SERMO 87
Held on the Lord's Day, about that which is written
In the Gospel of Matthew 20:1-16
"The kingdom of heaven is like a man, a householder,"
"Who sent laborers into his vineyard."
We worship God, and God worships us.
You have heard a parable from the Holy Gospel resonating with the present time about those who work in the vineyard. For now is the time of the physical harvest. There is also a spiritual harvest, where God rejoices in the fruit of His vineyard. For we worship God, and God cultivates us. But we do not worship God in such a way that we make Him better by worshipping. We worship Him by adoring, not by plowing. He, however, cultivates us like a farmer cultivates the field. Thus, when He cultivates us, He makes us better; because a farmer also makes the field better by cultivating it: and He seeks the very fruit in us, so that we may worship Him. His cultivation in us is that He continuously removes evil seeds from our hearts with His word, opens our hearts like with a plough of His discourse, plants the seeds of His commandments, and awaits the fruit of piety. For when we have accepted this cultivation into our heart so that we may worship Him well, we are not ungrateful to our farmer, but we produce the fruit in which He rejoices. And our fruit does not make Him richer, but makes us more blessed.
How God cultivates us.
Behold, listen, for as I said, God attends to us. For because we attend to God, it is not necessary to prove it to you. For every man has this on his lips, that men attend to God. But that God attends to men, the listener almost shudders when he hears: for it is not customary among men to say that God attends to men; but that men attend to God. Therefore, we must prove to you that God also attends to men; lest we seem to have spoken an undisciplined word, and someone disputes against us in his heart, and, not knowing what we said, reproaches us. Therefore, it is established to show you that God also attends to us; but I have already said, as a field, to make us better. The Lord says in the Gospel: I am the vine, you are the branches, my Father is the farmer. What does a farmer do? I ask you, who are farmers; what does a farmer do? I suppose he attends to the field. If therefore the Father God is a farmer, he has a field, and attends to his field, and expects fruit from it.
A vineyard planted by God.
Finally, he planted a vineyard, as the Lord Jesus Christ himself says, and leased it to farmers, who would give him the fruit at the proper times. And he sent his servants to them to ask for the produce of the vineyard. But they mistreated them, and killed some, and refused to give the produce. He sent others; they endured similar treatment. And the master of the house, the cultivator of his field, and the planter and leaser of his vineyard, said: I will send my only son; perhaps they will respect him. And, he said, he sent his son as well. They said among themselves: This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. And they killed him; and cast him out of the vineyard. When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those wicked tenants? It was answered: He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will lease the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the produce at its proper time. The vineyard was planted, and the law given in the hearts of the Jews. Prophets were sent, seeking their good life as fruit: the prophets were mistreated and killed by them. And the Christ, the only Son of the master of the house, was sent; and they killed the heir, and thus lost the inheritance. Their wicked counsel turned against them. They killed in order to possess; and because they killed, they lost.
The laborers hired for the cultivation of the vineyard.
And now you have heard the parable from the Holy Gospel, because the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out to hire laborers for his vineyard. He went out early in the morning, and those he found he hired; and he agreed with them for a denarius as their wage. He went out also at the third hour, found others, and brought them to the work of the vineyard. And he did the same at the sixth and ninth hours. He also went out at the eleventh hour near the end of the day, found some idle and standing; and he said to them: Why are you standing here? Why are you not working in the vineyard? They answered: Because no one has hired us. He said: Come also, and what is just, I will give you. He agreed on a denarius as their wage. Those who were to work for one hour, how could they hope to earn a denarius? Yet they rejoiced that they would receive something. They were also brought in for one hour. When the day ended, he ordered them all to be paid their wages, from the last to the first. He then began to pay from those who had come at the eleventh hour, and he ordered to give them a denarius. Those who had come at the first hour, seeing those who had received a denarius, which they had agreed upon, hoped to receive more: it came to them, and they received a denarius. They murmured against the householder, saying: Behold, those of us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day, you have made equal and the same as those who have worked only one hour in the vineyard. And the householder, giving a most just answer to one of them, said: Friend, I did you no wrong; that is, I did not cheat you; what I agreed upon I gave you. I did not wrong you, because I gave what I promised. For this one I do not wish to pay, but to give. Am I not allowed to do what I wish with what is mine? Or is your eye evil, because I am good? If I took away something from someone else, I would rightly be reprimanded, as if I were a cheater and unjust; if I did not give what was owed to someone, I would rightly be reprimanded, as if I were a cheater and denier of another’s right: but when I give what is owed, and moreover, give a gift to whomever I wish, neither the one to whom I owed can reproach me, nor can the one to whom I gave ought to rejoice. There was nothing to respond: and all were made equal, and the last became first and the first last; by equalizing, not by overturning. What does it mean, The last will be first and the first last? Because both the first and the last received the same.
The reward was first given to the last, what it may be.
What is it then that he began to give from the last? Are not all, as we read, going to receive simultaneously? For we read in another place of the Gospel, that he will say to those whom he will place on his right: Come, blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. If, therefore, all are going to receive simultaneously, how do we understand here that those who worked the eleventh hour received first, and those who worked the first hour received later? If I can speak in such a way that it comes to your understanding, thanks be to God. For you ought to give thanks to him, who distributes to you through us: for we do not distribute from what is ours. If you ask about two, for example, who received first, the one who received after one hour or the one who received after twelve hours; every person responds that the one who received after one hour received before the one who received after twelve hours. Thus, although all received in one hour, nevertheless because some received after one hour, and others received after twelve hours, those are said to have received first who received after a short time. The first righteous, such as Abel, such as Noah, called as if at the first hour, will receive the happiness of resurrection with us. Other righteous ones after them, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and whoever was of their age, called as if at the third hour, will receive the happiness of resurrection with us. Other righteous ones, Moses and Aaron, and whoever with them called as if at the sixth hour, will receive the happiness of resurrection with us. After them, the holy Prophets called as if at the ninth hour, will receive the same happiness with us. At the end of the world, all Christians called as if at the eleventh hour, will receive the happiness of that resurrection with them. All will receive simultaneously: but see how long those first ones wait to receive. If therefore those first ones wait a long time, and we wait a short time; although we receive simultaneously, we seem to have received first because our reward will not be delayed.
A denarius of eternal life.
We will all therefore be equals in that reward, as the first are last and the last are first: because that denarius is eternal life, and in eternal life, all will be equal. For although they will shine with the diversity of merits, some more, others less: however, concerning eternal life, it will be equal to all. For it will not be longer for one and shorter for another, as it is equally everlasting: what has no end will not have an end for you, nor for me. In a certain way, there will be conjugal chastity, in another way, there will be virginal integrity: in another way, the fruit of good work, in another way, the crown of suffering. This in one way; that in another way: however, as far as pertains to living eternally, neither will one live more than the other, nor the other more than the one. For they live equally without end, though each one lives in his own brightness: and that denarius is eternal life. Therefore, let him not murmur who received after a long time, against him who received after a short time. To one, it is repaid; to the other, it is given; however, to both, one thing is given.
How are those called at various hours of the day understood otherwise?
There is also something similar in this life, and except for that resolution of this likeness, by which those called in the first hour are understood to be Abel and the righteous of his age, in the third Abraham and the righteous of his age, in the sixth Moses and Aaron and the righteous of his age, in the ninth the Prophets and the righteous of his age, in the eleventh as if in the end of the age all Christians; except for this resolution of this likeness, and in this life of ours this likeness can be observed. For as those called in the first hour, who newly begin to be Christians from their mother's womb; as it were in the third, children; as it were in the sixth, youths; as it were in the ninth, those inclining towards old age; as it were in the eleventh, the completely decrepit: nevertheless, all will receive the same denarius of eternal life.
Against those who delay coming when called to the vineyard.
But take heed and understand, my brothers, lest anyone delays coming to the vineyard because he is assured that whenever he comes, he will receive that denarius. He is indeed assured that the denarius is promised to him; but he is not commanded to delay. For did those who were hired for the vineyard, when the head of the household went out to hire those he found at the third hour, and he hired them, for instance, did they say to him, "Wait, we will not go there until the sixth hour"? Or those whom he found at the sixth hour said, "We will not go until the ninth hour"? Or those found at the ninth hour said, "We will not go until the eleventh hour"? For he will give everyone the same amount: why should we toil more? What he will give and what he will do is in his own counsel: you, when you are called, come. For indeed equal wages are promised to all, but concerning the very hour of work, there is a great question. For if those, for example, who are called at the sixth hour, being in the prime of their bodies, where the years of youth are ardent, just as the sixth hour is ardent; if those young men called would say, "Wait, we have heard in the Gospel that all will receive the same wages; when we grow old, we will come at the eleventh hour; receiving the same amount, why should we toil more?" It would be answered to them and said: You do not wish to labor, who do not know whether you will live until old age? You are called at the sixth hour, come. The head of the household indeed promised you a denarius even if you come at the eleventh hour: but no one promised you that you will live until the seventh hour. I do not say, until the eleventh, but until the seventh. Why then do you delay when He who calls you, certain of the reward, uncertain of the day? See lest perchance what He promises you by giving, you take away from yourself by delaying. If this is rightly said of infants, as if they pertain to the first hour; if it is rightly said of children, as if they pertain to the third hour; if it is rightly said of young men, as if they are in the fervor of the sixth hour: how much more rightly is it said of the decrepit, "Behold now it is the eleventh hour, and you still stand idle, reluctant to come?"
As the head of the household goes out to call to his vineyard.
Did not the head of the household come out to call you? If he did not come out, what is it that we are speaking? Certainly, we are servants of his household, sent to hire workers. Why then do you stand? You have already finished the number of years, hasten to the denarius. For this is for the head of the household to come out, to be made known: because he who is in the house, is in secret, he is not seen by those who are outside; but when he comes out of the house, he is seen by those who are outside. Christ, when He is not understood and not recognized, is in secret: but when He is recognized, He comes out to hire. For He came out from secrecy to knowledge: Christ is known, Christ is preached everywhere; all things under heaven proclaim the glory of Christ. He was in a certain way laughable and reprovable among the Jews, He seemed humble, He was despised. For He hid His majesty, He had evident infirmity. What was evident in Him was despised, and what was hidden was not known. For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. Is He still to be despised sitting in heaven, if He was despised while hanging on the tree? They wagged their heads who crucified Him, and standing before His cross, and as if achieving the fruit of their cruelty, they insultingly said: If He is the Son of God, let Him come down from the cross. He saved others, cannot He save Himself? Let Him come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He did not come down, because He was hidden. For He who could rise from the tomb could much more easily come down from the cross. For our instruction, He demonstrated patience, postponed His power, and was not recognized. He had not yet come out to hire workers, He had not come out, He had not been known. On the third day He rose, showed Himself to the disciples, ascended to heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit on the fiftieth day after the resurrection, the tenth after the ascension. The sent Holy Spirit filled all who were in one chamber, one hundred and twenty people. Those filled with the Holy Spirit began to speak in the languages of all nations, the calling was expressed, He came out to hire. For then even one who received the Holy Spirit, even one spoke in the languages of all nations. But now in the Church itself, unity as if one speaks in the languages of all nations. To what language has the Christian religion not reached? to what ends has it not extended? Now there is no one who hides from its heat; and still delay from him who stands in the eleventh hour!
Despair and perverse hope kill the soul.
It is clear, my brothers, entirely clear, hold firm and be certain that our God Jesus Christ, when anyone turns to faith in Him from their evil or excessive way, all their past sins are forgiven, and wholly, as if debts were forgiven, new leaves are started with Him. Absolutely everything is forgiven. Let no one be anxious that something will not be forgiven them. But again, let no one perversely be secure. For these two things kill souls: either despair or perverse hope. Listen briefly about these two evils. For just as good and right hope brings deliverance, so perverse hope deceives. First, observe how despair deceives. There are men who, when they start to think about the evils they have committed, do not believe they can be forgiven; and while they do not believe they can be forgiven, they let their soul perish, perishing in despair, saying in their thoughts: There is no hope for us anymore; for such great things we have committed cannot be forgiven or pardoned; why then should we not satisfy our desires? Let us at least fulfill the pleasure of the present time, since we have no reward in the future. Let us do whatever we please, even if it is not lawful; so that we may have at least temporal pleasure, since we do not deserve to receive eternal joy. Saying such things, they perish by despairing, whether before they entirely believe, or after they have become Christians and fallen into some sins and crimes by living wickedly. The Lord of the vineyard approaches them, and as if they were despairing and turning their back on his call, He knocks and cries out through the prophet Ezekiel: On whichever day a man turns from his wicked way, all his iniquities I will forget. Hearing and believing this voice, they are revived from despair, and from that deepest and profound abyss into which they had been sunk, they emerge.