I think growing up in the United States of America, many of us could call ourselves the products of 1st World thinking. You see, we live in a culture that prides itself on being the best of the best, or so we think. Just about every garage is filled with at least one car. Just about every home enjoys some type of temperature control. Most homes also have the luxury of a refrigerator and running water. And let us not forget about electricity - just about everything we use anymore uses some form of energy in the form of a battery or wall-plug. Now imagine that a storm hits, and the power goes out as it sometimes does. How do we respond? Many of us are okay with it for a little while, but after that first few hours, we start to clock-watch and count the amount of time it has been since we lost power. Some even become irritable at the electric company, almost as if it is their fault that the storm hit.
In today's Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples the story of the day-laborers. Three groups went out into the vineyard at separate times. When it came time for the end of the day, the landowner paid them all the same. The group that was in the vineyard all day became indignant. So the landowner opens their eyes to reality: am I not free to do what I wish with my own money?
What we get in this story is the reality of God's generosity. I think we can sometimes forget this especially when we compare ourselves with others. Unfortunately, in the 1st world, we tend to see ourselves worse off, most of the time, than other people. There is often a dissatisfaction with our situation in life. But what we fail to see, like the day-laborers failed to see, is that God always gives to each of us abundantly.
We cannot allow ourselves to get caught up measuring ourselves to others. It is an endless cycle of feeling inadequate. But as your parents or grandparents might have told you while you were growing up, "God doesn't make junk." If we spent less time comparing ourselves with others and opened our eyes to God's work in our life and in God's creation around us, we wouldn't be able to not think of think of God's generosity with gift-giving. And life is about exploring what makes us unique so that we can share those gift with the world - or as Jesus might put it, to not hide the bright lamp under a bushel basket. Shine forth in radiance, my friends.
The Generosity of God (24th Sunday of OT)
