SUNDAY HOMILIES FOR YEAR A

By Fr Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp

Homily for 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time -
on the Epistle
Home > Homilies > Year A > Sunday 25 Gospel

Whether by Life or by Death

Isaiah 55:6- Philippians 1:20- Matthew 20:1-
9 24, 27 16

If someone asked you to express your expectation

and hope as a Christian, what would you say? In
today's 2nd reading from the Letter to the Philippians,
Paul answers this question for himself. In the opening
statement of the passage, Paul expresses his
expectation and hope. First, he expresses it
negatively: "It is my eager expectation and hope
that I will not be put to shame in any way." Then
he clarifies it positively, "but that by my speaking
with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as
always in my body, whether by life or by death"
(Phil 1:20). When we realise that Paul is writing this
from a Roman maximum security prison, awaiting
trial for a charge of treason that would probably end
in his public execution, then we can all the more
appreciate the heroic faith that Paul expresses in this
letter.
By hoping that he would not be put to shame, Paul is
not hoping that he will be delivered from death. His
hope rather is that he would be able to endure the
tortures of interrogation and not deny Christ in any
way. We know this from the second part of the
statement where he says more clearly that he hopes
that by speaking with all boldness to his
interrogators, he will give glory to Christ in his body,
even if his body is lacerated by lashes or demolished
in death. This is a far cry from the hope of modern
day prosperity believers who think that the only way
to give glory to God is to be visibly vindicated in this
life. Paul tells us that Christ can and should be
glorified in the body and life of a true believer,
whether by life or by death.
One major difference between the Old Testament and
the New Testament faith is the New Testament
experience of the death and resurrection of Christ,
which shows that God can be glorified both in the
life and the death of His loved ones. For the Christian
believer, therefore, death, suffering or privation is no
longer what it used to be, an indication that God has
abandoned His people, as the Old Testament faith
seems to suggest. For us, death has lost its sting.
Death is no longer real, it is only a shadow. That is
why Paul couldn't care less whether he was sentenced
to death or not. Either way, whether by his life or by
his death, he would still achieve his life purpose of
giving glory to the Lord. "For to me, living is Christ
and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that
means fruitful labour for me; and I do not know
which I prefer" (Phil 1:21-22).
I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is
to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better;
but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for
you (Phil 1:21-22).
Someone has observed that this verse is the high-
water mark of New Testament faith. Compare this
with the high-water mark of the Old Testament,
Psalm 23:4, and you will notice an interesting
pattern. In Psalm 23 David says, "Even though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort me." In other words, David, the
heroic believer of the Old Testament was prepared to
die, though he really wanted to go on living. Paul, the
heroic believer of the New Testament, on the other
hand, was prepared to go in living, though he really
wanted to die and be with Christ.
Paul's heroic expectation and hope is made possible
by his belief that physical death for the believer
means not a separation but a union with Christ. There
are Christians today who still hold on the Old
Testament belief that death ushers the soul into a
sleepy and shadowy existence of separation from and
waiting for union with the Lord. Paul himself, in his
earlier days, seemed to entertain a similar belief.
Basing themselves on 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, some
Christians believe that dead believers will sleep in
death until they are raptured on the Last Day. Then
only will they be with the Lord. But Paul is explicit
 in the chapter that follows that "whether we are
awake or asleep we will live with the Lord" (1
Thess 5:10).
The fear of death is the mother of materialism and
worldliness. For Paul, to live is Christ and to die is
gain. If you substitute any other word for "Christ" in
the first phrase and say, "For me to live is _____
(wealth, pleasure, popularity, power), then you must
change the second phrase to: "To die is loss."
SUNDAY HOMILIES FOR YEAR A
By Fr Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp
Homily for 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time -
on the Gospel
Home > Homilies > Year A > Sunday 25 Epistle

The Kingdom of God as Family

Isaiah 55:6- Philippians 1:20- Matthew 20:1-
9 24, 27 16

Growing up in a large, traditional, farming family has

its advantages. When the crop is ready for harvest,
the whole family is out in the field working together.
They do not work at the same pace. Dad and big
brother would be in the field very early while little
sister is still asleep. Mom and little sister would join
them in the farm later. You see, dad and big brother
go to work without breakfast but little sister would
not go anywhere without breakfast. When she finally
arrives in the farm she is more interested in asking
silly questions and distracting the workers than in the
work itself. At the end of the day all go home happy
together. Supper is prepared and served. Does anyone
suggest that you eat as much as you have worked?
Not at all! Often the same little sister who did the
least work is pampered with the best food. Yet no
one complains, no one is jealous, and everyone is
happy.
In today's gospel we hear of a harvest in which some
workers put in more work than others. When pay
time comes, they are all treated equally and the early
birds among them begin to complain and grumble.
Why do the workers in the vineyard complain and
grumble whereas the workers in the family farm do
not? The answer is simple. One group of workers is
made up of family members and the other of
unrelated individuals drawn from the wider society.
The norms of behaviour, of contribution and reward,
in a family are different from those in the wider
society. The big question that the parable poses to us
in the church today is, "Do we see ourselves as
family with a common purpose or do we see
ourselves as a bunch of individuals, each with their
own agenda? We call ourselves brothers and sisters.
Why then do we often see and treat one another as
rivals and competitors?
For the early-bird workers who ended up being
reprimanded by the landowner it was all a business
affair. Their working in the vineyard was preceded
by a well spelt-out contract regarding their wages: a
full day's work for a full day's pay. The latecomers
were less legalistic in their approach. They took the
job trusting in the landowner's word of honour. "He
said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too, and
whatever is right I will give you.' So they went"
(Matt 20:4). In fact, those employed in the sixth,
ninth and eleventh hours were told nothing
whatsoever about payment. "He said to them, 'Why
do you stand here idle all day?' They said to him,
'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them,
'You go into the vineyard too'" (verses 6-7). There
is no employer-employee contract here. Everything is
based on trust. The Johnny-come-lately workers
approached the work with a family spirit. Who makes
contracts before they can work in a family business?
Matthew probably addressed this parable to his
fellow Jewish Christians. God called them a long
time ago to build the kingdom of God. Now, at an
apparently late hour, God was calling the Gentiles to
work with them in building up the same divine
kingdom. It would be wrong for the early-bird Jewish
people to see the Johnny-come-lately Gentiles as
deserving of a lower status than themselves "who
have borne the burden of the day and the
scorching heat" (verse 12). Probably the problem of
Matthew's Jewish audience was their difficulty in
seeing that God was intent on building, in Christ, a
kingdom where all peoples -- Jews and Gentiles --
would be family.
The notion of the kingdom of God as family is
central to understanding this parable. The kingdom of
God is a family more than a society. A society is
characterised by we-and-them, by rivalry and
survival of the fittest. A family, on the other hand, is
all we and no them. It is characterised by a spirit of
co-operation rather than competition. If the
latecomers were family members of the early birds,
the early birds would have rejoiced with them at their
good fortune rather than grumbling. Today we are
called upon to review our all too legalistic notion of
the kingdom of God and see it more as a family
where we are happy to expect from everyone
according to their means and give to each according
to their need -- as God our Father does.