Think Not as Humans but as God for the Kingdom – 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, A

Self-centric mindset is a major obstacle to the Kingdom and to our need to think as God does. In order to appreciate Jesus' teaching on the Kingdom through his parables, including the Parable of the Vineyard Workers, which is the Gospel Reading for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, Matthew 20:1-16, we cannot think as humans do but to adopt the mind of God. But, how? 

By overcoming our self-centric human thinking through self-denial.

As long as we only think as humans, then, we will be like the jealous workers, complaining about the wage, misinterpreting God's generosity for unfairness, out of jealousy. 


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In explaining what the Kingdom of Heaven is like (Matthew 20:1-16), through the parable of the vineyard workers (Matthew 20:1-16), Jesus likens the Kingdom itself to the vineyard and God the Creator and Provider to the landowner. And, in this parable of the vineyard workers, the landowner goes out to recruit workers for his vineyard multiple times during the day. Some workers were brought in and started working early in the morning. But, other workers were recruited on the day and started working in later hours.

At the end of the long work day, each worker received their pay. And, workers who started working early found out that those who started working also received the same amount of daily wage – though they did not work long enough to receive the daily wage. So, they complained to the landowner, “These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat”(Matthew 20:12).

To this complaint, the landowner said, “My friend, 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?” (Matthew 20:13-15).

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If you happened to be one of these who worked all day long from the early morning and found out that those who started working much later and worked for much less amount of time also received the same pay as yours, how would you feel? Would you also complain to your boss? or would you be glad that you get what you deserved and also others get paid, as well?

It all depends on your mindset.

If you only think as humans do, then, you would feel jealous of those who worked less hours and received the same pay – and complain out of your jealousy. In thinking only as humans do, the focus of your mind is always on yourself. The human mind has been working this way ever since Adam and Eve committed Original Sin. Remember, both Adam and Eve were self-centered, thus being unable to take their responsibility but blaming another (Genesis 3:12-13). And it is because of hyperconsciousness to self, symbolized with hiding the genital area as an immediate result of Original Sin (Genesis 3:7).

In fact, if we only think as humans do, influenced by self-centric psychological dynamics, we tend to be blind to what God thinks. That is why Jesus rebuked Peter with these words, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do”(Matthew 16:23), when he tried to stop Jesus from going to Jerusalem as he was unable to see God’s will on Jesus to die and rise because he only thought as humans. And, Jesus indicated that we need to cultivate our mind to think as God does by self-denial, as it is a necessary condition for the discipleship (Matthew 16:24). In other words, we need to deny ourselves as Paul did by crucifying himself in order for Christ to live within (Galatians 2:20), in order to overcome the blindness inherent to human thinking and to be able to think as God does.

Jealousy arises in human mind when we feel what we have is  not enough as what others have or receive seems more in value – though it is not true, while envy is what human mind feels when we see another person having what we do not have.

The landowner indicated that the problem of the complaining workers is not on him being unfair but jealousy in their minds. They have already received what they deserve, as being promised by him. So, the landowner is fair to them. And whether other workers who worked less receive the same amount of daily wage or not is one of their business. It was their jealousy that mistakenly defines the landowner’s generosity to those who worked less as “unfairness”.  See, how a stain of Original Sin, self-centric propensity of human thinking, leads to distorted thinking through jealousy.

In jealousy, we feel not enough though we have or are given enough, because of our self-centric consciousness, which is a stain of Original Sin on human mind. The only way to overcome this problem is self-denial. That is why St. Ignatius of Loyola prayed hard to deny himself through these words:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,\my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.

To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.

Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.

This humbling prayer is known as “Suscipe”, which means “to receive” in Latin, and found in the Spiritual Exercise of St. Ignatius of Loyola (#234). This is how St. Ignatius denied himself by emptying himself as Jesus practiced kenosis when he was crucified, letting God receive all he had in him. By emptying himself, St. Ignatius was being filled and content with nothing but God’s grace.

When you are content with what you receive from God, God’s grace, would you feel jealous?

As long as we only think as humans do, we remain under the influence of self-centric psychological dynamics. And, we may misinterpret generosity to others as unfairness to ourselves, not only as the complaining vineyard workers did (Matthew 20:12) and the older brother of the prodigal son (Luke 15:29-30), because of jealousy, which is a product of self-centric psychological dynamics of human thinking.

Remember, to remain in the Kingdom, we must follow Christ. And, its first condition is self-denial, which is also the first step to be able to think as God does by overcoming inherent problem of self-centric human thinking, including jealousy and envy.

Now, as we become able to think as God does, we can also come to understand what Jesus meant by saying, “the last will be first, and the first will be last”(Matthew 20:16) in making his point about the parable of the vineyard workers to illustrate what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

In the parable, the landowner began to pay the vineyard workers first with those who came to work last (those who worked for less amount of time) (Matthew 20:8). And, this suggests that those who are last in this world can be first to enter the Kingdom – that God’s generous grace is given first those who are last in the world. However, those who are first in this world but feel jealous of those who become first with God’s generous grace and in the Kingdom may not only be last but lose their place in the Kingdom, as reflected in the previous parable to this parable, the parable of the rich young man (Matthew 19:16:30). Both of these parables – the parable of the rich young man (Matthew 19:16-30) and the parable of the vineyard workers (Matthew 20:1-16) are about the Kingdom and are in pair. Both of these parables end with “last first, first last” contrast.

The Kingdom of Heaven is characterized “last first, first last”.  What does it mean? Does it mean that what is the world will be turned upside-down?

We need to be careful not to misunderstand by thinking like humans!

Does it mean that first in the world is always last in the Kingdom? Not necessarily so. But, it is certain, given both parables – the parable of the rich young man and the parable of the vineyard worker – that “the last” in the world to be the “first” in the Kingdom are those who have given up most in the world for the discipleship and not feeling jealous of those who have given up, according to the parable of the rich young man, and those who come to know the work for the Kingdom last in the world are those who receive first the benefits of the work, according to the parable of the vineyard workers. In addition, the parable of the vineyard workers also suggests that those who are the first for the Kingdom are not necessarily those who worked most in the world (cf. Ephesians 2:4-10).

The bottom line for the Kingdom and for us to appreciate Jesus’ parables on the Kingdom, characterized with “last first, first last” (Matthew 19:16-30 and 20:1-16) is to think as God does by self-denial. The first reading (Isaiah 55:6-9) is a humbling reminder to adopt God’s thinking as our thinking and God’s thinking are different. In the Second Reading, Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a, Paul encourages us to choose a life in Christ over our self-centric life so that we can let Christ be magnified in us as we act faithful to the Gospel of Christ. This way, what we give up in our self-centric life in the world is gain in our Christ-centric life (Philippians 1:21). The greater we give up in our life, the lesser we become in the world, and the first we may become in the Kingdom and the most we may enjoy God’s generosity.