God’s ways don’t always align with our human sensibilities. Today, Richard Young invites us to embrace radical love and respect, manifesting the “Kin-dom” of God in our communities.

September 20, 2026: Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 55:6–9
Psalm 145:2–3, 8–9, 17–18
Philippians 1:20c–24, 27a
Matthew: 20:1–16a

God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways

A reflection by Richard Young

Today’s gospel story sheds some light on what God says through Isaiah in our first reading: “My ways are not your ways.” How true that is! Paying every laborer the same daily wage – regardless of how many hours that employee puts in – may be God’s way, but it certainly is not ours. But our readings do not give us a lesson in labor relations. The story’s intent is to tell us something about the Reign of God – what it’s like when the God Jesus reveals, the God who is the ground of our being, the God we call LOVE, is in charge. When that happens, there is a radical equality that is stunning, to say the least.

The parable of the workers in the vineyard (also called the parable of the generous employer) appears only in Matthew’s gospel, yet many bible scholars, such as John Domenic Crossan, believe that Jesus actually told this story. Crossan believes that the original version ended at verse 14: “Take your pay and go home. I intend to give to this worker, who was hired last, the same pay as you.” Period – end of story. No explanation of the boss’s actions. Crossan says that the commentary which follows in the next two verses was probably added on. The original version might have ended at verse 14 to encourage the audience to find their own answers as to why everyone gets the same pay. In other words, don’t just give them the answer; make them work for it.

Like many other parables, it shocks you into reassessing your values by exposing you to ways of thinking that are foreign. Indeed, the Reign of God itself seems foreign, compared to how the world operates. God’s ways are truly not our ways. For example, the estate owner, who is the God figure in today’s story, shows an unusual respect for the workers. No wealthy landowner in Jesus’ day would go out and do his own hiring and his own negotiating for wages. The rich don’t do that now. Imagine Elon Musk going out in the street to personally hire the cleaning crew for his own office. The landowner in Jesus’ story, like Musk, would assign those tasks to others in his employ. It seems that even in those days there were HR managers! So, those who first heard this story would have seen it as truly far-fetched. But the Reign of God happens when barriers are broken down – between employer and employee, rich and poor – and when the powerful come out of their cushy offices to meet with those who do the hard work. It’s the kind of thing God does.

But this hands-on property owner is also remarkably unique, because all the workers get the same reward no matter how many hours they work. Some have observed that Jesus probably wouldn’t be welcome on the National Labor Relations Board. What the star of this parable does just doesn’t seem fair from today’s capitalistic, reward/punishment-focused perspective. Yet, in the Reign of God, there is a kind of radical equality that is downright shocking.

In the early days of Christianity, this parable was interpreted as addressing the various states of belonging in the Church. Those hired first were the founders: the apostles, selected by Jesus himself. They were around from the beginning, helping to build the community, getting it organized, doing its missionary work. Those hired next were the gentiles. They put in a lot of work, too – enduring persecution and resolving infighting and other problems. Those hired last were the ones who only recently embraced the faith after their predecessors did all the set up and detail work for the start of what came to be known as Christianity. All the workers get the same thing: the blessings of a wildly generous God for all eternity – a God who sees all as equally precious and reaches out to all of them personally and not through a representative from personnel. Ideas of seniority and hierarchy are thrown aside. There is no probationary period for the newcomers, after which they might get benefits. You don’t have to be with the company for X number of years before you can be vested in the retirement plan. ALL get the same unlimited, unconditional love from the very start. Imagine running a business like that!

The Reign of God happens when we strive to love and respect all equally, without regard to factors such as race or nationality or sexual orientation or gender identity, without regard to when or if they joined the effort. To practice this equality in our local faith communities, all must be valued as a manifestations of the divine – from the mentally ill person who wanders in off the street to an esteemed archbishop. Each person is just as much family to us. Each person’s gifts and talents are just as welcome in the work of building community.

But the truth is, we all arrive late at the vineyard. And that’s normal. Although some children are brought up exposed to the faith with baptism and confirmation and good examples from loving parents and Christ-like neighbors, they don’t genuinely embrace the faith until much later in life. We worry sometimes that we don’t have many young people in our faith communities. But like so many folks, they just need time. When they’re ready, when they mature and resolve some issues, when they begin to truly value the Good News, they will show up. They will be attracted to our communities by our commitment to living the gospel. By then, they won’t be young anymore, but they will be there. People are often at middle age or later by the time they are ready to join the vineyard workers. Expect to be a largely older work force. And Jesus’ message is that all our “wages,” no matter when we “joined up,” will be the same. Practicing that radical equality is what the Reign of God is about.

Many of us in Dignity avoid using the term “Kingdom of God.” I used to say “Kingdom/Queendom of God.” But those royal images suggest a kind of “power over” dynamic that tends to undermine the very equality that is at the heart of Jesus’ parables. Our humble Jesus, after all, ran from the crowd that wanted to make him king and rejected the title before Pilate. He didn’t approve of how powerful people of his day “lorded it over” others. So I moved on to saying “the Reign of God.” But I became unsatisfied with that as well. “Reign” still suggests royalty and power. Love, Jesus reveals, is the ultimate power: “the most durable power in the world,” as Martin Luther King Jr called it. So, if “reign” and “kingdom” don’t quite get it, don’t quite describe this radical one-ness and equality and love, what does?

I suggest that what Jesus’ parables lead us to is a kin-dom, a word that DignityUSA folks have been using for years in our liturgies. Kin-dom: your “kin” are your siblings, your parents and grandparents, the treasured ones who share your DNA, the ones to whom you are intimately connected. Through Christ, whether you are literally related to me or not, you are my kin; we are related, interconnected.

When the Kin-dom of God, the family of God, is realized, there are no strangers. When the Kin-dom of God happens, there are no anonymous fellow workers with whom you compete for limited wages in the vineyard. When the Kin-dom of God happens ALL rejoice in the unconditional love of the One whose Spirit is in you, who personally hires you and calls you to sacred work. ALL receive these blessings in equal measure, without resentment or envy. ALL belong. ALL are your kin.

God’s ways are not our ways.

Rev. Richard P. Young is a retired Catholic priest and mental health counselor.  He regularly presides and preaches at liturgies for Dignity/Dayton’s Living Beatitudes Community and has worked with several Dignity Chapters since the late 70s.  He once served for a term on the national board of DignityUSA and has attended all the national conventions/conferences since 1981.  He is married to former DignityUSA national secretary, Bob Butts.  Richard was honored with a President’s Award at the 2022 Dignity National Conference in San Diego and was the homilist for the liturgy at the 2025 conference in Dublin, Ohio.