"Why be envious because I am generous"

In today's gospel from Matthew 20:1-16, we hear the parable of the landowner who went several times to the plaza to hire workers to come to help in his vineyard. Although some had worked for longer hours than the others, at the end of the day they were all paid the same wage. I remember reflecting on this reading with some priests in another country and one of them got quite angry saying that the way the landowner treated the workers was unjust. How could he pay them all the same wage when the had not all worked the same hours? Jesus means it to be a revolutionary story that is contrary to our ideas of justice. We expect God to fit in with our ideas, but Jesus is teaching us that the ways of God are not our ways. The landowner who represents God does not take into account the merits of each worker but rather the need that each one has to receive a wage that will enable him to maintain his family for another day. The conclusion of the landowner teaches us the attitude of God towards us. ''I am not being unjust to you, did we not agree on the payment of a denarius? Why be envious because I am generous?'' When we sit quietly at prayer, especially after communion, we first thank God for our life and all the many gifts that we have received from him and we rightly conclude that God loves us. But we are not God's only favourite; he loves all his other daughters and sons also. Thank you, Lord, for that lesson. Help us to be open to all and not to reduce you to our tiny ideas of what we think you should be like.