Today’s gospel is difficult to understand, particularly for us who live at the center of capitalism. The virtue (or illusion!) of capitalism is that the harder you work, the richer you become. Whether this is truly happening in our reality or not, let’s read the parable from a capitalist perspective. For sure, the landowner in Jesus’ parable is not following the ethos of capitalism. He should NOT have given the same amount of money to all his laborers. We all know why. Some were hired early in the morning, probably at 6 am. There are those hired at 9 am, then at noon, at 3 pm, and lastly at 5 pm. The ones who worked from 6 am to 6 pm and those who only worked for an hour receive the same. Even though we are aware that these laborers have already agreed with the landowner for the usual daily wage, deep down in our hearts, we know the first laborers are unfairly paid.
Now, I would like us to turn our attention to the landowner. He’s a very strange figure. What kind of landowner goes to the marketplace to hire laborers every two-three hours? It’s a bit of waste. Not only does he go against our capitalist ethos but also financially damages himself. Something is wrong with him. This then tells us how we should perceive Jesus’ parable this morning and brings us back to the intention of Jesus’ telling this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” Following St. Francis’ way of understanding the kingdom of heaven as the world upside down, the landowner is countercultural to what we’re used to. His persistence to get more laborers at the marketplace is like God’s persistence to reveal God’s unconditional love and eternal presence to us and the entire humanity. “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me.” (Revelation 3:20) God always stands at the door of our hearts, knocking until we open our hearts. God’s coming into our hearts is always gentle, loving, and kind. It’s never coercive, manipulative, or imposing. Then God eats with us. The Eucharist is the church’s expression of opening up the heart of the world to God for the life of the world. The church’s opening up of the heart of the universe is not so much about proselytizing our world into some kind of Christendom in a colonist manner. Rather, it is the sacred expression that God is in union with the entire world in that the church, each one of us baptized, is called to function as a means to show that eternal union to the world. Let’s dwell more on the landowner’s sense of time in the parable. First, early in the morning, he goes to the marketplace. Then, he goes at 9 am, at noon, at 3 pm, and lastly at 5 pm. This is in chronological or sequential order. The word “chronological” originates from the Greek, “Kronos.” It means “time” or “the personification of time” with a three-headed serpent in Greek mythology. There’s another term for the time in Greek, which is “kairos.” Kairos is qualitative, numinous, beginningless, and boundless. We’re only used to kronos time. Kairos time is a bit tricky to grasp since it is subjective and personal that it only makes sense only when we experience it. This doesn’t mean it’s hard to sense it. We just might not be too aware of it in a conceptual sense. There are special moments in our memories that we can recollect and still feel like it’s happening. In kairos time, there’s no sense of aging or time flowing but eternal now. Kairos is God’s time. It’s the time that the landowner goes to the marketplace and seeks for his laborers. For the landowner, there’s no distinction between 6 am and 5 pm. What matters is the encounter or that sacred moment of the divine and human spark. This, however, isn’t only available to some. No one needs to be chosen to experience God knocking on the door of our hearts and us letting God in. When the clouds of dust of our minds settle down, God appears. God is not hidden but is rather unseen in our hearts because of our busy minds filled with thoughts and feelings. I can say the landowner always goes to the marketplace but in reality, he never even left the marketplace. He’s still in the marketplace. We still haven’t come to terms with the first laborers’ resentment towards the landowner. They feel as though they deserve more. This kind of attitude is shown in the religious elites in Jesus’ time. They deserve more because they are more religious and holier than others. In our time, it can be compared to Christians in our country that we deserve more than non-Christians. At a personal level, this unhealthy attitude can be shown in our spiritual life that the more we pray about what we want, the surer we’re to get it, or the longer we’ve been Christians, the more we’re blessed by God. To this attitude, Jesus says, “No.” The kairos moment when we are in union with God doesn’t give us more blessings than others. We are spiritually awakened to the presence of God in us that everything becomes secondary. Our union with God is more than enough and there’s nothing better. God’s love becomes real to the point where we become compelled to love others. The kairos experience creates a healthy spiritual practice that makes us more generous, more loving, and more compassionate to others. If I’m picked up by the landowner at 6 am, I have twelve more hours to practice compassion and loving-kindness for others. If I’m picked up at 5 pm, it’s still fine because I finally encounter God’s presence and realize God and I are one. So says Jesus, “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” This applies as a warning or a wake-up call to those who misunderstand what it’s like to be picked up by the landowner as if one deserves more money, more blessing. But for those who are content with what this union with God provides, they enter into kairos time. And in kairos time, there’s no last and first but oneness with all life. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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