Growing up in the Philippines during World War II, we did not have much to eat. At dinner time, Dad divided the food on the table so each of us could have a share. Otherwise, table time would have been a “survival of the fittest” situation.
I remember complaining that my brother’s share of a piece of cake was bigger than mine.
Dad took back the cake and put the slices back together, saying “I need one of you to volunteer to divide the cake. And the one who does not divide it will be the first to pick the piece he wants.”
Looking back at the incident, I now think that Dad had the wisdom of Solomon. Dad was not unfair, but I thought he was giving my brother the bigger piece. Sometimes we think God is unfair. But He is never unfair.
To illustrate the point, let us look at Matthew’s story about some people questioning God’s fairness. (Matthew 20:1-12).
A vineyard owner hired workers for a day.
At dawn, he went to an employment office and hired a group of men. At 9 a.m., he went back and hired another group, doing the same at noon and 3 and 5 p.m.
At 6 p.m., the end of the working day, he told his manager, “Gather all the workers and pay them a full day’s wage, starting from those who were hired last down to the first.”
Those who were hired first were upset.
If I were one of those workers, I would be upset too.
Why won’t you be as well? If you had worked from dawn to sunset under the hot summer sun and at the end of the day, you were paid no more than those who worked only a couple of hours, you might also be furious. “It is unfair! It is unjust!” you would say.
It would not have needed a lot of thinking to avoid the situation. The vineyard owner could have done what my Dad did.
He could have called the group who were hired at dawn first, paid them and sent them home. They would have been happy.
Then he could have called the 9 a.m. group, paid them the full day’s wage, sent them home and repeated the process for the noon, 3 and 5 p.m. groups in order. But he did not do that.
What is the purpose of this story?
Maybe Jesus is appealing to those who have not fully committed to follow Him, those “who are doing nothing the whole day,” those who are afraid to abandon worldly fun, those not worrying about their salvation until they are on their deathbed.
In some ways, some of us are idle right now. We still cling to our old habits.
“Come home now! Stop sinning. Though sin is attractive and enticing, it does not lead you to life and happiness. Sin diminishes life. Repent and come back to God,” Jesus is saying to us.
God’s goodness sometimes bothers me. Does it do the same to you?
Sometimes I complain to God in the same way I complained to Dad: “Father God, for years I have been working for You. You suddenly are going to forgive this person who has done nothing for you all his life. Then why was I working so long and so hard?”
If you have thought like this, here is God’s answer: “I am not like you. You want others to pay. I want them to come back.”
Envy is one of the deadly sins. It is deadly because it is the worst. It is deadly because of what it does to us.
Envy is not jealousy. Envy is a certain sadness over the good fortune of others. It is like saying to someone, “God has blessed you and I am miserable because of it.”
Envy is essentially competitive. It is saying “I want you beneath me” or “I hate you because of the good with which God has blessed you.”
Envy needs to be eradicated from our lives if we want to follow Jesus.
Gratitude is an antidote to envy. If you think about it, there is nothing good in your life that does not come from God.
Think of what God has done in your life.
And think of what God will do for you in the future.
Te Deum laudamus!