Today, through the prophet Isaiah (Chapter 55), we hear the Lord say: ‘my ways are not your ways’. However, the text is encouraging because it reminds us ‘our God is rich in forgiving’ and paves the way for today’s Gospel story.
‘Parables usually want to reverse our values. God doesn’t have arbitration courts, appeals courts or chancery offices. God doesn’t employ. God gives.
‘When we think about God and God’s gift of grace to us, there is no such thing as scarcity. I am not in danger of getting less because the other bloke gets a bit more. There is abundance: abundance for all of us. And whatever we get, it is a sheer gift. Not the result of a deal. Which is why we call it grace.
Beyond all expectations. Totally spontaneous on God’s part. Way beyond our meriting.
‘God wants us, whom he has graced with his love, freely and without charge to give that kind of gracious love to one another, and especially to the needy ones among us. It’s not a job. It’s not work. It’s note done for rewards or returns. It’s relationship. And we are called to it, wherever we live or work, whoever we are. And in the end, we are called to be surprised by it, and amazed by it. And changed by it.
Excerpts from homily by the Redemptorists of Australia and New Zealand.