Saturday, January 17, 2004
One of my favorite stories from the gospels is the parable of the workers. That's the one when a man goes out and hires workers early in the morning, at midday, and even right before work ends - everybody's hired for the same wage, even the guys hired at the last minute.
When it's time to get paid for the day, the guys who were there since dawn start to grumble when they see that the guys who were hired last get the same amount of pay as they do. The boss basically tells them to chill out.
One of Jesus' radical truths is about the overwhelming generosity of God. He is as loving and kind and welcoming to a person who has lived a dissolute life and then near death decides for God as he is to a person who has lived a righteous life all along. We see that great love in the parable of the lost son - how the father was there to rush out and welcome his son home, and when the older, righteous brother gets irritated at the loving kindness his father shows the returning brother, Jesus reiterates the fact that we need to be as happy and welcoming and non-judgemental about their salvation as the Father is.
It's a hard truth, sometimes, for us here on earth to swallow, but as one priest I knew put it, if we found out that in those last moments, Hitler had made his peace with God, and he met us at the pearly gates, it is not our right to be angry at God for accepting him. God loves us all, even the worst of us, and as Christians, it is our goal to be able to love each person in the world as children of God, not as friend and enemy, and to rejoice with the Father and the angels when someone comes home.
When it's time to get paid for the day, the guys who were there since dawn start to grumble when they see that the guys who were hired last get the same amount of pay as they do. The boss basically tells them to chill out.
One of Jesus' radical truths is about the overwhelming generosity of God. He is as loving and kind and welcoming to a person who has lived a dissolute life and then near death decides for God as he is to a person who has lived a righteous life all along. We see that great love in the parable of the lost son - how the father was there to rush out and welcome his son home, and when the older, righteous brother gets irritated at the loving kindness his father shows the returning brother, Jesus reiterates the fact that we need to be as happy and welcoming and non-judgemental about their salvation as the Father is.
It's a hard truth, sometimes, for us here on earth to swallow, but as one priest I knew put it, if we found out that in those last moments, Hitler had made his peace with God, and he met us at the pearly gates, it is not our right to be angry at God for accepting him. God loves us all, even the worst of us, and as Christians, it is our goal to be able to love each person in the world as children of God, not as friend and enemy, and to rejoice with the Father and the angels when someone comes home.
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