Trong câu chuyện ngụ ngôn về Nước thiên đàng, chủ vườn nho trả công cho những người làm vườn cho ông với số tiền ngang nhau, không kể người làm sớm hay đến trể. Có lúc trong cuộc sống hằng ngày, chúng ta cũng đã thấy những việc như thế xảy ra nhưng chúng ta cũng sẽ không bằng lòng và chấp nhận nếu như chúng ta là những người thợ tới sớm làm sớm. Chúng ta cũng sẽ nghĩ là ông chủ của chúng ta đã không công bằng.... ó lẽ chúng ta cũng sẽ được nghe "Này bạn, tôi đã không bất công với bạn, không phải là chúng ta đã đồng ý về giá cả tiền công cho mỗi ngày rồi sao? Vì vậy, hãy cầm lấy những gì của bạn mà đi. Tôi muốn trả tiền công cho người làm trễ bằng bằng lương công nhật của bạn là quyền của tôi. Anh nghĩ tôi không có quyền làm những việc như tôi muốn với tiền của tôi sao? Tại sao bạn lại ghen tị với cái lòng tử tế của tôi?”
In the same way God will reward us as he wishes, whether we have served him all our life or only for part of our life. His generous reward of sharing life with him in heaven is freely his to give, when to give and to whom to give. No one is really entitled to heaven and God's rewards. Two things are important: first, that we do our work for God, and second, that we are ready for him when he comes to demand an accounting on how we have done our work in life.
We thank God for his goodness to us, completely out of his liberality, and live and pray so as to receive his reward of life with him for all eternity.
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.” Matthew 20:6–7
These are very generous words spoken by the landowner. As the parable explains, this landowner hired workers for his vineyard early in the morning, and then again at nine o’clock, noon, three o’clock and finally at five o’clock. But at the end of the day, he paid them all the same daily wage as if they had all been working since early morning. The ones hired first were upset thinking it was unfair that those who worked just an hour were paid the same wage as they were. But the landowner concludes, “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?” God, in His mercy, is generous beyond comprehension. But we, as fallen humans, are constantly examining whether we are getting our fair share and comparing ourselves to others. We tend to want more and more and easily become envious when we see others succeed or receive blessings that we do not have. For example, if someone is more popular than us on social media, or drives a nicer car, or has a bigger home, or goes on an expensive vacation, we often tend to notice with a sort of sorrow that we do not have what they do. And that is envy.
The cure for envy is wholehearted generosity. Not just generosity with our money but generosity with our affections and our ability to rejoice in the blessings that others receive. For example, if someone were to tell you that they were going on a nice vacation next month to a place you always wanted to go, how would you react? You might jokingly say, “Wow, I’m jealous!” Jealousy can quickly turn into envy, which is a form of sorrow over the blessings another has that you do not. And that sorrow over the blessings of another can subsequently turn to anger.
These workers in the vineyard who worked all day and received the same amount as those who worked only one hour could have responded by congratulating the later workers and could have even jokingly said, “Lucky you, I wish I would have shown up at five o’clock!” But instead, they grumbled and tried to interfere with the generosity of 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.” Again, this is envy, in that their sorrow over the generosity of the landowner led them to try to interfere with the blessing the others received.
Whenever you notice this form of unholy sorrow within you, take notice. It means that you lack a selfless generosity toward others. And if you see God blessing another in spiritual riches, try to generously rejoice in that. Offer praise and thanks to God for His goodness. Don’t dwell on yourself and dismiss every temptation to compare. In many ways, everyone of us is represented by those who worked only one hour and received the full daily wage. This is because we could never earn the grace of salvation. The one and only reason we are able to receive the gift of eternal salvation and every other grace given to us by God is because God is infinitely generous. Therefore, the goodness and generosity of God must be our constant focus, and we must rejoice in that generosity when it is given to us and when it is also given to others.
Reflect, today, upon any tendency you have toward envy. Think about the blessings that others have been given that you have not. Sincerely look at your interior reaction to that and pray that God will grant you the gift of being able to be generous in your rejoicing in those blessings. Every blessing given by God must be the cause of our joy, no matter if those blessings are bestowed upon us or upon others.
My most generous Lord, You bestow Your blessings upon all in superabundance. When I witness the ways that others are blessed by You, help me to foster a sincere gratitude for all that they have received. Help me truly rejoice in the many ways You bless all Your people. Free me from envy, dear Lord, so that I am not burdened down by that ugly sin. Jesus, I trust in You.
1. The Desire for Fairness: Nothing holds us back from holiness like the desire for “fairness.” It is one of those uncomfortable paradoxes of human nature. We ask ourselves, “Why didn’t I get that promotion? Why do I have this illness? How dare he speak to me like that?” And yet, we can have very little patience for others who complain about the same things. In this parable, Christ wants to open our eyes to see the world through an entirely different lens—his lens. He doesn’t hand out a certain number of graces over here, and balance that with a certain number of difficulties over there. And Christ doesn’t compare us with others. No, like the perfect parent, he deals with us only based on what is good for us—why should we treat ourselves or others any differently?
What Is Just?: This parable addresses the attitude of the disciples, who had been tempted to focus on what reward they might receive for being close followers of Jesus. They had started to think that Jesus’s kingdom would bring them some kind of riches, or that it would elevate them above others. At first, we might assume Jesus wanted to teach them in the parable that he is just, giving each worker what is due to him. “My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?” However, we know that in our case, the “daily wage” is eternal life. There is no amount of work, no calculation, no rationale that justifies our reception of such a profound gift from our superabundantly generous Lord.
Tin Mừng hôm nay, Chúa Giêsu Kitô kêu gọi chúng ta hãy sống thật sự như những người thật đang sống với tâm hồn biết yêu thương và nghĩ tới người khác, mà không phải là sống như người chỉ biết sống trong cái vỏ tầm thường như những người vô đạo chỉ biết nghĩ đến mình, nghĩ đến với cái vỏ hào choáng bên ngoài để khoe khoang diện mạo, để dễ tiện việc kiếm lợi cho cá nhân của mình mà thôi. Vì thế hôm nay Chúa muốn chúng ta nên phải biết sẵn sàng cởi bỏ cái vỏ bề ngoài hay thói đạo đức giả của chúng ta, và biết chân thành ngay chính trong tâm hồn chúng ta, biết yêu thương người như Chúa đã yêu chúng ta?
Lạy Chúa, xin dạy cho chúng con có tâm hồn giống như Chúa, để chúng con có thể biết yêu theo cách mà Chúa đã yêu chúng con.
Whenever we encounter the word `hypocrite' we often are challenged to examine ourselves, mainly because we do not want to be hypocrites. We are concerned about our external image, about what others will say of us, about our skeletons in our closets. We tend to hide the dark side of our lives, we sweep our dirt under the rug. Christ calls us to be REAL loving and caring persons, not in a mediocre way but in an uncompromising real way – HIS WAY. Are we willing to strip off our hypocrisy, be sincere in our hearts, and love as he loves?
Lord, teach our hearts to become like yours that we may love the way you love
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