A Pew Research report tells us most people believe in heaven and hell. We also know many do not live by that belief. Meaning they don’t live as God commanded them to live.
But studies of those who have any familiarity with a faith or religion show that most turn to God at the end and ask for forgiveness and mercy.
So, believing our God is generous with forgiveness as we hear in the scriptures, we know even those who lived decadent lives have a chance if they return to God, if only at the last minute of life.
And we shall see them in Heaven and Jesus says all will be welcomed. At least those who had time and ability to ask for forgiveness and mercy. Many do not. They die suddenly or incapacitated. I am not going to step into the unknown and say who gets in or not because I am a poor sinner and not God. But I do know that …when …we turn to Jesus Christ doesn’t impact his generosity and mercy.
That’s why we should always seek the best for all around us … and why we should never hide our own faith for we may be the example one of our wayward brothers needs to choose Jesus Christ if only in the last hour.
The real message here is …we are called to be as generous as Jesus to those around us. That means we are not envious of others but rejoice when others are blessed with good fortune, even eternal life at the last moment. Because our God is generous with us always. Because we were loved before we loved. We were sought and searched for when we were lost. Our God cherished us not for being good but for being his children.
In th end we are all brothers and sisters. And we must strive to be joyful that all have been given more than a just reward but a reward of heaven that none of us earned on our own. All was paid for by Jesus Christ.
Gospel
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o’clock,
the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.’
So they went off.
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o’clock, and did likewise.
Going out about five o’clock,
the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,
‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’
He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.’
When those who had started about five o’clock came,
each received the usual daily wage.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,
but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,
‘These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
He said to one of them in reply,
‘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?’
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
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