“My thoughts are not your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8)Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A intertwines three texts that challenge human logic with God’s logic.

Isaiah 55:6-9 proclaims that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are higher than ours, as the sky is above the earth. Philippians 1:20c-24.27a presents Paul in an existential paradox: to live is Christ and to die is gain, leaving him uncertain which he would rather have. Matthew 20:1-16a tells the parable of the vineyard workers: the owner pays the same to those who worked all day and those who worked just an hour, disrupting those who calculated what they deserved.

I. The first reading: Isaiah 55:6-9

The prophet urges, “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near” (v.6). Time is finite; moments of openness pass. Conversion is invited: “Abandon your evil ways and your evil thoughts. Turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on you” (v.7). The foundation of conversion is that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (v.9). Distance is not insurmountable; it is the foundation of hope. Human thoughts calculate what is deserved. God’s thoughts calculate what is necessary. Human paths distribute according to merit. God’s paths distribute according to love. Thus, one who seems far away can find the Lord; distance is no barrier for God.

II. The second reading: Philippians 1:20c-24.27a

Paul writes from prison with a disarming serenity: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (v.21). To live is to be oriented towards Christ and through Christ. To die is to gain, as it brings one closer to Christ. This paradox: “I would have you to have that you may be in full accord, having the same mind in Christ Jesus” (vv.23-24). Paul does not choose what he prefers; he chooses what is most beneficial for the community. He concludes, “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ” (v.27a). Living this way, for whom to live is Christ, inverts the logic of the parable of the workers: it does not calculate what is due, but what can be given.

III. The gospel: Matthew 20:1-16a

Jesus tells the parable of the vineyard owner who hires workers at the first hour (early morning), the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour, and the eleventh hour (just before the day ends). At the end, he pays them all the same amount: a denarius. Those hired first murmur, “These last have only worked an hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the weight of the day and the heat” (Mt 20:12). The master replies to the first, “Friend, I am not doing you an injustice. Did we not agree on one denarius? Take what is yours and go. I want to give these last the same as I gave you. Do I not have the right to dispose of my goods as I will? Or is it because I am good that you are envious?” (vv.13-15). The parable does not depict injustice: the master kept his agreement with the first. It describes a goodness that exceeds the agreement: the last receive more than they would have been due. And the conclusion: “Thus the last will be first, and the first last” (v.16a). The order of merit is not the order of love.

IV. Mary and the First Hour

The parable of the workers raises an unexpected question about Mary: if the last receive the same as the first, what does it mean that Mary was called “to the first hour,” before all? The answer lies not in the logic of merit but in the logic of mission. Mary was not called first to receive more; she was called first because the mission required it. The Son of God needed a mother before he needed apostles. The full grace that Mary received (“full of grace,” Lk 1:28) is not a reward for accumulated work: it is the endowment necessary for the mission that no one else would receive. Is 55 says: “Seek the Lord while he may be found.” Mary never needed to seek: she found him before she knew she was seeking, because the Lord came to her in the Annunciation. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts (Is 55:8): no human logic would have chosen an unknown young woman from Nazareth to be the Mother of the Savior. But God’s ways are other, and Mary is the most eloquent sign of this otherness.

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