Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ezekiel 34:1-11; Matthew 20:1-16)
Wage-structure is often contentious. Last week the news reported how Mayor Zohran Mamdani
of New York created a controversy by demanding that transport companies like
Amazon and Federal Express hire their own workers rather than pay
subcontractors. The mayor’s objective is
evidently to increase workers’ wages in the city. In today’s gospel Jesus says something
controversial about wage structure although it hardly resolves the question in
our society.
In the parable of the “Workers in the Vineyard” Jesus
describes the bounty of the Kingdom of God.
He says that God is so rich and generous that he can give to those who
live under His rule a short time as much as those who have stayed for a long
haul. No one should feel mistreated by
the arrangement because all receive the kingdom’s huge (what might be called) “retirement
benefits.”
Jesus does not mean to establish labor policy for a nation with
the parable. He does intend, however, to
recommend that everyone be kinder and more generous like the landowner in the
parable. Whatever we have is from God. Like God we should love others which implies
a promise to provide support in some way or another.
