Saved the Best for Last
25th Sunday of the Ordinary Time – Saved the Best for Last
I was almost always the last one picked in seventh grade gym class. We played a lot of volleyball that year – it was the only sport the parent-volunteer was familiar with. Unfortunately, my serve was awful; my courage to dive for the ball non-existent. So, if you happened to see 12-year-old me on the Catholic school asphalt playground phys-ed class in 1987, I just stood there, idle.
I was part of the 5 o’clock crowd Jesus speaks of in today’s parable. And I have a soft spot in my heart for them. Perhaps Jesus does, too.
Hear their reply when the Master of the vineyard comes to them near the end of the workday and asks: “Why are you idle all day?” For so long, I always heard this as an angry reproach from the landowner, somewhere along the lines of: “What are you waiting for, you lazy bums – an engraved invitation?”
But as I walk this road of Christian discipleship lately, I am starting to see this scene differently. Instead of laziness on the part of the 5 o’clock crew, I hear longing in their response. A longing to belong; a desire to be a part of something greater than themselves. Even the question of the Master is not one of reproach or anger; instead, it is one that compassionately asks: why haven’t you been laboring in the vineyard, my dear ones?
There are countless reasons why the 5 o’clock crowd stood there like seventh-grade me on the volleyball court.
Fear is a huge factor. It cripples us. Makes us feel unworthy or incapable. Sometimes we feel as though we just don’t fit in or belong.
All around us, there are parishioners and neighbors who feel this way every moment of their lives. They long to be a part of something but feel as though they don’t have the skills, the time or the direction to get started. They stand in the shadows not out of a lack of desire or unwillingness to try. They remain motionless because they are afraid of failure or fear of not fitting in.
Now, to those hired at the crack-of-dawn – the ones working in the vineyard since the beginning – this seems ridiculous. The 5 a.m. crowd looks at the late-day idlers and wonders why they just aren’t jumping-in to help. “What is wrong with them,” they ask?
But the dawn-patrol doesn’t invite. They don’t lead. Rather, they just assume laziness or lack of concern on the part of the late shift, and then they complain when the supposed idlers show up last minute and get both praised and paid. How dare they!
And truthfully, I get it. We have all been in that situation in which we have done all the back-breaking work, and then someone comes in with seconds remaining, staples a paper together or dots an “I” and then gets her photo on the front page of the company newsletter.
Many years ago, I worked in a school where one teacher would come to the faculty lounge every day at 4 p.m., clean the tables and stock supplies, decorate for the appropriate season and sometimes leave treats, which she paid for out of her own pocket. No doubt, Mrs. Delaney cared about the school and her coworkers.
One afternoon, however, another teacher – one who never volunteered for anything above and beyond her assigned responsibilities and always left immediately at 3 p.m. – happened to be in the faculty room during break and was changing a roll of paper towels (only because her hands were wet) when the principal happened to be walking by and saw this very simple act occur. The next morning at staff meeting, Sister publicly thanks the aforementioned paper-towelteacher for always taking care of the faculty room.
You can imagine the look on the face of the teacher who actually didthe daily hidden work of making the room what it needed to be for the rest of us. For days, Mrs. Delaney mumbled under her breath and passive-aggressively slammed faculty room drawers and left crumbs on the table, a no-no prior to the moment of misdirected praise. “How dare she (the principal) not see all that I do around here.”
She wasn’t wrong. Mrs. Delaney made that room her pride-and-joy. But it wasn’t until the spotlight shone on someone less-deserving that things started to crumble.
And perhaps that is the point of Jesus’ parable to the ones who always show-up and the ones who always work hardest and longest: are you toiling to prove something? Working just for the recognition? Or are you doing what you’re doing simply because it’s the just and virtuous thing to do, regardless of who sees the effort?
There is nothing wrong with wanting to receive credit where credit is due. But the radicalness of this Gospel account is such that it flips upside-down how we perceive fairness in light of our actions.
Firstly, we must remember that in the vineyard, it is ultimately God who calls us to the labor, and some He calls quite early; others come later. When He calls, notice, too, that He makes it clear what is expected of us. He holds nothing back.
When you and I were baptized, we literally die to the old self and put-on Christ. Washed of original sin, we are marked with the Cross and expected to carry it daily behind the Savior, who uses our offering for the salvation of souls. He doesn’t need us, but chooses to invite us to help Him in His labors of bringing others back to the Father through merciful love. We agreed to this. We said “yes, I will serve” at our Baptism and subsequent Confirmation. Thus, it should not matter when or how He calls or even how the laborer is paid. All that truly matters is that we get each other back Home, no matter what time of day we are called.
And this thought continues to challenge me, especially for those of us who are counted among the “dawn-hires.” Perhaps we were asked to do much of the heavy back-breaking work so that the later crew would be able to join-in and do what they could. Perhaps the early ones paved the way so that the ones who never felt seen or lived their lives in fear now had the opportunity to come into the vineyard and contribute what they could – even if it was very little (in our estimation).
Perhaps – to use the opening story as an analogy — the best volleyball players who have been practicing for years just need sometimes to take the terrible ones under their wing and offer the words: “Here, I will show you. Let’s do this together as a team.”
Together, no matter when or how we are invited to join the work.
After all, the victory – the win – is ultimately what we should want for all: that the generous Love of God brings us the equal wage we all need: a vineyard overflowing with mercy enough for everyone, no matter what time they are invited.
Paul made it clear to the Philippians and to us: “Conduct yourself in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ.” Include the awkward 7th grader. Let someone else take credit for the clean kitchen. In the end, the Lord sees all, and it is all His work anyway. He knows what He’s doing, and it is Love that drives it all when we live in His Divine Will.
Whether we are dawn-workers or last-minute employees, all that matters is that we help each other get back Home. And that’s better than a volleyball win and a well-decorated faculty room any day!