It is the second Sunday since the new semester of my fourth year in USM started.
And I have a sudden urge to write a long post about what I experienced today.
It has been a while..
This morning, we had planned to explore a new church in Penang. Well, okay, it is not a new church, in fact, it is the second oldest church in the Penang diocese after the Church of the Assumption, but it was new to us since it was the first time we attended a mass here.
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| Church of the Immaculate Conception, Penang. Photo credit to J.O. |
1 Lorong Maktab, Pulau Tikus,
10250 Pulau Pinang
T: 04-2278297
F: 04-2277032
Email: iccpenang@gmail.com
FB: Church of Immaculate Conception, Penang
Church of the Immaculate Conception, Penang. Founded in 1811. A beautiful church newly renovated when we were there. The church was founded by Fr. John Baptist Pasqual who led Thai-Portuguese Catholic Community fled away from the Catholics massacre in the Phuket island. You can find more about the history of the church here, here and here.
The English Sunday Mass started at 8.30am, led by the parish priest, Msgr. Michael Cheah. This morning, he delivered his homily based on the Gospel of Matthew. Anyway, I don't usually remember what was delivered during homily of a mass, it's either I'm not paying enough attention or I was sleepy. :P
However, the sermon given by Msgr. Fr. Michael this morning stick magically inside my brain, at least it lasted until the time I'm writing this. I don't know why I can be so focused this morning, maybe it was the new environment or maybe it's just simply because what was delivered really captured my heart.
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day. But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
(Matthew 20:1-16) NIV version from Bible Gateway.
Footnote:a. A denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer.
As what you can read from the Gospel, you must feel that it is unfair that the landowner gave the same wages to the workers who came late working in the vineyard as those who came early in the morning. In fact, if I was the early comer worker, I would have feel that it was unfair and jealous with the late comer workers too. Working for the whole day sweating under the hot sun in the vineyard and yet receiving the same wages as those who only worked for one hour. How was that fair you tell me?!
Here's one more thing. According to Fr. Michael, back then in Palestine or Middle-East region (I'm not so sure which one he said), you could actually find many workers gathered at a market place area waiting or searching for job. And according to this story, the landowner went and searched for workers for his vineyard several times a day, early in the morning, at about nine o'clock, around noon, then around three and five o'clock. If you are the landowner would you go and hire workers for your vineyard multiple times a day and at the end pay equally the same to all of them no matter how long had they worked? Of course not right.. It was not economical this way. You could save more money by giving those who work less a lesser wages. And why not the landowner gather all the workers he needed together at first and send them all to work for the same duration starting from the early morning till the end of the day? Isn't it more cost-effective and efficient this way?
And here lies the beauty of Jesus parable. We cannot see Jesus teaching from a worldly view. If you see the situation from a different angle, the main message here is not about fairness or justice, it is in fact, about Compassion and Generosity. The landowner went and searched again and again for those who didn't have job at the market place throughout the day and invited them to his vineyard because he knew that all these men were just trying to find some earnings to put something on the dining table for their families. Have he broke his promise to them? NO. He promised each of them one denarius a day, and that is what they get at the end of the day. And not to mention, that is what they have agreed mutually with the landowner at the first place. What the landowner was trying to do was just to make sure each family have something to eat and not starving. '.. are you envious because I am generous?' This sentence struck me like lightning.
And so, 'the Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire workers for his vineyard'. It's not that you know about Christ longer or you trusted Him longer than anyone else that you get more generosity, more kindness or more compassion from Him. Christ's generosity, kindness and compassion for everyone is the same. We are all equal in His eyes and He love everyone equally because He Is Love.
Well, if it was like that, why not I do anything (bad) I want in this world, and at the end of the day, before I die, I repent and come to Jesus to ask for His forgiveness and compassion? Well, mind you, no one know when one will be leaving this world and if one could even make it in time. What if you missed the five o'clock hiring session of the landowner?
Fr. Michael told us about the benefits of working in the vineyard of God, that is, you'll get closer to Him, you'll have a deeper relationship with Him and you can be more and more like Him, as in you can learn all the good things you can have from Him and be a better person, just like when you see from an optimistic p.o.v, working longer in the landowner vineyard, could let you become closer with your boss, learn more about the plantation process, learn more about the generosity and compassion of the landowner, how he see things differently and not just for the sake of earning more profits etc.
Basically, that is what I get from Fr. Michael this morning in my own words. I particularly love Jesus's parables. Parables of earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.
Our Dim-sumss. Photo credit to M.
The dim-dum tasted okay for me (not bad at all but not damn delicious that kind) and the five of us spent RM61.40 for 13 baskets of dim-sum and a pot of tea. Not bad lah.. quite full also...
Anyway, it was a morning well spent. :)
Anyway, it was a morning well spent. :)
