It is supposedly a true story.
A Brit was on holiday in Greece in the late 1990\u2019s,
pre-iPhone days.
Walking past a public phone that started ringing, on a whim,
he answered it, and to his shock, it was his bank
calling him about some unusual activity on his account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
When the banker started asking questions,
the Brit wanted to know how they knew his location
and even acquired this phone number.
They told him it was the number they had on file.
He said that can\u2019t be right because this was a public phone…
IN GREECE!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After an awkward silence, the banker admitted
that instead of dialing his phone number
they dialed his account number,
which happened to be the exact number of a phone
in another country that he walked past
at precisely the time they called.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mathematicians are welcome to calculate the odds of that happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dictionaries usually define coincidence as a remarkable
concurrence of events without apparent causal connection.
Shakespeare, on the other hand, thought it was a literary device
that propelled plays such as Romeo and Juliet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there was Albert Einstein who defined coincidence as: \u201cGod\u2019s way of remaining anonymous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The specter of coincidence often comes to mind
when preparing to preach. I often wonder:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it a coincidence that scriptural texts about dignity
surface during the election wars that plague us
with such increased ferocity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or is it coincidental that other texts about peace
occur in the wake of horrifying acts of violence
that too often disrupt our society?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More to the point, is it simply coincidental
that while one of the largest unions in the country
is in a major wage dispute with the big 3 car companies and
a gospel tale about workers and wages
that only surfaces once every 3 years
is center stage this morning?
Maybe God is not so anonymous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frequently, folk use scripture for their own purposes
like supporting particular causes, or
condemning certain practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In that vein, some might think that this gospel
is an announcement that Jesus is a pro-union guy
promoting fair wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or, conversely, that the Son of God has a soft spot for slackers
who only roll out of bed in late afternoon
and saunter to work when the sun is about to set,
while everyone else has labored through the heat of the day
and are about ready to pack up and go home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But like other segments of God\u2019s Word,
this is a multi-layered revelation
with unforeseen twists and turns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not surprising that this gospel could offend our sense of fair play.
That becomes clear if we monetize the parable…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a wine growing state like California,
the minimum wage for laborers is $15.50 an hour.
The workday in this gospel was an arduous 12 hours:
6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
According to California standards,
the workers hired first made $186 at $15.50 an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those who showed up at 9:00, however, made almost $21 an hour;
those who showed up at noon, $31 an hour;
those at 3:00, $62.00 an hour;
and the 5:00 p.m. shift $186 per hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clearly unfair, especially if you imagine the last ones were hired
through prejudicial eyes (hinted at in some translations of this text)
which speaks of them as being idle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Theologian Pablo Jimenez addresses this insinuation,
taking on commentators who ignore that seasonal workers usually have to attend several “work calls” during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He writes: “They go from job site to job site until they are hired. They may even go to a new job site after completing an assignment. In short, these sad remarks advance one of the main tenets of the ideology of the powerful: the idea that the poor are lazy.<\/em>\u201d[1]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n So this gospel is not about God coddling the idle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe even more surprising, He does not oversee a family farm,[2]<\/sup> Our generous hero in this gospel His singular act of generosity, highlighted in this gospel, One commentator pushes even further, suggesting that He continues: talking about God\u2019s goodness costs nothing There must be something more volatile here, While we may not recognize it at first, this parable It is a community of endless conflict between those \u201con top\u201d and those \u201con the bottom,\u201d From this perspective, the key to this parable is not the landowner Into this factious society The grumbling of the original hires In a nutshell this parable concerns In today\u2019s gospel, the new society has not yet come to pass Joseph Cardinal Bernadin of blessed memory more specifically, this divided local church His hope was that a common ground initiative I know how profoundly committed Old St. Pat\u2019s is So we weekly return here, to this sanctuary of inclusivity
the gospel does not simply concern holy generosity,
for the landowner is not a stand-in for God,
at least not one I would like to embrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
since those had largely disappeared under Roman rule,
especially because of the burden of taxes that forced families to lose their land to the rich and powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
is analogous to a plantation owner,
who is a cog in an oppressive power structure
that pays folk only enough to feed their family for a day,
in joyless and exhausting working conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
does not make him God-like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
this parable is not essentially about the generosity of God.
If that was all it was, it would remain basically toothless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but it also changes nothing.
If Jesus had only talked about God\u2019s generosity
He would not have been nailed to the cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
which is Jesus\u2019 insistent vision of God\u2019s reign,
breaking into quarrelsome and contentious communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
realistically describes human society
in which every woman or man is for her- or himself
each struggling for their own existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
where rivalry thrives, especially between those
who belong to the same social class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but the grumbling workers,
who continuously compare themselves to each other
fueling mistrust and deep tensions.
They have to fight for their rights,
for they live in a world built on rivalry,
where, in order to survive, they have no other choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
emerges the Jesus of the beatitudes,
the Jesus of two great commandments,
the Jesus who promotes community over individualism
friendship over servitude,
mercy over merit, and in the process
exposes those of hardened hearts and closed minds,
the scoundrel and wicked in today\u2019s first reading:
and it is that prophetic expos\u00e9 that got him killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
mirrors the grumbling of Jesus\u2019 contemporaries
insulted, even outraged at the new things he was promoting
about the graciousness of Samaritans, the lovability of sinners
and the value of every stranger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the struggle for the common good,
revealed in the clash of a society built on competition & rivalry,
colliding with the Jesus vision.
The only-begotten\u2019s vision of God\u2019s reign
is a society without conflict and comparison.
in which people are wed together
by working to build a peaceable kingdom.
This creates a solidarity that does not divide
but enables us to share in each other\u2019s suffering
and rejoice in each other\u2019s joys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and, at this moment in history,
it has not yet come to pass either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
was an unrelenting advocate for establishing common ground
not only in a polarized world
and in a fractured religious landscape
but also in a divided church \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
whose rifts became apparent to him
in his early years here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
would help parishes move beyond any liberal\/conservative
divide and become places of shared and affirming care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to being a place of common ground for all
and over and over again stands up for the common good.
But, despite all the good work today,
even here the Jesus vision has not fully come to pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to renew our commitment to the Jesus vision:
a society void of rivalry and competition
that affirms diversity as grace,
difference as strength,
and variation as beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n