Never too Late for Salvation, Yet Salvation is Gratuitously Free
Isaiah 55:6-9; Phil 1:20c-24, 27a; Matthew 20:1-16a
Today, the prophecy of Isaiah about a Messianic age, where everything is gratuitously given, no payment, no credit card necessary, is being liturgically fulfilled. For all those who doubt for their salvation because they considered themselves sinners, for those who still wonder how God will save a sinful world, you have your answer today, “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.” According to the readings of today, the major difference between God and human beings is GRACE – God gives everything to human beings gratuitously, which dispenses with the human conception of justice. Justice itself is God, since he is the law giver and the interpreter of his laws.
When they were back in Babylon, the possibility of salvation and redemption was on the lips and in the hearts of the Jews. They longed for it, but couldn’t help themselves to procure it; they needed a savior, they needed grace; their sins stared them in the face, and more still, their punishment – exile and humiliation – were constantly before them. As it were, it is when human beings are helpless that God proves his identity to and difference from human beings; God comes to human beings as grace, grace for salvation and redemption. As it is usually the case, God comes with a message of hope to a hopeless people, but ever he fulfills his promises. For us Christians, it is in the person of Jesus Christ that we begin to read the hope offered by Isaiah as being realized. Humanity needed to wait for centuries to see the realization of the hope and promise of redemption.
The hopelessly waiting workers of today’s gospel remind us of the general anticipation of Old Testament times. Just as the Jewish people could not redeem themselves, so were the workers of today’s gospel unable to employ themselves, they needed an employer. Imagine the sense of shame and humiliation of those who can not find work today, though they have the qualification for jobs! Imagine the agony of being incapable of feeding one’s children; the tragedy of remaining dependent on one’s parents even at an adult age. In fact, some commit suicide directly or indirectly: what is the cause of African migration today?
Jesus himself sets out to call workers into his vineyard at different times. Jesus himself was aware of the distributive justice that tie employers to employees; Jesus knew the importance and essence of time and hard work, yet he rewarded all his laborer equally, which is contrary to human justice, but Jesus is God, and the definer of justice. We now understand why God’s ways are not human ways, why God’s justice is different from human justice; this shows the essence of God as grace and gratuitousness. This shows us that salvation is a gift of God to all, no one can buy his own salvation.
Given the dispensation of grace in which we live today, St. Paul teaches us how to relate to grace – the acceptance of God’s plans for and grace to us. He says, “conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ”. The gospel of grace is the free salvation humanity has received from God. The attitude of abandonment of everything in God’s hands makes the concept of time to be relative. God is the measure of time. It is never too late for salvation because every time is a time of salvation, for salvation is gratuitously free. In the logic of Paul, when one is in Christ, God is the sole meaning of life. Paul convinces us that “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain”.
For you and me, the Lord keeps calling us at every single hour of our lives, the way he kept returning to the market place to hire new laborers for his vineyard. Every call from God is a call to freely receive the gift of salvation acquired for us through the blood of Christ. Just as the time of arrival at the vineyard did not affect the payment of each laborer, the time and point at which we accepted Christ’s call does not affect the salvation offered and received. We, in our turn, are being initiated into the Justice of that doesn’t judge the sinner but hopes and prays for his salvation and repentance. We are invited to learn patience and love: patience as we wait for God’s graces toward the salvation of all and sundry; the love of every human being, whether they are sinners or not.
Assignment of the Week:
Send a word of encouragement to somebody you know, who is going through rough times.