Gratitude, not Entitlement - Sept 20, 2026

Good morning, brothers and sisters.

If you’re like me, then you find today’s Gospel rather troubling. The landowner in the parable – who represents God – seems blatantly unfair. We all remember the story: the landowner hires workers for his vineyard first at dawn, then later and later in the day, and finally 5pm … and at the end the ones who worked for only one hour at sunset are paid exactly the same as those who worked a full 12 hours in the sun. This seems obviously unfair – and I’d be grumbling too, if I had been one of those all-day-workers.

I think Jesus’ parable is mean to irritate us a bit, to get under our skin. To use the maxim, “where you stumble, there your treasure lies.” So let’s dig deeper for some spiritual treasure.

This Gospel reveals 2 important truths: first, that we cannot earn Heaven; and second, that we should be grateful rather than resentful to be working in God’s Kingdom.

How do we get to Heaven? Arguably this is the most important theological question of all. The parable seems to shed light on this question… the wage paid to the workers at the end of the day seems to represent the gift of Paradise that is rewarded to the righteous. So we might be tempted to interpret the parable like this – if we work hard in the Lord’s vineyard – in Christ’s Church, then we will earn Heaven, just like we earn a salary. But this interpretation is false. Lest our Protestant brethren zing us – let me confirm: Catholics do NOT believe that we can earn our way into Heaven. Christ is the one who has redeemed us, and his sacrifice alone is what saves and justifies us. Any good we do, it is because of unearned grace that God has first offered us. So we cannot earn Heaven, but God does want our cooperation – we have the free will to say yes or no to God’s grace – this is contrary to the belief of some Protestants that we’re predestined to Heaven or Hell and there’s nothing we can do about it.

I love sailing, so here’s an analogy from boating… imagine that getting into Heaven is like crossing a big lake to get to the other side… ok, so there are 3 options. The Catholic view is that we are in a sailboat, and the Holy Spirit blows a strong wind into our sails… but we need to steer the rudder in the right direction. God’s grace – not our good deeds -- is what saves us, but we need to cooperate with God’s grace. And if we do, actually this might help others – our ship pointed the right way might help others point their rudders the correct way too - the Catholic notion that we can participate in Christ's salvific action, to cooperate with God's grace so as to help grace overflow onto others around us. Ok – but there are 2 other theological options. On one extreme, is the idea that we can earn salvation by our hard work – so in this analogy we’re in not a sailboat but a rowboat, and we row the boat across the lake. This is a heresy called Pelagianism. On the other extreme is the view that we have no free will at all… we’re tied up to the mast of the ship, and either God blows it across the lake or He doesn’t – this is Calvinist Protestant predestination – it’s predetermined that we’re going to Heaven or Hell, and nothing we do changes that outcome.

Hopefully this analogy helps us to understand this parable better. We can’t earn our way into Heaven. Even if we’ve been devout Catholics all of our life, going to Mass and Confession regularly, we can’t go to the Pearly Gates after we die and say to God: “Listen, Lord, I’ve worked extra hard, and I deserve an extra nice seat at the Heavenly banquet next to St Francis of Assisi, certainly above that guy who was baptized just before he died.” In the parable, the amount of effort or hours hours that the laborers worked in the vineyard was not the important part. What mattered is that all of them came when they were called, and all of them were there at the end of the day – they answered the call and stuck with it until they died. The 12 hour workers don’t deserve Heaven any more than the 1 hour workers – because nobody can earn Heaven – it is God’s undeserved gift.

Think of those words that Jesus spoke while dying on the cross, to the thief crucified next to him. The good thief acknowledged his crimes and said: “Jesus, remember me when you enter into your kingdom.” And Jesus responds: ‘Amen, today you will be with me in Paradise’. This man was a criminal – perhaps he had lived a life full of sin, but in his dying breaths he confessed his sins and asked Jesus for mercy – and he was granted admission to Paradise. The Church knows him as St Dismas – and he is equally a saint as St Francis of Assisi or St Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Do you think that other saints look down their holy noses at St Dismas in Heaven? Far from it – they are delighted that he reached out to Christ in his dying breaths.

This brings us to our second point: that we shouldn’t be fussing about getting the pat on the back, and we shouldn’t be comparing ourselves to others – but instead be grateful to be part of God’s work. In the parable, the master scolds the 12 hour workers because they compared themselves to others and felt entitled to more.

The reality is that it’s a privilege to be called to work in God’s Kingdom – it’s a privilege to be offered the gift of faith in Baptism and in the Sacraments – and we should be grateful every day that we’ve been given the undeserved grace to serve in God’s mission. How many millions or billions in the world today do not know Christ or his Sacraments? What a beautiful gift it is, to receive the Sacraments and be laborers for Christ’s Kingdom.

A medical analogy might be helpful. When we’re working in the hospital, it occasionally happens that a ‘Code Blue’ is called, when a patient loses a pulse or stops breathing. Immediately, hospital staff start running in – and depending what their training is and what time they arrive, some will start doing CPR, some will administer medicines, some will place a breathing tube… and one single person will take charge and direct everyone else. After the code, there is usually a debrief with everyone. In an ideal scenario, the Code Blue is successful and the patient is brought back to life and regains consciousness… and then everyone is grateful, everyone is happy that the patient was saved. Nobody starts complaining: ‘you know, I was doing the CPR chest compressions the entire time, and my arms are tired – I really think I should’ve been the person in charge.’ Or ‘I was there since the beginning, but Dr Smith over here was off in clinic and only showed up in the last 5 minutes to help.’ No, we are all grateful that everyone contributed as they could, towards the common mission.

And so it is with our work on Earth. As members of Christ’s body, we are given the special privilege of bringing life to the world around us – to resuscitate our culture and community. It is an awesome gift.

Remember another similar parable that Jesus gives, about the servants who were working in the fields and come back home to the master at the end of the day… those servants don’t come and demand dinner, instead, they put on their aprons and continue working for the master, preparing his dinner… Jesus says: “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” (Lk 17:10).  What a privilege it is, to be workers in God’s vineyard.

Let’s remember to be grateful for the undeserved gift of faith we’ve been given. Let’s not fret about whether we’re getting more or fewer accolades for our work compared to someone else. We shouldn't care whether we get a shout-out in the bulletin or from the altar, for our work. Who cares about the pat on the back here on earth? Our goal is Heaven.

Today’s Gospel is a great opportunity to look deep inside: am I the sort of person who thinks I deserve more from God or others for the work I’m doing? Or instead can I realize that it’s all God’s underserved gift, and I should be grateful that I’ve been called at all?

If this parable irritates us or causes us to stumble, perhaps there’s treasure there for our growth. May we all be grateful workers in the vineyard, whether starting at morning, noon, or evening.

Amen.

[With gratitude to Bishop Barron, whose prior homily on this topic assisted mine.]