God's Vineyard: When People We Love Don’t Believe
“For 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.”
Isaiah 55:6-9
In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 20 we find Jesus teaching His disciples through the “Parable of the workers in the vineyard.” In the parable, Jesus teaches about a landowner who goes out and invites laborers to on his vineyard for an agree upon wage. The landowner goes out 5 different times to invite laborers. Dawn, 9 o’clock, Noon, 3 o’clock , and 5 o’clock.
At the end of the parable we read that:
“When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’” (Matthew 20: 9-12)
The laborers that worked the entire day expected more in return than those who only worked at the end of the day. However, the landowner, gave them all the agreed upon wage. The parable ends with the landowner telling the laborers:
“He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:13-16)
Parable Explained
The general idea of the parable is that regardless of when you came in the vineyard of faith, all are treated the same in God’s Kingdom. This seems counter to our human understanding of what is fair. But because our God is merciful and generous - He holds different standards. Our entering the Kingdom is never about our merit, but always about God’s generosity.
Parable Applied
As I was praying with this parable, I immediately thought of all the people I loved that did not believe. I have family members, old youth group teens, and friends who aren’t in the vineyard anymore.
We all have those people in our lives that have not accepted the love of Jesus Christ and the Truth of His Church. Despite our greatest efforts, articles shared, arguments had, and novenas prayed, they still remain unconvinced and unconverted.
It pains us to know they are refusing to take their seat at the banquet laid out for them. We feel sadness, anger, or even a bit of despair - weighed down because there seems to be nothing we could do to change their mind.
In today’s Gospel, God gives us hope and direction in how to handle these situations.
1) God Keeps Inviting
God is the owner of the vineyard, and we are the laborers. The first thing we notice is how tirelessly God is working to invite those outside of the vineyard to come and work. God doesn’t just go out once to invite laborers back. He goes out five times, seeking anyone willing to work.
God doesn’t stop inviting.
No one beyond His reach, God is still working, still inviting, still fighting. Whomever that person is that you wish God would save - God wants them to be saved more than you do. God loves your loved one more than you do. That is why He keeps inviting.
That is why we need to give our loved ones’ salvation over to God and trust that He is working for their good. We need to put to death the desire to know God’s plan and ask questions like:
What is He doing?
How is He working?
What is taking Him so long?!
God has not given up on your loved one. Conversion may not come in the manner or timeline you desire - but our ways are not His ways..
We must trust that He is working tirelessly for their salvation and then we must turn our focus on the job He’s given to us.
2) We Need To Do Our Job Well
God has assigned each one of us a vocation, a duty, that he expects us to do well. We are all laborers with assignments. Sometimes, that assignment is to help convert and convince our loved ones. But, in my experience, it usually is not.
As vineyard laborers our primary job is to do the job He’s assigned us, and do it well. There are people whom we influence, those who are within arms reach - we need to love those people; our assignment is to help love and lift up the people who He has entrusted to us. These are the people we have direct influence over. This may have been our loved one at a time (if we are older siblings, or parents of older children), but even if we no longer have influence over our fallen away loved ones, we still have influence over someone. And with that influence we are called to work.
It’s easy to lose sight of the people God’s entrusted to us to serve, because we are more focused on the people we wish we could serve.
We may be able to influence dozens of young people, but we wish we could influence our own children. Or maybe influence hundreds of people on social media, but wish we could influence our spouse.
It is in that wishing that we forget our trust and lose sight of our role.
Don’t focus on what you can’t do, and whom you can’t influence. God has assigned you a duty. As you entrust your loved one to God, serve the ones God’s entrusted to you.
3) We Can Still Love
You may not be able to talk about religion without a debate, or bring up the Church without sneers and unnecessary comments. You may not be able to talk about Jesus without being labeled fanatical, or talk about morality without being dubbed out of touch.
But you can still love.
Evangelization is not only catechesis. Teaching and convincing others what to believe and why is not the only way of bringing other to Christ. That may be someone’s role at some point, but in those situations, it is not yours.
Your role is to love. And you do this by asking questions and listening to their story. We should not assume we know what our loved one believes just because we grew up with them. Or because we knew what they believed 10 years ago.
We need to be willing to enter into a person’s narrative, ask questions, and listen to their story. If they’re your family member, their story may sound like a poor retelling of events from a skewed point of view. It doesn’t matter. It may not be an accurate story - but it is their story. It is how they see things. It is what has brought them to believe what they believe, and it isn’t your job to prove them wrong.
Your role is to listen, empathize, and love. As author Sherry Weddell puts its beautifully we should, “Never accept a label in place of a story.”
As hard as it might be, your role is to love.
4) We Can Still Pray
Finally, we must pray. This is part of our labor, as well. God alone brings about the opportunity for conversion and healing. His grace is at work, even if we can’t see it or feel it.
Our role in our loved ones salvation may only be one of prayer. Therefore, we must prayer for them daily. Not only before or after arguments or before reunions or scheduled phone calls.
Daily.
God wills that all be saved (1 Tim 2:4). We must trust that God, who is working tirelessly, will put all things in the works so that our loved one is given every opportunity for conversion.
Prayer can seem like a passive activity in the role of salvation, but it is anything but passive. God has given us the opportunity to partake in the salvation of the world through our prayer. We shouldn’t ignore, or forget this work.
Keep Working
This Sunday, offer up your loved to God and give up their salvation to Him. And on your end - keep working the vineyard. Work with those God has entrusted to you, love those He hasn’t, and not matter what keep praying. God is still inviting, still fighting, and still working.
We should keep working too.
Verso L’alto - Renzo