Fr. Erik Tjeunfin, sx
“God’s Justice and Mercy”
The readings of Sunday tell us how God works or operates in our lives. In the first reading, Prophet Isaiah calls for conversion to all who go astray from God who is full of mercy and love. God can forgive them when they return back to Him and He can give them the same love and mercy to those who first believed in Him and also to those who realized and turned to Him lately. His thought and plan cannot be captured fully, imprisoned and controlled by human. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways not your ways” says the Lord (Is 55:8). It demands from us a humility to approach Him. It is a scandal for us who pretended to know Him fully through our studies and experience. This mystery of God is described perfectly by Jesus in his parable of the Kingdom of God in the Gospel of today.
Through his gospel, Matthew shows to us some messages about the justice and the mercy of God. First, in the history of salvation, we see how God makes covenant or agreement with his people and builds trust with them. He is faithful to what He has promised. In the parable of today’s reading, Jesus points out that the landowner (God) fulfills his promise to pay one denarius to his hired workers who come to work in different hour. We know that God has fulfilled his promise to save us from our sins by sending Jesus Christ and be with us always to the end of time (cf. Mt 28:20). God did not promise that we will not have problems in our lives, but he promised to be with us. The problem that we have is we are not faithful to him and try to manipulate his promise and commandments for our benefit as done by the hired workers who come first to work in his vineyard. In this point, we can say that God is just and faithful to his promise.
Second, through Jesus Christ, God reveals himself as God of mercy. He treats equally all those who come before him. There is no superiority and inferiority in his Kingdom. In this parable, Jesus wants to show to his disciples and followers that His mercy and compassion does not know time and space. Those who first or last believe in Him are granted the same amount of His mercy and the first ones should not be envious of the last and the last should not feel proud because of receiving the same amount of the first ones. Both should be humble and recognize the work and the generosity of God. This message of Jesus is a scandal for those who claim to be superior and uplifting for those who feel inferior for God’s Kingdom. Additionally, we can also draw a moral lesson from this point. In our working places, we should treat others equally because God can grant the same wisdom that we have also. Whether we have more experience than others, whether we were baptized, professed and ordained before others, and whether we are older than others we should not claim that we are superior in all things. Why? Because God can grant the same wisdom and strength to others also. A Sierra Leone’s proverb says “ pikin we sabi was in han, i ken it wit big man den (a child who knows how to clean his/her hand, he/she can eat with the elders who claim themselves as the only one having wisdom). God can give the same wisdom, grace, forgiveness to all people who collaborate with him despite their age, academic background, social status etc. The mercy and compassion of God does not depend on our human standards.
Third, it is interesting to see how this parable of the generous landowner and other parables such as parable of the vineyard and tenants (Mat 21:33-46), and the parable of the talents (Mat 25:14-30) show to us a God who is trying to build a trust and give responsibility to his workers. Throughout the history of salvation, God has given responsibility to his chosen people to carry out His plan. Despite their weaknesses, God still persists to give trust and responsibility to them. It means God sees us positively that is why he gives a responsibility. He sees us as His image and likeness; we are good. He doesn’t want us to be idle but to have something to work on. God is against idleness and unemployment whether spiritually or physically. God trusts you and me to do our work in our respective working place. God is glorified in our work as St Paul says in the second reading of today that “Christ will be glorified in my body……if living in this body means doing work which is having good result” (Philip 1:20-22)..
Therefore, through the Sunday’s readings, God invites us to return back to him because he is a God of love. He is just in dealing with us and yet he is also merciful. That’s why we need to be humble before him. He trusts and give us responsibility to work and we can glorify him through our works and relationship with our brothers and sisters. In this Sunday, at Holy Martyrs of Uganda Parish Kabala, our two Congolese Xaverian brothers (Franqois Shemavu and Steve Bwalande) will renew their vows and responsibility to carry out God’s mission in Sierra Leone. We pray for them may God strengthen their faith in doing His mission. Amen
Fr Erik Tjeunfin, sx
“God’s Justice and Mercy”
The readings of Sunday tell us how God works or operates in our lives. In the first reading, Prophet Isaiah calls for conversion to all who go astray from God who is full of mercy and love. God can forgive them when they return back to Him and He can give them the same love and mercy to those who first believed in Him and also to those who realized and turned to Him lately. His thought and plan cannot be captured fully, imprisoned and controlled by human. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways not your ways” says the Lord (Is 55:8). It demands from us a humility to approach Him. It is a scandal for us who pretended to know Him fully through our studies and experience. This mystery of God is described perfectly by Jesus in his parable of the Kingdom of God in the Gospel of today.
Through his gospel, Matthew shows to us some messages about the justice and the mercy of God. First, in the history of salvation, we see how God makes covenant or agreement with his people and builds trust with them. He is faithful to what He has promised. In the parable of today’s reading, Jesus points out that the landowner (God) fulfills his promise to pay one denarius to his hired workers who come to work in different hour. We know that God has fulfilled his promise to save us from our sins by sending Jesus Christ and be with us always to the end of time (cf. Mt 28:20). God did not promise that we will not have problems in our lives, but he promised to be with us. The problem that we have is we are not faithful to him and try to manipulate his promise and commandments for our benefit as done by the hired workers who come first to work in his vineyard. In this point, we can say that God is just and faithful to his promise.
Second, through Jesus Christ, God reveals himself as God of mercy. He treats equally all those who come before him. There is no superiority and inferiority in his Kingdom. In this parable, Jesus wants to show to his disciples and followers that His mercy and compassion does not know time and space. Those who first or last believe in Him are granted the same amount of His mercy and the first ones should not be envious of the last and the last should not feel proud because of receiving the same amount of the first ones. Both should be humble and recognize the work and the generosity of God. This message of Jesus is a scandal for those who claim to be superior and uplifting for those who feel inferior for God’s Kingdom. Additionally, we can also draw a moral lesson from this point. In our working places, we should treat others equally because God can grant the same wisdom that we have also. Whether we have more experience than others, whether we were baptized, professed and ordained before others, and whether we are older than others we should not claim that we are superior in all things. Why? Because God can grant the same wisdom and strength to others also. A Sierra Leone’s proverb says “ pikin we sabi was in han, i ken it wit big man den (a child who knows how to clean his/her hand, he/she can eat with the elders who claim themselves as the only one having wisdom). God can give the same wisdom, grace, forgiveness to all people who collaborate with him despite their age, academic background, social status etc. The mercy and compassion of God does not depend on our human standards.
Third, it is interesting to see how this parable of the generous landowner and other parables such as parable of the vineyard and tenants (Mat 21:33-46), and the parable of the talents (Mat 25:14-30) show to us a God who is trying to build a trust and give responsibility to his workers. Throughout the history of salvation, God has given responsibility to his chosen people to carry out His plan. Despite their weaknesses, God still persists to give trust and responsibility to them. It means God sees us positively that is why he gives a responsibility. He sees us as His image and likeness; we are good. He doesn’t want us to be idle but to have something to work on. God is against idleness and unemployment whether spiritually or physically. God trusts you and me to do our work in our respective working place. God is glorified in our work as St Paul says in the second reading of today that “Christ will be glorified in my body……if living in this body means doing work which is having good result” (Philip 1:20-22)..
Therefore, through the Sunday’s readings, God invites us to return back to him because he is a God of love. He is just in dealing with us and yet he is also merciful. That’s why we need to be humble before him. He trusts and give us responsibility to work and we can glorify him through our works and relationship with our brothers and sisters. In this Sunday, at Holy Martyrs of Uganda Parish Kabala, our two Congolese Xaverian brothers (Franqois Shemavu and Steve Bwalande) will renew their vows and responsibility to carry out God’s mission in Sierra Leone. We pray for them may God strengthen their faith in doing His mission. Amen
Fr Erik Tjeunfin, sx