Whose Job?

This is a story about four people named everybody, somebody, anybody and nobody.

There was an important job to be done and everybody was sure that somebody would do it. 

Anybody could have done it but nobody did.  Somebody got angry with that because it was everybody’s job. 

Everybody thought anybody could do it but nobody realised that everybody wouldn’t do it. 

It ended up - everybody blamed somebody when nobody did what anybody could have done.

Photo by Alex Ugolkov on Unsplash

Thought for the Day on the Second Reading (Phil 2:1-11)

Paul asks to make our own the mind of Jesus (Phil 2:5), in other words, to have the same attitude as Jesus. Whatever was the attitude of Jesus, that is also to be our attitude, Paul tells us. What was the attitude of Jesus? Paul goes on to give one example in the remainder of today’s reading: Jesus’ humility. Jesus was God but emptied himself, lowering himself to become human. As Paul describes Jesus’ humility, it is like going downstairs. The first step down is Jesus becoming human. The next step down is Jesus dying. The final and lowest step down is the type of death Jesus accepted, death on a cross.

It was completely shocking that Jesus allowed himself to die on a cross. Palestine was part of the Roman Empire then and crucifixion was the form of capital punishment the Romans inflicted on criminals. Crucifixion was so brutal that the Romans did not inflict it on Roman citizens, only on non-citizens.

Paul continues: the Father raised up Jesus in his resurrection and gave him the name above all other names. What is that name? At the end of today’s reading Paul tells us every tongue should acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord (Phil 2:11). That is the name: Jesus Christ as Lord, the Lord Christ. That is why Paul says all beings in the heavens, on earth, and in the underworld should bend the knee at the name of Jesus (Phil 2:10). The name of Jesus is so sacred, in Paul’s mind, that every knee should bend at Jesus’ name and declare Jesus Christ as Lord. Compare that with the misuse of the name of Jesus that we hear all around us and on TV.

From www.frtommylane.com

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God’s Love and Blessings to All.

Many of Jesus’ parables are difficult. We are invited to place ourselves in the story. Which character do we identify with? To which group would we belong? Sometimes we find ourselves sympathising with the character who turns out to be in the wrong. God’s ways are not our ways!

The parable of the labourers in the vineyard is one of those tricky ones. We are drawn into the story, and we feel some sympathy for the crowd who end up grumbling at the landowner. These early birds who were hired at daybreak have done the most work. They have toiled all day in the heat, doing far more labour than those who were hired only at the last minute – yet they all receive the same pay. It’s hardly fair, is it?

But the landowner makes his point: ‘Why be envious because I am generous?’ Of course, Jesus anticipates the discomfort of his audience. He uses parables to gently pull the rug from under their feet, to challenge their assumptions, and offer them a new way of thinking that is focused not on themselves, but on the wider community.

Place yourself in the story. If you identify with the grumblers, ask yourself why. Why should we be concerned about what others are getting? Who are we to judge what others deserve? Surely we, too, should want God’s love and blessings to be extended to everyone!

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