Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Bernard Delcourt OHC
The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 20 A, September 24, 2023
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
“Give us this day our daily bread.”With this verse, each time we pray the Lord’s prayer we ask God to act as the affirmative action employer we have in today’s parable. We ask God to give us enough just to live today. We commit to depend on the mercy and grace of God.
In the Exodus story, God teaches God’s chosen people to learn to rely on him one day at a time. OK; two days at a time on the morning before the Sabbath. But that is two days at most. The manna even wastes away when you hold it longer.
God’s beloved people are trained by God not to hoard resources. They are to trust in God’s faithfulness to God’s children.
Jesus tells us that today’s parable resembles the kingdom of heaven. The landowner in this parable is adamant to find the very last person available to work in his vineyard. The harvest is plentiful and he needs all the laborers he can find, even at a late hour in the day.
The landowner considers that everyone deserves a living wage, even those who are late to the game. The wage agreed for with the first laborers he hires is a denarius.
It is nigh impossible to know exactly how much of an equivalent USD amount a denarius would be. But the consensus is that it was enough to live by for a day. Contemporary equivalent might be between 80 and 100 USD a day; nothing to get rich by, but enough to feed modestly a small family.
The second, third and fourth hires of the day (the 9 o’clock, noon and 3pm folks) are promised a pay of “whatever is right.” To most people of back then or of today, they would have expected a pay proportional to the part of the day that they actually worked (not the full day’s pay).
The five p.m. laborers are not even promised a pay at all but must have hoped for some remuneration. They probably didn’t expect much.
But when pay time comes around, everybody receives the same daily wage, a denarius, regardless of the amount of time they have actually toiled under the sun in the vineyard.
This is a landowner who affirms the right of all his workers to a living wage. It is in contradiction with society’s expectation of equal pay for equal work.
But what if you can’t find work till the eleventh hour of the day? The landowner does not put his workers in competition for a living wage. He makes no difference according to performance. This goes beyond justice for those who can get it. Instead, it demonstrates solidarity for all.
There are no winners and no losers in this vineyard. Although, those who worked hard the whole day would argue otherwise. Don’t they deserve more than the others?
But Jesus seems to say that in the kingdom of heaven, access to resources is not a question of merit but a question of need.
So, how do we let God’s kingdom of heaven break into our world? Where can we start to demonstrate solidarity for all, regardless of economic (or other) performance?
Primitive christian communities operated that way. Acts 2: 44-45 tells us “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” How can we live together ever closer to that ideal?
Monastic communities approximate this way of sharing resources. Individual monks are precluded from holding anything more in individual use than what is needed for their daily living. Even so, it is understood that the clothes I wear belong to my community. We often joke to another brother showing up with a new shirt: “that’s a nice shirt we have there, Brother!”
However, everything I need is provided for by my community: room and board, healthcare, transportation, leisure, eldercare. I need not hoard anything for my future needs.
But also, the institution of the monastery owns a great deal of things necessary for the community to function today and we even hold reserves for future healthcare and eldercare.
One could argue that those communal belongings are held by the grace of God. What we don’t provide much for as a community is the superfluous. And God forbid that we should indulge in the extravagant. Our vow of conversion to the monastic way of life encompasses the directive of living simply.
Legend has it (or is it historical) that our founder, James Otis Sargent Huntington, would gather whatever money we had from our communal bank account at the end of the month and go give it away to the poor.
We nowadays have a different understanding of prudential care of our community. We show care and forethought to the men who are in the community today and those, who by the grace of God, will join us in the future.
So, how can we encourage and enable initiatives that support the provision of enough for every one in our family, country, on our planet?
Some politicians have suggested enacting laws towards the provision of Universal Basic Income. It is also known as guaranteed income. The payments are unconditional and do not require a means test or work requirement. The payments are made independently of any other income. It is a concept well worth investigating.
But even less ambitious endeavors could bring us closer to the proper care for all regardless of competitive merit.
What about the massive increase of public transportation? What about affordable housing for all? What about affordable childcare and healthcare for all?
Next time, you are enjoying the right to vote, consider how your democratic entitlement supports the provision of enough to live well to everyone.
So today’s parable opens us up to what living in the kingdom of heaven might be like here today.
We might be called late into God’s vineyard, but we are all called to contribute in whatever ways we can.
We will all be provided for by God’s grace. We Christians are called to embody that grace and provide for those who lack resources.
We can advocate for ways our families, communities and our society at large provide enough out of pure solidarity.
We are not to compete for more than what is enough. We are called to enjoy God’s grace in our everyday life.
We don’t deserve God’s grace according to our own merits. We deserve God’s grace because God is infinitely merciful and loving.
All we enjoy is by God’s grace. All we can be thankful for is ours to enjoy because we are God’s beloved, each and every one of us.
Thank you, Beloved God, for your abiding love. Amen.
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