Wednesday August 19, 2026

Matthew 20:1-16

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard.

There must have been some trouble in the early church which prompted Jesus to tell this parable to his disciples. The question for me is if we finally got that message. Sometimes church which is supposed to be a place of worship, forgiveness and welcome can become a rather toxic place where enemy lines are drawn. This happens in every community and family if we do not stop reminding ourselves of our mission. Maybe instead of mission, the disciples were being driven by ambition. The first disciples wanted to be respected, given places of honor because they were the first ones to be called. In fact no one would be allowed to be called an apostle unless they were called by Jesus himself. Then here comes St Paul. He had never walked with Jesus and was claiming to be an apostle. Trouble began!!

Remember another incident when the disciples stopped a guy who was casting out a demon because “he is not one of us…” And the Lord said “…why did you stop him, he who does not scatter actually gathers with us…”

This was there thing you see. It very quickly became about them not the mission. Have you ever had a priest who needed to control everything? He has to hold court all the time and you better not do something better than him? I know you have!!! That priest or person needs to go on retreat to be reminded that it is God who does the calling. He calls some at the 11th hour and it is non of our business to question their reward or gift.