emptiness, we get envious and jealous at those who got hired, those who got what they wanted, those who seemed to have all the luck.
Yes, we get envious and jealous when there is nothing there for us. But we also get envious and jealous when there is something there for us.
In the gospel parable, those who were hired first thought that they would get more than those who were hired last. After all they had done a whole day’s work in all the heat.
But they got what was agreed upon. So even though they had something, they grumbled. Even though they had something, they were still envious and jealous of those who did only an hour’s work but got the same pay as them.
So what is the teaching in this rather disturbing gospel parable? One truth that is portrayed is that when it comes to God, we have to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to His generosity towards the least, the last and the lowly.
When it comes to God’s generosity, we may remember that He made too much good wine at the wedding in Cana (more than 100 gallons); He multiplied too much bread for the crowd and there were 12 baskets of bread leftover; and of course He paid too much to those 11th hour workers.
And God is asking us this question: “Why be envious because I am generous?”
And envy and jealousy can eat into those who have as well as those who have not. Those who already have a day’s wage asked why those who did less got the same pay.
Those who were hired last, although it was not mentioned, could be thinking of why others got hired and not them.
But God’s ways are not our ways. And as high as the heaven is above the earth, God’s ways are above our ways and God’s thoughts are above our thoughts.
And so we are called to think like God and not like how they think in the market.
Generosity is the art of counting our blessings. Envy and jealousy is the art of counting other people’s blessings instead of our own.
So when we always have something negative to say about others, it reveals to us that we are secretly envious and jealous of others.
Envy and jealousy are like mental and spiritual cancers. The only way to treat it is to sincerely congratulate others for their blessings. Then our blessings will come.
Because God cannot be outdone in His generosity. When we begin to think like God and act in the ways of God, then God will certainly bless us and bless us generously.