Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today. We welcome guest reader Deacon Eric Bissette.
Deacon Eric is a beloved spiritual leader in his home parishes of the Diocese of Rochester, New York.
Little Book's listeners will recognize Deacon Eric as a regular narrator for our daily reflections.
And now, here is today's gospel and homily,
[00:00:46] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Jesus told his disciples this.
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 9 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 3 o' clock and did likewise.
Going out about 5 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.
The Gospel of the Lord.
When this gospel comes up, it always makes me think of my sister Alice.
She was the fifth of nine children in the Utner family.
I was the seventh.
This is the gospel I chose for her funeral.
When I told my family that this was the gospel passage I was going to use, they thought I had lost my mind.
It's a passage people generally don't like.
They're usually on the side of the fellows who worked all day in the heat and then got paid the same as the others who worked only an hour.
Well, it all depends on whose shoes you're in.
I chose this passage for Alice's funeral because she had a whole string of bad breaks in her life.
Alice was a lively person who laughed and sang a lot.
She dropped out of college because, as she said, it wasn't her thing.
She loved to cook, loved housekeeping, and wanted to get married and have children.
When she was 19 years old, she was attacked one summer day while walking to work.
Although it didn't show right away, she was never the same again.
After a while she started to have seizures, and it made it difficult for her to keep a job.
But she managed.
She went to night school to learn how to become a court reporter. And then, when she was in her early 30s, she was diagnosed with lupus.
It gradually began to affect the ligaments in her body and her fingers started to get gnarled, which made it difficult for her to work as a court reporter.
And then she couldn't work anymore and couldn't drive a car.
She spent most of her time at home.
And then she died.
Because of Alice. I saw this gospel in an entirely different light.
Which is harder to work hard all day or to want a job and not get one?
I think it comes out about even, which, as you recall, is how the owner of the vineyard paid his workers.
Which is harder to get married and deal with all the challenges and struggles of married life and raising children, or to want to get married and get left on the side lines.
I guess it comes out about even, which is how the owner of the vineyard paid his workers.
Which is harder to earn your wages by the sweat of your brow, or to want to work but end up on welfare.
I think it comes out about even, which is how the owner of the vineyard paid his workers.
You could think of a whole string of questions like that. For example, is it harder to struggle through a difficult marriage or end up divorced?
I don't know.
Is it harder to be talented, gifted, with a good mind and have to live up to high expectations?
Or to have limited abilities and never rise to a level where you have any heavy responsibilities?
I don't know.
Is it harder to have an emotional disorder and feel like a blot on society?
Or to have a healthy psychosocial makeup and deal with all the challenging demands of a normal life?
We could add a lot more of those. Which is harder questions.
We should be grateful to Jesus for this parable.
He has revealed to us that we have a gracious God who understands, who reads hearts, and not just time cards or popularity polls.
We are grateful to have a God who measures effort, not just accomplishments.
We are grateful that we have a God who looks at who we are and not simply what we produce.
May we all take to heart this parable of the workers in the vineyard and celebrate God's gracious love for us and extend that same love to the world around us.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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