Collect for Trinity 16
Philippians 1: 21-30
Matthew 20: 1-16
Doesn’t seem fair, does it? We’re taught that hard work brings its rewards – and it does. The ones who worked all day go the reward they had agreed that morning – and no doubt they were delighted to be offered work for the whole day. Then at the day’s end, they saw the last workers being paid and thought they would get more. But they didn’t, and felt they were victims of injustice.
There are people who as young people confessed Jesus as Christ and Lord and gave their whole lives to His mission, often at great personal sacrifice. They will certainly receive their promised reward of a welcome into the Kingdom of Heaven. There are those who spent their lives without Him, and who only came to faith at the end of their lives. They too will share in that Kingdom.
Is God unjust to receive them? Should the latter group endure some form of purgatory – a sort of halfway house between earth and heaven – with a duration commensurate to the length of their secular lives? It would seem to be only fair.
Unfortunately for those who think so – and thankfully for sinners, that’s not what the Gospel says.
One of the criminals crucified next to Him asked Jesus to remember him when He comes into His Kingdom. Jesus replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’
Luke 23:42,43
Heavenly Father, help us to work to accomplish your will for us according to our individual gifts without comparing ourselves to others. Help us to acknowledge our own failures and avoid condemning others for theirs. And to know that the only reward we must seek is the knowledge that we do your will.
Teach us, good Lord,
To serve thee as thou deservest;
To give and not to count the cost;
To fight and not to heed the wounds;
To toil and not for seek for rest;
To labour and not to ask for any reward
Save that of knowing that we do thy will.
St Ignatius Loyola
Previous Posts
Praying Together 10th August 2025
And while we think of the things we value most, do we remember that we are of such value to God, that His Son was prepared to go into the flames for us?
Praying Together 27th July 2025
In a word, it is all prayer, a rich sequence, choreographed in different moments of gathering, praise, listening and communion.
Praying Together 20th July 2025
Jesus comes to us in many ways and with many faces. Are we aware we may ‘entertain Angels without knowing it?
Praying Together 13th July 2025
May we never miss meeting your gaze,
in the eyes of our sibling, the stranger.
Praying Together 6th July 2025
Always remember that ‘success’ is simply doing His will – it’s not necessarily achieving the outcome we would ourselves consider to be ‘successful’. Leave that definition with Him.
Praying Together 29th June 2025
Jesus is looking for commitment. Absolute, unconditional, commitment. When I think of what that means, I’m always minded of Martina Navratilova’s remark: “The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.”
Praying Together 22nd June 2025
As Christians, may we never regard mercy and compassion towards others as weakness, naivety or gullibility, but display the traits which demonstrate that we follow a Saviour who came to rescue those left behind.
Praying Together 15th June 2025
You couldn’t fly a kite inside a church building –for the Kite to fly you’d have to go into the windy street outside. Where does that place the need for the Spirit to act?
Praying Together 8 June 2025
Of all the strange things happening on the Day of Pentecost, perhaps the most puzzling is when God appears to have second thoughts. In Genesis 11, He makes it difficult for people to understand each other’s language
Praying Together 1st June 2025
The song by Mary Black, ‘Bless the Road’, while written as from a parent whose child is leaving home alone for the first time – maybe first day at primary school, going to college, beginning an independent life – always puts me in mind of the thoughts and blessing of Jesus as He prays for His disciples before His Ascension.
Praying Together 25th May 2025
‘Peace I give to you… do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.’
His peace is not remote and only there at the end of things – His Peace is with us now.
Praying Together 18th May 2025
So the commandment is a challenge. To love those who betray you. Those who jeer. Those who wield the whips embedded with flint, hammer in the nails, pierce your side.