Liturgical Table Talk: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Hors d'oeuvre

What is something about the way things are in the world that you really think is not fair?

Dig in!

Last week, we had to get out our “cost of living calculator” to understand that the servant who owed a king “a huge amount” was actually “ten thousand talents”. A talent was worth six to ten thousand denarii. A denarii was the average daily wage. For this week’s gospel, a daily wage is a central idea in the gospel.

During this series, it has been mentioned that Matthew's gospel has five discourses or lengthy sermons before he begins to tell about Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection. This story comes from a section of the gospel that lies between the 4th discourse, the discourse on the Church, and the 5th discourse, the discourse on the end times. It seems that all through Matthew’s gospel, whenever there is a break between the discourses, Jesus is being interrogated by the religious leaders. That is certainly the case in this section. If this section has any lesson to it, the lesson would be “the first shall be last and the last shall be first." That is the lesson here.

In addition to knowing what a daily wage was back then, it will be helpful to know how they divided the day in Jesus’s day. First, the average daily wage in the United States is current $170. When Jesus is telling the story, he says that the landowner went to find day laborers early in the morning to work for $170. He found a group of workers; they made their agreement, and the workers went to work in the field. This pattern repeated in the following way:

6:30 am – Group 1

9:30 am – Group 2

12:30 pm – Group 3

3:30 pm – Group 4

5:30 pm – Group 5

Then around 6:30 pm, the landowner called them to himself in reverse order and paid them in the following manner:

Group 5 – $170

Group 4 – $170

Group 3 – $170

Group 2 – $170

Group 1 – $170

The first to come and the last to leave received the same wage as those worked for only an hour. Those who started work at the crack of dawn thought they would surely get more, a greater portion than those who had only worked for one hour. But they didn’t. They also were paid the daily wage of $170, the wage they agreed to.

Perhaps many who read this gospel would identify with those who had worked all day. The first readers of the gospel certainly did. They were Jews, the Chosen People. They had followed the Law their whole lives, as did their ancestors all the way back to the time in the desert when the Lord gave the Law. The Christians were the newcomers. Christians were the ones who merely baptized, anointed, and received Eucharist, without having to follow the Law, who were counted with the Jews as the saved.

With this in mind, we shouldn’t identify with those who worked all day. Instead, we should identify with the ones who received a full wage despite having worked for an hour. We have been placed first. Now, rather than envy, the only response we can make is one of being grateful.

Please read Matthew 20:1-16 together.

Table Talk

• Have you ever felt envious of someone? Has someone at work been given a promotion or a project that you felt should have been yours? Is there someone at school that makes you think, “I wish I had what they have”?
• Look around at your life. What is in your life that makes feel gratitude?
• Is there someone who you know that you hope whose life will improve?
• Can you think of ways that today’s gospel is challenging you live differently in a specific way?

And for Dessert

Lord Jesus, each of us have been gifts beyond our ability to measure. Yet, we can be envious or jealous of others or can think that I life should be better than it is. We ask that you give to us the gift of gratitude. During Mass we often hear, “our desire to thank you is itself your gift.” Of all the gifts that we have, we ask for gratitude over all else. We ask you to give us everything we need, as pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven …

We ask this through Jesus who is Lord forever and ever. Amen.

Song Suggestions (to prepare your heart for Sunday's Liturgy)

Psalm 145 by The Modern Poet

Christ be Magnified by Cody Carnes

Goodness of God by Bethel Music