What do you expect?
25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
There are all sorts of ways to understand this parable of the generous landowner, but, really it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to us. Anyone who’s hired people knows you don’t pay someone the same if they worked all day or if they only worked for one hour at the end of the day when it is nice and cool.
One thing’s for sure… but first, there are all sorts of ways to explain this parable. The church fathers said probably the best way to understand this is that the Jews were called first, and then later the gentiles, but we both receive the same salvation. So there’s your scholarly answer for the day…
But one thing’s for sure in this parable of the generous landowner. Everyone got the same thing, but nobody got what they expected.
The guys who got up early in the morning and were hired at dawn and worked all day long, through the heat of the day until the sun went down started the day thinking they were going to get their usual wage, then finished the day expecting… “this is going to be fantastic, I’m going to get a bonus…” and that is not what they got. They expected to be treated as something special for their hard work. They did not get what they expected.
Those guys hired in the middle of day had no idea what to expect. The landowner just told them he’d pay what was just, so they had no idea what they should expect. They surely didn’t get what they expected.
Those gentlemen hired at 5 oclock when the sun went down at 6 oclock to end the work day definitely didn’t get what they expected, did they? They expected to get a little… A tenth or a twelfth of a day’s wage, not a full day’s wage.
What do we expect from God?
Do we expect… do we think we’ve been working all day long in the heat, and God owes us something? Maybe a little bonus… a little nice… something?
Are we completely clueless, we’re just glad to be here, and have no idea what to expect?
Or, are we overwhelmed, because God is so generous… generous beyond expectation with us?
Someone taught me once that disappointment comes from unmet expectations. I think they meant that in a joking way, but it’s true, isn’t it? When we have a certain kind of expectation, and those are not met, we are disappointed. So, what do we expect of God? What can we expect from God?
Two things.
One is… the prophet says that if the wicked and the scoundrel… if the scoundrel will give up his evil ways, and the wicked let go of their wicked thoughts, then God is generous in forgiving. We can expect that from God. If we repent sincerely, God will be merciful to us. That is an expectation that will not be disappointed.
The prophet also encourages us to call to God while God is near. Not that if we call, God will come near. It is not like God is out there far away and somehow when we call, God will come down from wherever God is and come close to us… God IS near. We can expect that when we turn to God, God is right there. God is right here.
For myself, I want to think about what I expect from God, and from other people, and what does that teach me about myself.
At work… I work with my sons… I am very blessed to work with my sons, and sometimes we have little… not disagreements… we don’t see exactly eye to eye. Usually, that is because nobody said what they expected. We all just assume that somebody knew what we wanted, and what we expected.
So, when it comes to other people.. Mark Meurer often says you can’t inspect what you don’t inspect, and you certainly can’t expect what you can’t inspect. I want to be clear that I set clear and measurable expectations. If I am disappointed, maybe I need to communicate my expectation better, instead of getting all salty because I didn’t get what I expected, but never expressed.
When it comes to God, I can expect that God will be kind and merciful. I can expect that when I turn, and call on God, and turn from my evil ways, that God will be right there.
