THE GENEROSITY OF GOD

 SAINT BERNARD, ABBOT, DOCTOR

Judges 9:6-15; Ps 21:2-7; Mt 20:1-16

The Impossible and God’s Generosity

As we learned from our Lord himself, it is impossible for us to make heaven by our own devices or achievements. At the same time, he consoles us by saying that nothing is impossible for our God. Understanding that God made us for himself; he made us that we may know him, love him, and serve him in this temporal life, to be happy in his communion forever, is a consoling doctrine. God, who created us for himself, will bring us to himself if we cooperate with his grace. The source of all the graces of God is the Son of Man. Hence, it is necessary for us to walk in his company, for as Saint John wrote in his Gospel, the Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Grace is the presence of God offered to us for our salvation. By our faith in Jesus Christ, we enter the abundance of grace made available for us to attain communion with God. Jesus Christ is both the way to communion and our communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. However, we must first attend to Jesus Christ before we grow in communion. The growth happens as we enter into the mysteries of Jesus Christ. These mysteries are truths about us and God; the truth of God and divine will is our daily bread, contained in Jesus for our spiritual growth. Growing spiritually is another name for enjoying the communion of God.

God made us, and he knows our needs. His will contains the best plan for our lives here on earth. Our profession of faith in Jesus Christ is the expression of our willingness to walk in the will of the Father. Our Lord himself explained to the Jews that to believe in the Son of Man is the work that the Father desires for us. Cf. Jn 6:29. We understand the parable he gave in the Gospel in this light. “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. He made an agreement with the workers for one denarius a day, and sent them to his vineyard.” Faith in the Son of God brings us into the vineyard of the Lord, for it gets us acquainted with the will of the Father. Since faith is not quantifiable, as we have previously explained, the work we do in Christ is not quantifiable, for God does the real work in and through us. Our willingness to work in the vineyard is the basis of our payment. Thus, the time of employment or the length of time we worked in the vineyard is not relevant for payment. So, the landowner gave the same payment to all: those hired very early in the morning, at the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour, respectively. “So those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came forward and received one denarius each. When the first came, they expected to get more, but they too received one denarius each.” We must bear in mind that the Lord is using physical realities here to portray spiritual things. The kingdom of heaven is spiritual; the quantities mentioned represent spiritual values.      

The early comers would have an advantage over the late comers if they put themselves to work; for the more we live by faith, the more we grow in the knowledge of God and in love with him and desire for his communion. The one denarius stands for eternal life, which is one and the same for everyone; It is God’s gift of himself to us, whom each of us enjoys according to our personal capacity and desire. God rewards us with Himself and with nothing else, for nothing is better than God. Our covenant or agreement with him is eternal life, and that is what we receive in Jesus Christ, our Lord. God will rule over us for eternity if we do not prioritise self in place of God, if we fail to act in good faith, as the leading men of Shechem did in killing the sons of Gideon and anointing Abimelech king, “fire will come from the thorn bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’” If we give ourselves to God, to work in his vineyard, he will reward us with what no eye has seen or can see, God himself.

The early comers complained because they were focused on the late comers and what they received instead of focusing on the gift they received. It is more of a gift than a payment, because there is nothing we can do on earth to merit eternal life with God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Further, a denarius is the wage of a day’s labour, able to cater for the labourer and his family. Only God’s gift of himself to us in his Son can guarantee our eternal salvation and joy. To appreciate God’s loving providence and care, we must focus on the gift, not on creatures. Saint Bernard came to the vineyard and focused on God and his work. He was born near Dijon, in France, in 1090, of a noble family. He joined the new monastery at Citeaux in 1112, which was founded to reject the laxity and riches of the Benedictine Order. He came with four of his five brothers and two dozen friends. He founded other monasteries, and the Cistercian Order grew from one house to 343 before his death.

Let us pray: O God, who made of the Abbot Saint Bernard a man consumed with zeal for your house and a light shinning and burning in your Church, grant, through his intercession, that we may be on fire with the same spirit and walk always as children of light. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.