The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to recognize and seek just decisions from the people we choose to trust with leadership in our organizations, community, and country.
The Reading from the Book of Judges describes leadership qualities using trees.
* [9:9] Whereby gods and human beings are honored: olive oil had a variety of cultic uses (e.g., Lv 2:1, 6, 15; 24:2), and it was also used in the consecration of priests and kings for office (e.g., Ex 30:25, 30; 1 Sm 10:1; 16:13).
* [9:13] Cheers gods: wine was part of a number of types of offerings in the Israelite cult (cf. Ex 29:40; Lv 23:13; Nm 15:7, 10), and it was also used widely in the worship of foreign gods (cf. Dt 32:37–38; Is 65:11). (Judges, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 21 presents a royal Psalm of thanksgiving.
* [Psalm 21] The first part of this royal Psalm is a thanksgiving (Ps 21:2–8), and the second is a promise that the king will triumph over his enemies (Ps 21:9–13). The king’s confident prayer (Ps 21:3–5) and trust in God (Ps 21:8) enable him to receive the divine gifts of vitality, peace, and military success. Ps 21:14 reprises Ps 21:2. When kings ceased in Israel after the sixth century B.C., the Psalm was sung of a future Davidic king. (Psalms, PSALM 21 | USCCB, n.d.)
The Gospel of Matthew presents a parable about payment of the The Workers in the Vineyard.
* [20:1–16] This parable is peculiar to Matthew. It is difficult to know whether the evangelist composed it or received it as part of his traditional material and, if the latter is the case, what its original reference was. In its present context its close association with Mt 19:30 suggests that its teaching is the equality of all the disciples in the reward of inheriting eternal life.
* [20:4] What is just: although the wage is not stipulated as in the case of those first hired, it will be fair.
* [20:8] Beginning with the last…the first: this element of the parable has no other purpose than to show how the first knew what the last were given (Mt 20:12).
* [20:13] I am not cheating you: literally, “I am not treating you unjustly.”
* [20:14–15] The owner’s conduct involves no violation of justice (Mt 20:4, 13), and that all the workers receive the same wage is due only to his generosity to the latest arrivals; the resentment of the first comes from envy.
* [20:16] See note on Mt 19:30. (Matthew, CHAPTER 20 | USCCB, n.d.)
Rev. Anish Kochanichottil, SJ, comments that God’s justice is not like our justice.
We often calculate who deserves what. God looks at us with mercy. He wants everyone to be brought in, to be saved, to be fed, whether they came early or late, whether they were strong from the start or struggled along the way.
The workers who came last were not lazy. They just did not get a chance earlier. And sometimes, our jealousy or sense of fairness blinds us to the goodness we have already received.
The grace I feel we can pray for today is this: to know God’s generous and compassionate heart more deeply, so that we do not judge others or envy their blessings but instead rejoice that we are all part of one family, held in the love of a God whose justice is mercy. (Kochanichottil, 2025)
Don Schwager quotes “Christ our householder,” author unknown, from the 5th century A.D.
"The householder [in Matthew's parable - chapter 20] is Christ, to whom the heavens and the earth are like a single house; the family is as it were the multitude of creatures both angelic and earthly. It is as if he built a three-storied house: hell, heaven and earth, so that those struggling may live upon the earth, those conquered below the earth, those conquering in heaven. We too, set in the middle, should strive not to descend to those who are in hell but ascend to those who are in heaven. And in case perhaps you do not know which one you ought to shun or which one you ought to aspire to, he has given you as it were a little taste of both while you live between light and darkness: night as a taste of hell, daylight as a taste of heaven." (excerpt from an incomplete Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, HOMILY 34) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 20:1-16 comments that Jesus tells this parable to help us understand the Father’s kindness. Think about the salvation God offers us: it was first for the Jews, who “labored in the field” the longest, and then for the Gentiles, who joined “late in the day.” Both received the same priceless gift! And that reveals the extravagant “unfair” generosity of God, who “wills everyone to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4).
Putting ourselves in another person’s shoes is a good exercise for us, too. Because we can be like those workers in this parable, upset at someone else’s good fortune. Whether it’s a coworker who is promoted before us or the “deathbed conversion” of a notorious criminal, we might envy their blessings. So ask the Holy Spirit to give you a sense of the joy of your promoted coworker or that lost soul who has been found. And see the Father’s delight as he generously offers his gifts to all his children.
“Holy Spirit, help me to share in my neighbors’ joy as they receive God’s provision!” (Meditation on Matthew 20:1-16, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler reflects on the texts of today. The Judges reading presents an attempt to change from a charismatically called office to start a hereditary royal line. The Buckthorn is chosen to underline suffering the consequences of a bad leader. The vineyard owner pays the last the same as the first ,a day’s wage. It is seemingly unfair. Typical of Matthew in the final judgement, the reward is closeness to God and it is the same for all who come. God is generous. Friar Jude reminds us of the mercy and goodness in the Parable of the Prodigal Son and the anger of the older brother. We should be thrilled if great sinners are converted.
Brian McLaren describes how contemplative practices allow us to “mind our mind,” making space for thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations without getting caught up in them.
Contemplation liberates me from being a perpetual prisoner of my trains of thoughts and feelings; it helps me realize that I am not my thoughts and feelings. It helps me see that these inner reactions and negotiations happen to me and within me without my consent, like digestion, like sleep, like fatigue or laughter.
In the stillness, new insights, comfort, and ways of being often arise. If stepping off the train is letting go, and if dwelling in the stillness is letting be, receiving these gifts is letting come. When these new gifts come, I experience a kind of liberation, a setting free. All of my best creative work seems to flow from this deep place of restful, receptive awareness beneath my mental subway system….
What we experience in the letting-come phase some people describe as intuition. Many would call it the gentle voice of God speaking within them. Seasoned contemplatives like Thomas Merton describe letting go, letting be, letting come, and setting free as discovering the true self. Others call it becoming the best self. I tend to think of it as becoming the integrated, unitive, or connected self…. (McLaren, n.d.)
We seek the guidance of the Spirit as we contemplate the way in which we offer justice to the people we encounter in our daily work in the vineyard of Christ.
References
Judges, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/judges/9?6
Kochanichottil, A. (2025, August 20). Daily Reflection August 20, 2025 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-august-20-2025
Matthew, CHAPTER 20 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/20?1
McLaren, B. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/mind-your-mind/
Meditation on Matthew 20:1-16. (n.d.). The Word Among Us. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/08/20/1359494/
Psalms, PSALM 21 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/21?2
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Do You Begrudge My Generosity? Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=aug20
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