The Gospel of Grace: It’s Never Too Late for Salvation
Isaiah 55:6–9; Philippians 1:20c–24, 27a; Matthew 20:1–16a
Today, the prophecy of Isaiah points us toward the messianic age in which God’s gifts are freely offered: no payment and no credit card necessary! For all those who doubt their salvation because they consider themselves sinners, and for those who still wonder how God can save a sinful world, today we have an answer:
“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 today’s readings, one of the great differences between God and human beings is GRACE. God gives to us gratuitously. His generosity goes beyond our calculations of what people deserve. God is perfectly just, but his justice is never separated from his mercy, generosity, and desire to save. Grace reminds us that salvation is first and foremost God’s gift, not something we earn or purchase.
When the Jewish people were in Babylon, the possibility of salvation and redemption was constantly on their lips and in their hearts. They longed for freedom, but they could not procure it for themselves. They needed a savior; they needed grace. Their sins stared them in the face, while the consequences of exile and humiliation remained constantly before them.
It is precisely when human beings discover their helplessness that God reveals something extraordinary about himself. God comes to us as grace—grace for salvation and redemption. As is so often the case in Scripture, God brings a message of hope to a people who have almost lost hope, and he remains faithful to his promises.
For us Christians, it is in the person of Jesus Christ that we see the hope proclaimed by Isaiah reaching its fulfillment. Humanity waited for centuries to see the promise of redemption revealed fully in Christ.
The waiting workers in today’s Gospel remind us of this anticipation. Just as the Jewish people could not redeem themselves, the workers in today’s Gospel could not employ themselves. They needed someone to come looking for them.
Imagine the shame and humiliation experienced by people today who cannot find work even though they are qualified and willing to work. Imagine the agony of being unable to feed one’s children or the frustration of remaining dependent upon one’s parents even in adulthood. Unemployment can rob people not only of income but also of confidence, dignity, and hope. We can think, too, of the economic hardship and lack of opportunity that contribute to migration in many parts of the world, including Africa. Behind statistics are real human beings searching for the possibility of a better life.
In today’s parable, the landowner repeatedly goes out to call workers into his vineyard at different hours of the day. Jesus certainly knew the ordinary expectations of justice between employers and employees. He knew the importance of time, labor, and hard work. Yet, in the parable, those who arrived last received the same daily wage as those who had worked from the beginning.
Here we begin to understand Isaiah’s words: God’s ways are not our ways.
The parable is not primarily a lesson about employment contracts or economic policy. It reveals something about the Kingdom of God. The generosity of the landowner points toward the generosity of God. Salvation is not a salary calculated according to the number of hours we have worked. It is a gift. No human being can purchase salvation, and no one can place God in his or her debt.
This is the Gospel of Grace.
Those who came at the first hour received what had been promised to them. Those who came at the last hour received generosity beyond what they could have expected. The landowner asks a powerful question: “Are you envious because I am generous?”
That question is also addressed to us.
Can I rejoice when God is generous to another person? Can I rejoice when someone who has lived far from God returns to him? Can I welcome the sinner who repents after many years? Or do I secretly think that I deserve more because I have been faithful longer?
Grace challenges our tendency to compare ourselves with others.
St. Paul teaches us how to respond to this grace: “Conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ.” The Gospel of grace is the salvation humanity has freely received from God. When we entrust ourselves completely to God, even our understanding of time begins to change. God is Lord of time.
That is why it is never too late for salvation.
As long as God continues to call, there is hope. The worker called at the last hour is still welcomed into the vineyard. The sinner who turns toward God late in life is still invited to receive mercy. Grace means that our past does not have the final word; God does.
In the logic of St. Paul, when a person belongs to Christ, Christ becomes the ultimate meaning of life. Paul declares:
“For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.”
For you and me, the Lord continues to call at every hour of our lives, just as the landowner kept returning to the marketplace to invite more laborers into his vineyard. Every call from God is an invitation to receive anew the gift of salvation won for us through Christ.
The hour at which the laborers arrived did not prevent them from receiving the landowner’s generosity. Likewise, the point in life at which someone responds to Christ does not place that person beyond the reach of God’s grace.
This truth should also change the way we look at other people.
We are being initiated into God’s way of justice—a justice inseparable from mercy. Instead of condemning the sinner, we hope and pray for the sinner’s conversion and salvation. Instead of becoming jealous when another person receives grace, we rejoice because God’s mercy has reached another human being.
We are therefore invited to learn two things: patience and love.
Patience, as we wait for God’s grace to work in the lives of others.
Love, as we refuse to give up on any human being.
Perhaps there is someone whom you have already judged to be beyond redemption. Perhaps there is someone about whom you have said, “That person will never change.” Today’s Gospel asks us to leave room for grace.
The landowner went out in the morning.
He went out again at nine.
He went out at noon.
He went out at three.
And astonishingly, he went out again at five o’clock.
God keeps going out looking for us.
That is the good news of today: as long as God is still calling, it is never too late.
Assignment of the Week
Send a word of encouragement to someone you know who is going through a difficult time. Remind that person, through your words or actions, that there is always reason to hope.