25th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle A)

Readings:
Isaiah 55:6-9
Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18
Philippians 1:20b-24, 27
Matthew 20:1-16

Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh).

The two Testaments reveal God's divine plan for humanity; therefore, we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).

The Theme of the Readings: God's Generosity
One of God's many attributes is His generosity. He is unlimited in His acts, demonstrating His compassion, love, and mercy. In the time of the prophet Isaiah (8th century BC), the children of Israel began to take God's works on their behalf for granted and failed to be grateful for His many blessings. As a result, they did not produce the "good fruit" of righteousness, and in the judgment of their wickedness, God punished His people for their sins. And yet, as Isaiah told the people in our First Reading, God is always ready to forgive the repentant sinner and to show His mercy. God is unlike humans who harbor resentment and fail to forgive past wrongs. God's salvation is freely extended to His covenant people and people of all nations who seek a relationship with Him, for He is both generous and merciful.

The Responsorial Psalm tells us that our loving God is near to everyone who calls upon Him. The Lord hears the prayers and petitions of all who come to Him, not because they have worked to deserve it, but because God is merciful. Our response should be to offer God our praise in thanksgiving for His generosity in intervening in our lives, even when we cannot recognize how He is meeting our needs. St. John Chrysostom wrote: "Devotion to praise is a mark of the truly filial heart. He who praises the Lord every day will praise him for the eternal Day" (Expositio in Psalmos, 144.2).

In the Second Reading, St. Paul wrote that we must conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of Christ. Paul testified that he would remain faithful to Christ no matter the circumstances of his life. Paul bravely professed that he would honor God whether he lived and continued his apostolic work of spreading the Gospel of salvation in a life that belongs to Christ through his Christian baptism or if he was martyred and could bear his witness of Christ in his death.

In today's Gospel Reading, Jesus addressed God's generosity. He challenged the misconception of God's gifts as merely a reward for services rendered in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. God calls professing Christians to serve as laborers in His vineyard, Jesus's Kingdom of the Church. God gives His Christian children the mission to share the Gospel message of salvation and to bear the fruits of righteousness that are a sign to others to come to faith and believe in the promises of our generous and merciful God.

Have you answered God's call to labor in His vineyard? Do you acknowledge the Lord's blessings, and are you thankful for His mercy and forgiveness in your life? We demonstrate our gratitude to our Lord and Savior in the willing labor of our Christian witness. It is our righteous actions as Christians, living in obedience to the teachings of Christ and His Church, that is a testimony of our devotion and gratitude for His generosity in calling us, and all people, to eternal salvation and an everlasting home with Him in Heaven.

The First Reading Isaiah 55:6-9 ~ An Invitation to Grace
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. 7 Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts: let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. 9 As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.

God freed the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt and planted them like a "cherished vine" in His "vineyard" that was the Promised Land of Canaan (Is 5:70). He nurtured Israel with abundant blessings, preparing His covenant people to bear the "good fruit" of righteousness that would be a sign to the Gentile nations. However, Israel took God's gifts for granted, and in their ingratitude, they failed to produce the "good fruit" of righteous deeds that would be a sign of God's grace to the other nations of the earth (Is 5:2b-7).

In a redemptive judgment meant to call His people to repentance, God allowed conquerors to overrun His "vineyard" (Is 5:8-30). Our reading is Isaiah's appeal to the people of Israel to repent their sins, return to God, and receive His grace and mercy again. God is unlike humans who harbor resentment and fail to forgive past wrongs (verses 6-8). God freely extends His gift of grace to the people of all nations who seek Him, for He is both generous and merciful (verse 9).

Responsorial Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18 ~ The Generosity and Mercy of God
The response is: "The Lord is near to all who call upon him."

2 Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD and highly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable.
Response:
8 The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. 9 The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.
Response:
17 The LORD is just in all his ways and holy in all his works. 18 The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.
Response:

The title of Psalm 145 is Praise of David. It is an acrostic psalm, one of the alphabetical psalms constructed using a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet to begin each verse. In this poem attributed to David, he commits himself to praising the name of his Lord and being grateful for God's blessings every day (verses 1-2). St. John Chrysostom wrote: "Devotion to praise is a mark of the truly filial heart. He who praises the Lord every day will praise him for the eternal Day" (Expositio in Psalmos, 144.2).

In verses 8-9 and 17, he enumerates God's attributes, quoting from Exodus 34:6-7, which refers to Yahweh as the God of the Covenant with Israel and the goodness He extends to all. Eight attributes are listed:

  1. Grace
  2. Mercy
  3. Slow to anger
  4. Great kindness
  5. Goodness
  6. Compassion
  7. Just
  8. Holy

That God hears those who call upon Him sincerely and responds with kindness and salvation to all who love Him and invoke His Holy Name is evidence of these attributes (verse 18).

The Second Reading Philippians 1:20b-24, 27 ~ Christian Conduct
20b Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, life is Christ, and death is gain. 22 If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. 23 I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. [...] 27 Only conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

Our Second Reading is from St. Paul's letter to the Christian community at Philippi in Macedonia (northern Greece). The city was on the border with Thrace on the Via Egnatia, the Roman road that ran east to west through those two regions. Philippi was the site of the first Christian community founded by St. Paul when he traveled to Europe during his second missionary journey in AD 50 or 51. Acts of Apostles gives a detailed account of his visit to the city (Acts 16:12-40).

20b Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
St. Paul wrote that he would honor Christ in his body whether he lived and continued his apostolic work of spreading the Gospel of salvation in a life that belonged to Christ through his Christian baptism or whether he was martyred and bore his witness of Christ in his death.

21 For to me, life is Christ, and death is gain. 23 I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, for that is far better.
Paul considered death a "gain" because, for a Christian who dies in the grace of God, it means entering into the joy of the Resurrected Christ and seeing Him face to face in glory (1 Cor 13:12). Paul wrote that he longed to be united to Christ in glory in His heavenly kingdom, "for that is far better" than living in a world full of sin and strife.

22 If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose.
The positive side of  "living in the flesh" (his life in this world) was that Paul could continue to serve the Lord by spreading His Gospel of salvation, and yet the thought of going to be with Christ was very appealing to him.

24 Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. [...] 27 Only conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ.
However, Paul wrote because he still had work to do in their community, it was better for their sake that he remained with them rather than going to be with his Lord. His only request was that they demonstrate the fruits of his labors by their righteous Christian conduct as a witness for Jesus Christ. That witness should be the goal of every professing Christian.

The Gospel of Matthew 20:1-16 ~ Instruction in Service to the Kingdom: Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
Jesus told his disciples this parable: 20:1 "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner [housemaster] who sent out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage [a denarius a day], he sent them into his vineyard. 3 Going out about nine o'clock [the third hour], he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' 5 So they went off [And] he went out again around noon [the sixth hour], and around three o'clock [the ninth hour], and did likewise. 6 Going out about five o'clock [the eleventh hour], he found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' 7 They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.' 8 When it was evening [opsios = end of the day] the owner [kyrios = lord] of the vineyard said to his foreman [foreman/manager], 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.'  9 When those who had started about five o'clock [the eleventh hour] came, each received the usual daily wage. 10 So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner [housemaster], 12 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.' 13 He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you [treating you unjustly]. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage [for a denarius]? 14 Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? 15 [Or] am I not free to do as I wish with my own money ["money" not in the Greek text]? Are you envious because I am generous [is your eye evil because I am good]?' 16 Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last. (For many are called, but few are chosen)."* [...] = literal translation (The Interlinear Bible: Greek-English, Vol. IV, page 58). * = the Vulgate and other translations, including many Greek codices, add this line; see the same line in 22:14.

Jesus told this parable to explain His statement after His encounter with the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-30 when He said, 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. This passage is another of Jesus's "kingdom parables." The parable concerns:

Notice that the parable begins and ends with the same saying, but the end saying is in reverse order: But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first (19:30), and Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last (20:16). This parable appears only in Matthew's Gospel.

In verse 1, the Greek text describes the "lord of the vineyard" (see verse 8) by the word oikodespotes [oy-kod-es-pot'-ace], "the head of a family/master of the house." When the master hired the laborers, they all agreed to receive their wages in the "evening" (verse 8). The Greek word is opsios = "afternoon, late in the day, at the close of the day, early evening, not yet sunset." The hours before sunset were the "end of the day" because, for the Jews, the next day began at sunset. When Scripture refers to "evening" in Jewish time, it is always our afternoon and early evening. A Roman denarius (verses 2 and 13 in the literal translation) was the average wage for a day laborer in the first century AD. It was a silver coin that bore the image of the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar (Mt 22:19-21). Notice the observance of Mosaic Law in the payment of the laborers. According to the Law, a laborer received his wage at the end of the day (Dt 24:14-15).

The people, places, wages, and hours are symbolic in the parable. In the symbolic images of the Old Testament prophets, the well-tended vineyard was a metaphor for Israel, the obedient people of the Old Covenant Church in covenant with Yahweh. See the chart "Images of the Old Testament Prophets," also see Is 5:1-7; Ezek 19:10-22; and Jer 24:4-7.

However, in this case, the "vineyard" represents more than the Israelites as God's covenant people called out of the world as the kahal (Hebrew = "the called out ones") of His sacred assembly who worshiped in His house, the Jerusalem Temple. In verse 1, Jesus said this parable was about the Kingdom of Heaven that He came to establish; therefore, this parable is about the new Israel of the New Covenant Church (CCC 877).

In the Greek text, the owner of the vineyard has two titles. He is the "master of the house" in verse 1 and the "lord of the vineyard" in verse 8. The master of the house/lord of the vineyard, the laborers, and the foreman who paid the promised wage for the laborers' service are all symbolic images. The marketplace where the master hired the laborers, the wages and the hours are also symbolic. There are two possible interpretations for the hours when the master hired the workers. The key to this parable is that it is about the Kingdom that Jesus came to proclaim. There are seven symbolic images in the parable:

  1. vineyard = the Church, the kingdom of Heaven on earth/house of God
  2. housemaster/lord of the vineyard = God
  3. laborers = those who serve the kingdom/house of God in the Old and New Covenants or who come to serve the kingdom at different ages in a lifetime.
  4. marketplace = the world
  5. the foreman who pays the promised wage for service = Jesus
  6. wage = salvation
  7. hours = salvation history from Creation to the end of the Age of Humanity, or the lifetime of a person from birth to the end of life
  8. the harvest = the ingathering of souls into Jesus's Kingdom of the Church in preparation for the final harvest at the end of time

God calls laborers, men and women, to come and serve His kingdom from the "marketplace" of the world. The wage He promises to pay for service to His kingdom is eternal salvation, a gift to all who serve faithfully and obediently. The "foreman" who will pay the wage of eternal salvation is Jesus Christ: There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved (Acts 4:12 NABRE).

The hours from dawn to the end of the day probably refer to the progress of salvation history. The laborers the Master (God) called to service first were the Israelites of the Old Covenant Church; they also complained about the hardships of their length of service. The hours from dawn to the end of the day can also represent a person's lifetime. It doesn't matter if a person is baptized at birth and continues to serve the Lord throughout his life, or if a person answers God's call in his youth, or middle age, or even answers the call to salvation at the end of his life. God is generous in giving His gift of salvation in every case.

Notice the significant times the master hired the workers in the parable. The Jewish day is divided into twelve seasonal hours (as Jesus said in Jn 11:9). The times in the parable represent Jewish time:

The night hours were divided into four night watches in the first century AD, with the twelve seasonal hours of daylight counting the hours from dawn to sunset and noon marking the middle of the day. Therefore, noon is the sixth hour of the twelve-hour day. The times in the parable correspond to the flow of daily life for the covenant people as determined by the prayer times associated with the Temple liturgy in the twice-daily sacrifice of the Tamid lamb. The 'olat ha-Tamid (literally "burning the-standing") was the single communal sacrifice of two lambs: one in a morning liturgy and another in the afternoon (Jewish evening). It was the sacrifice of an unblemished male lamb as a whole burnt offering on the altar fire (given entirely to God) at the Jerusalem Temple for the atonement and sanctification of the covenant people. See the book "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice."

The mandatory communal sacrifice of the Tamid was first offered in the desert Sanctuary and later in the Jerusalem Temple. The Jewish Talmud, in the section Mishnah: Tamid, records the order of the worship service, and Jewish priest-historian Flavius Josephus' history of the Jews (Antiquities of the Jews) identifies the time of the afternoon liturgy. The first lamb was brought to the altar at dawn and sacrificed at about 9 AM, the third-hour Jewish time. The second lamb was brought to the altar at noon, the sixth-hour Jewish time, and sacrificed at about 3 PM, the ninth hour Jewish time. The Temple sacrifices had to end by the eleventh hour (about 5 PM) so the priests could cleanse the Temple before sundown. The Tamid was a "standing/perpetual" communal sacrifice for the atonement and sanctification of the covenant people. It originated in God's commands to Moses when he ascended the holy mountain of Sinai. The instructions for the sacrifice first appear in Exodus 29:38-42 and again in Numbers 28:3-8. The Hebrew word "tamid" means "standing" as perpetual or continual, but our English translations usually refer to it as the "daily sacrifice." It was the most important sacrifice of the Old Covenant, and no other sacrifice, not even the Passover sacrifice of thousands of lambs and goat kids or the sacrifice of atonement on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), was to have precedence over the Tamid. This command appears 15 times in Numbers 28-29 (28:10, 15, 23, 24, 31; 29:6, 11, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, and 38).

Notice in the parable that more and more workers were hired and brought into the vineyard by the master/lord as the day progressed. The season of the year is the "harvest," when there is a need for many workers. In the parable, the "harvest" is a metaphor for the harvest of believers into the Universal Church in the Messianic Age.

In other teachings, Jesus also used "laborers" or servants of the householder (Mt 13:27) who work in the "field" of the world (Mt 13:38). The "harvest" is a metaphor for the gathering of souls into the Church and also into Heaven after the Last Judgment at the end of the Age of humanity. An example is the parable of the weeds and the wheat (Mt 13:24-30, 39-43): The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels (13:39b). Jesus used the same imagery in this parable, but this "harvest" cannot be at the end of the Age of Humanity since the laborers are human beings and not angels. The laborers in this parable are the servants of God the Master who plants the "good seed," those who are the children of God (13:38), and harvest is the gathering of the souls of believers into the Housemaster's/God's earthly store-house that is the Universal Church. The image for laborers in this parable is the same as in Matthew 9:37 NABRE. In that verse, Jesus told His disciples: "The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; as ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest," referring not to the final harvest of the angels at the Second Coming but the ongoing harvest of souls until that time.

Matthew 20:13-14 ~ He said to one of them in reply, "My friend, I am not cheating you [treating you unjustly]. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage [for a denarius]? 14 Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?"
The first workers were angry; they resented that the workers hired later received the same wage. God, the Master, is not unjust. He is just because it was the wage they agreed to when He "hired" each group of laborers. It is for the Housemaster/Lord of the vineyard that is the Kingdom (God) to decide to whom He is generous/extends the gift of salvation.

 Matthew 20:15 ~ The Master continued: "[Or] am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous [is your eye evil because I am good]?"
The word "money" is not in the Greek text of verse 15; the verse reads, "Am I not free to do as I wish with my own" (IBGE, Vol. IV, page 58). The "evil eye" is the same expression used in Matthew 6:23 and may refer to Deuteronomy 15:9. In both passages, it refers to envy and a lack of generosity.

We should ask, "What is the reason for the envy of the laborers hired first?"  Envy/jealousy was the reason for the first murder when Cain killed his brother Abel (Gen 4:3-8). It is the same reason the chief priests and Pharisees wanted to condemn Jesus to death (see Mt 27:18). It was the same sin that prevented many Old Covenant Jews from welcoming the Gentiles into the New Covenant (see Acts 15:1; 21:18-22). The first laborers in the parable were envious because they begrudged the generosity of the "lord of the vineyard"/Lord of the Kingdom of Heaven in offering the same "wage," the gift of salvation, to those who came to serve after them. The first laborers represent the Jews who were envious of God extending His mercy and generosity to the Gentiles who had not previously known Him in a covenant relationship. They wanted their relationship with Yahweh to remain exclusive instead of inclusive.

Matthew 20:16 ~ Jesus concluded the parable, saying, "Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last. (For many are called, but few are chosen)."
The first part of this saying opens and closes (in reverse order) the parable and provides the reason the last workers receive payment first. The last part of the statement, For many are called, but few are chosen, links the parable to the encounter with the rich young man who was called to a more intimate relationship with Christ as a laborer in the harvest of souls in the episode previous to this parable (see Mt 19:16-30). The service required sacrifice, a calling the rich young man was not prepared to accept.

The "first" called to be "laborers" for the harvest of souls into the Church of the New Covenant were the Jews. But like the rich young man, they declined the "call" to the mission that was their destiny from when God made them His people in the Exodus liberation and covenant formation at Sinai (Ex 19:5-6). The "last" to be called are the faithful remnant of Israel (Jesus's Apostles and disciples) and the Gentiles who responded to the call of the Messiah and His Kingdom of the Church. They would accept His call to labor in the world to spread the Gospel of salvation across the face of the earth. They would be the "first" into the Kingdom of Heaven, whose gates were thrown open at Jesus's Baptism (Mt 3:16; Mk 1:10; Lk 3:21).

The great harvest of souls in Jesus's parable is the Messianic Age of the Church, welcoming all who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior into His Kingdom. This mission will continue until Christ returns in glory at the end of the Age of Humanity. We are living in the Age of the Great Harvest in Salvation History. You and I are laborers in God's vineyard. We are among those called to share the Gospel message of salvation and to bear the fruits of righteousness that will be a sign to others to come to faith and belief in our generous and merciful God. The "hour" we come to serve the Master doesn't matter. Some of us will come to believe in Christ from childhood, some as young adults, and some in old age. There will even be those who will not come until the "eleventh hour," just before the sunset of life, and even to these, our generous and merciful God will grant His gift of salvation and accept them into His Kingdom.

Catechism References (* indicates Scripture quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Psalm 145:9 (CCC 295, 342*)

Philippians 1:21 (CCC 1010, 1698); 1:23 (CCC 1005, 1011, 1021*, 1025*); 1:27 (CCC 1692)

Matthew 20:1-16 (CCC 776, 780, 816)

God of mercy and piety (CCC 210-211)

Jesus identifies His compassion to sinners with God's (CCC 588-589)

Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2014; revised 2023 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.