Scripture Reflection, September 20, 2026, 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 55:6-9 Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a Matthew 20:1-16a

I remember the time I first heard this gospel in church. I must’ve been in junior high. At that stage in my moral development I was focused on fairness. And everything in me sided with those workers who complained that the vineyard owner was unfair! I had not yet developed an adult sense of justice.

As you know in the story, the land owner of the vineyard hires his first batch of workers at dawn and agrees with them for the usual daily wage. He goes again to hire workers at 9 o’clock agreeing to pay them what was just. The same thing happens three more times. When it is time to pay the workers, the land owner tells his foreman to begin with the last and pay the workers the same wage as the first. Those who had worked since dawn thought this was grossly unfair. And even though the land owner reminded them of their original agreement, that first shift was not convinced. And as a child neither was I.

But then I grew up. Eventually, I got married and had four children. And what was clear to me was that those four children were each unique, with different needs. I think most parents realize this and learn that treating each of these different children exactly the same in order to look fair would be an injustice. Something similar happens in a classroom. A teacher realizes that these students are not cut out cookies, each one the same. Justice requires that their individual needs be recognized and addressed.

What is true person to person also has societal dimensions. What looks like fairness may actually be injustice. In the race of life, we do not all start at the same place. Some of us face challenges that others do not. Some face physical, intellectual or developmental challenges that others do not. Some face structured discrimination based upon ethnicity or skin color or gender that others do not. My own ancestors coming through Ellis Island during the potato famine found store windows with ads for help that included the words “Irish need not apply “.

A society that strives to be just by recognizing the uniqueness of each of its members and works to remedy injustice may look unfair to those without similar challenges. In today’s gospel Jesus offers a different vision, a vision of justice. His question to the workers who grumbled when pay was handed out is a good question for us today. “Are you envious because I am generous?”, the land owner asks.

by: Pat Schnee, OPA