Deserve's Got Nothing to Do With It

Aug. 23: Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

What are we owed? Do rulers have a right to rule? Do laborers deserve fair pay? What’s fair? Who decides?

Reading 1

Jgs 9:6-15

All the citizens of Shechem and all Beth-millo came together and proceeded to make Abimelech king by the terebinth at the memorial pillar in Shechem.

When this was reported to him, Jotham went to the top of Mount Gerizim and, standing there, cried out to them in a loud voice: "Hear me, citizens of Shechem, that God may then hear you!

Once the trees went to anoint a king over themselves. So they said to the olive tree, 'Reign over us.' But the olive tree answered them, 'Must I give up my rich oil, whereby men and gods are honored, and go to wave over the trees?'

Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'Come; you reign over us!' But the fig tree answered them, 'Must I give up my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?'

Then the trees said to the vine, 'Come you, and reign over us.' But the vine answered them, 'Must I give up my wine that cheers gods and men, and go to wave over the trees?'

Then all the trees said to the buckthorn, 'Come; you reign over us!'

But the buckthorn replied to the trees, 'If you wish to anoint me king over you in good faith, come and take refuge in my shadow. Otherwise, let fire come from the buckthorn and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'"

A few decades before (but just last Friday for us), the Joshua reminded the Israelites of all that God had done for them. And here they are, back at the same place, Shechem, demanding a king instead of a God.

The king-to-be, Abimelech, had just killed seventy of his half-brothers, in order to convince a cohort of civic leaders that he would be the best king. The only survivor of the slaughter, Gideon’s son Jotham, preaches one of the first parables in the Bible, the Bramble King.

First, the trees (usually a metaphor for Israel) ask the olive and fig trees to be their king, but the olive and fig trees have better things to do. They know they weren’t meant to reign over all the trees. Then they ask the vine, who also turns them down.

Finally, they ask the buckthorn (briar patch), who’s been waiting for this opportunity. He says, not only will I take the crown, but if you change your mind, I’ll burn everything to the ground.

It turns out, the person who most wants power is also the one we should least trust with it. And does this parable apply to Abimelech? Darn tootin’. He’s such a terrible “king” that the Jews don’t even count him as such in their histories.

Does it apply to modern politicians as much as ancient kings? What do you think?

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 21:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

R. Lord, in your strength the king is glad.
O LORD, in your strength the king is glad;
in your victory how greatly he rejoices!
You have granted him his heart's desire;
you refused not the wish of his lips.
R. Lord, in your strength the king is glad.
For you welcomed him with goodly blessings,
you placed on his head a crown of pure gold.
He asked life of you: you gave him
length of days forever and ever.
R. Lord, in your strength the king is glad.
Great is his glory in your victory;
majesty and splendor you conferred upon him.
You made him a blessing forever,
you gladdened him with the joy of your face.
R. Lord, in your strength the king is glad.

This is a really ironic psalm to pick for the day the Israelites elect a truly awful king. Rulers should rejoice in the strength of the Lord. Their power is borrowed from Him, not from their own resources.

Jews continued to sing this after the end of the kingdom, in anticipation of the future Messiah, a king in the line of David. Obviously, we believe this is Jesus. Abimelech is, like, the opposite.

Alleluia

Heb 4:12

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern the reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Part of the verse is skipped over here: “sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow.” The point is that the Jesus, the Word, know the difference between idle thoughts and true motivations.

Gospel

Mt 20:1-16

Jesus told his disciples this parable: "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 nine o'clock, he 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 three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, he 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."

God’s justice is not Man’s justice, because He’s working on a different scale than we are. Sure, in the parable, the morning laborers worked longer than the evening ones, but that part of the metaphor doesn’t carry over to the real world.

We can never work as hard for the Kingdom as God has. He created everything, we owe everything to Him. So, the difference between you and your neighbor isn’t the difference between morning and night, from God’s perspective.

Imagine you could put “good” on an abstract scale. Say, you’re a 9 out of 10, but your neighbor is a 6. God is INFINITY. The difference is negligable.

God’s grace is unimaginable, and none of us “deserve” it. We can’t think of it as being paid a just wage, like workers in the field. It just doesn’t make sense.

Or, as Clint Eastwood put it…