September 24
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“The Lord is near to all who call upon him.”
Readings
Reflection
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him! (Psalm 145)…a deep consolation that we should be reminded of daily. It’s worth keeping Psalm 145 (in its fullness) visibly in front of us somewhere, whether it’s on the fridge, in your room getting ready for the day, wherever you will see it regularly. It boldly reminds us of the fidelity of the Lord, and the generosity with which he extends his care and mercy toward us.
Again, in our readings this Sunday we are given a familiar parable, one that compares the Kingdom of Heaven to the landowner who is radically generous, irrationally so by our standards. But this seems to be quite consistent with the message that we receive from the Prophet Isaiah in our first reading about God himself: “…my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts”.
Let’s pause for a second and piece together some of the themes we’ve encountered in recent Sundays since we have an important progression through Matthew’s Gospel. Last Sunday: Lord must I forgive my brother or sister? How many times?? The Sunday before: Lord, how am I supposed to handle conflict with my brother or sister? The Sunday before that: Jesus boldly stated the prediction of his Passion and death, his anticipated rejection by all and that all disciples called to follow after him will need to take up the cross, too?
With these in mind, consider the height of imitation of God that we are constantly being invited to? If we are called to share in the life of Christ this radically, then there will inevitably be the participation that looks like a familiar line from the Gospel of John: unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies, it produces much fruit (cf. John 12). While on the surface we might be deterred because of the difficulty or apparent suffering at stake, we should be comforted or assured that the Lord accompanies us through such times to bring us to the fullness of life, in ways that we could never imagine. We should probably anticipate that this journey won’t look like what we expect it to—and this is a good thing. Because as the Lord said through Isaiah so high above your ways are my ways.
And maybe taking our lead from Jesus’ parable…it doesn’t matter what time of day (or what time or phase in our life, wherever we are, etc.) that we enter into the Lord’s vineyard to labor for him…the Lord desires all to receive the same eternal reward.
Peace,
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