Gift and Reward

The Parable of the “Workers in the Vineyard” is a parable NOT ONLY ABOUT JUSTICE but more about the parable of GENEROSITY.

It is a parable of justice because those who worked for the eight (8) hour workday received the usual, regular and just wage for a day’s work.  It is also a parable of generosity because some hired workers received more than what they deserve.

What the Lord meant was that hired men received money from the Lord not because they had to be paid for work that they did but simply because God wanted to give.  It is the same with heaven.  Heaven is not God’s reward to us for not violating the Ten Commandments.  Heaven is not God’s reward to us because we go to Mass every Sunday or because we pray the rosary, or do not kill, steal, or commit adultery.  It is not because of all of these that God must reward us with heaven.  “HEAVEN IS NOT A REWARD; HEAVEN IS GOD’S GIFT TO US.”

If we were to demand justice from God for what we do, we will all end up outside the Kingdom of heaven.  We will all be able to enter God’s kingdom not because we are worthy, but because GOD IS GENEROUS.  We will all be able to enter God’s kingdom not because we are being rewarded for the good things we have done but because GOD IS GOOD.  There is no opportunity; there is no chance for us to buy heaven.  If we try to buy heaven, it will be like buying the whole of California with fake gold, which is valueless.  We cannot buy our salvation.

Our acts of love to our neighbor, our acts of piety, our fidelity to the commandments, our praying the Rosary everyday our going to mass every Sunday, these are only expressions of our love for God.

And at the end of the day when everything is said and done, we can only say, in humility:  “Lord I still do not deserve heaven.  Please be gracious to me, let me enter heaven one day.”

If God desires to give us heaven, let us thank Him.  Heaven is not God’s reward to us.  Heaven is not something we pay for.  Heaven is COMPLETELY GOD’S GIFT to us.

God is generous, God is kind.  God is love.  Let us thank God that He is generous because if God were only just, we will all be outside the kingdom of heaven.  The generosity of God is the beginning of new life.  May we all experience the generosity of God and may we be able to be generous to others as God has been generous in loving us.