Pope Francis at Angelus: embrace the logic of God's
Kingdom
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed
the Angelus with pilgrims and tourists gathered in St.
Peter’s Square on Sunday – the 25th Sunday in Ordinary
Time – focusing his remarks ahead of the traditional prayer of Marian
devotion on the Parable of the Landowner and the Wage-earners, proclaimed as
the Gospel reading of the day (Mt. 20:1-16).
The Gospel at a glance
In that story, Jesus likens the Kingdom
of God to a landowner, who hires day-labourers in the early morning,
and again at successive hours of the day, at the end of which he instructs his
paymaster to give the full day’s wage to all the workers, beginning with those
hired at the 11th hour.
The labourers of the first hour complain of this treatment,
to which the Landowner replies, “I am not cheating you. Did you not agree
with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I
wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I
wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?”
Jesus then explains the lesson, “Thus, the last will be
first, and the first will be last.”
Pope Francis reflects
Reflecting on the passage, Pope Francis said,
“In reality, the ‘injustice’ of the Landowner serves to provoke, in those who
hear the parable, an increase in understanding (It. salto di livello),
because Jesus does not want to speak of the problem of labour and of just
wages, but of the Kingdom of God.”
The Holy Father went on to say, “The
message is this: in the Kingdom of God there are now idle hands, all are called
to do their part; and for all, at the end, the recompense shall be what comes
from divine justice – not human justice, happily – i.e. the salvation that
Jesus Christ has acquired with His death and resurrection. This is a salvation
that is not merited, but given, for which, ‘The last shall be first, and the
first shall be last’.”
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