We are called: the laborers of the vineyard and Mary, called since the morning of creation

Quote:> “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the household of a patriarch who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. […] So it will be at the end: the last will be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 20:1-16)Text:The parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20:1-16 is one of the most puzzling in Matthew’s Gospel. A master hires workers throughout the day (dawn, 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., and 5 p.m.) and at the end pays them all the same wage, a denarius. Those who worked from dawn complain. The master defends his freedom to give the same to all. The conclusion: “The last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16). The parable is not about labor justice; it’s about the logic of grace: the Kingdom is not earned but given, and the measure of the gift is the generosity of the Giver, not the merit of the recipient.Context:This passage responds to Peter’s question in the previous chapter: “What will we have?” (Matthew 19:27). Jesus promised a hundredfold return and eternal life, but adds the parable of the workers as a warning: the Kingdom reward is not proportional to human effort or service time. The disciple who started “from the beginning” has no more claim than one who started “at the last hour,” because neither “deserves” the denarius of eternal life. All receive it as a grace.I. “Quid iustum fuerit, dabo vobis”: Justice as Gratuitousness“Give me what is just” (Matthew 20:4) is the intentionally vague promise the master makes to those he hires throughout the day. The “justice” of the master is not arithmetic proportionality (work time × wage) but sovereign generosity. When he pays them all the same, he does not violate justice; he keeps his promise; but he goes beyond human justice: he gives more than expected.The complaint of those who worked longer (“These last have only been working an hour, and you make them equal to us who endured the weight of the day and the heat,” Matthew 20:12) is a claim for proportional justice against gratuitous generosity. The master does not deny their work; he confirms they received what was agreed upon. The problem for the complainers is not that they received little but that “they do not bear that I should be generous” (Matthew 20:15): the scandal of mercy making unequals equal.The theology behind the parable is grace theology: salvation is a gift, not a wage. Those who entered the gospel path at 70 years old receive the same “denarius” of eternal life as one baptized in childhood and lived decades of faithfulness. The “injustice” of grace is the central scandal of the Gospel, and it is precisely this that makes it the “good news” for those who come “at the last hour”: for the crucified thief, for Zacchaeus, for Paul, the “blasphemous” (1 Corinthians 15:8).II. “Eamus et nos in vineam”: The Different Hours of VocationThe parable recounts five moments of hiring: at dawn, 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. Each moment represents a different hour of vocational call: some are called from childhood, others in adolescence, others in adulthood, others in old age. The parable legitimizes each hour of call as equally valid; there is no “too late” in the Lord’s vineyard.

The History of the Church: A Journey Through Time

The history of the Church is a narrative of these distinct moments: Augustine, called the “evening” (“I loved thee at noon, O Beauty so ancient and so new,” Conf. X, 27), St. John of the Cross found fruit only after a prolonged “dark night,” and St. Ignatius Loyola was called to his 30th year after a war wound. Each received the “denarius” of sanctity not by the antiquity of their call but by their availability to grace that arrived in their hour.

III. Mary: Called from the First Hour of Creation

Mary, in theological tradition, is referred to as having been called “from the first hour,” not merely in the sense of infant baptism but regarding her Immaculate Conception: she was “hired for the vineyard” before her existence, in God’s eternal election that prepared her as Mother of the Son. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8th) is theologically the “first hour” of the parable: Mary was called at the dawn of salvation history, prior to Abraham, Moses, and all the economy of the Covenant.However, the logic of the parable also applies to Mary in an unexpected way: the “first hour” did not confer upon her any advantage in terms of merit; she received her grace (the Immaculate Conception, Divine Maternity, Assumption) not because she labored from dawn but because the “Patron” chose to be exceptionally generous toward her. Mary’s election is pure gratuity from the Father, not a payment for services rendered but a sovereign anticipatory gift. The Magnificat recognizes this: “He has done mighty things in me” (Lk 1:49), not “I did great things to deserve.”The “first hour” of Mary has a significance for the Church: she who was called before all others is in the position of the “first” who are tempted to claim priority. But Mary never claimed, and the Magnificat is not an inventory of merits but a song of gratitude for received grace. The humility of the “servant” (Lk 1:48) is precisely the refusal to turn the “first hour” into a title of precedence.

IV. “Nonne licet mihi facere”: The Sovereignty of Mercy

“Is it not mine to do with what is mine? Or is my eye evil because I am good?” (Mt 20:15) – the Patron’s defense is a testament to the sovereignty of God over grace. God’s mercy is not subject to human proportional logic; God can give to the last the same as to the first, for what He gives (eternal life) is His and exceeds any measure of merit.The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception serves as the most eloquent example of this sovereignty: Mary was preserved from original sin not because she “merited” more than any other human being but because God “willed” to be generous toward her in advance. The eternal decree that prepared Mary as Mother of the Redeemer is the sovereign decision of the “Patron” who decides to pay the same denarius to one hired “at dawn of the world.”

Contemplating Mary in the light of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is to learn to rejoice in God’s generosity, not calculating comparative merits but receiving with gratitude the “denarius” that is given to all. Mary who sang “He has done great things for me” without calculating whether she deserved more or less than others is the pedagogue of this disinterested joy: the one who receives grace with open hands, neither keeping it for herself nor envying others.