Ezek 34:1-11/Psa 23:1-6/Matt 20:1-16.
Reflection:
(By Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD(Catholic Bishop of Ho, Ghana)
Both readings today help reflect on the care that we take of tasks entrusted to us and how we are rewarded for what we do.
In the First Reading, the prophet Ezekiel rebuked the leaders that God placed over the people of Israel.
They were supposed to guard and guide the people on the path of righteousness but they deviated from the right path.
Instead of taking care of the people, they enslaved them.
They forced the people to serve their selfish interests.
They drained the population of their resources instead of providing for them.
These leaders are not worthy of being called “shepherds of the Lord”.
Instead, they deserve divine condemnation for their unfaithfulness.
In the Gospel Reading, we encounter a group of workers who were engaged at different times to work on a farm.
By human standards, those who started working at the early hours of the day expected to be better rewarded than those who were called in at the last hour.
This was not however the way the owner of the farm reasoned.
He paid all workers the amount he agreed up with them when they were engaged.
In the eyes of the farm owner, he has been just to all the workers because he fulfilled the terms of the contract.
For the workers, it was not so since they calculated their remuneration by comparing what each of them was given as against the number of hours they worked.
Each of those engaged on the farm fulfilled his part of the contract and obtained what he was promised but the problem is some expected more than what they were promised.
God calls us all to collaborate with him as co-creators in this world. He makes us stewards of his creation.
We are to take good custody of whatever is entrusted to us because we are only caretakers, not owners.
We should use the human and material resources that God places in our hands with care and respect for they belong to the Creator.
As good custodians of God’s creation, we will be rewarded at the end time for a job well done.
We should however not compare our reward with what God offers to others who have also been engaged as custodians. What God promises us is eternal life.
He will give it to us in full measure without fail if we carry out our mission faithfully.
Looking at what God gives to others may only provoke our jealousy.
We should learn to be content with what God gives us.Amen.