God over the Girl

Daring to be different and going against the crowd

08/23/2017

Matthew 20:1-16 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, he 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, he 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?”

            Do you know why I decided to become a priest? Yes, I wanted to help people spiritually, and yes I felt God was calling me, and yes I get to eat free in Mexican restaurants. But there was another reason, and in some ways it was a deeper reason. That was because I wanted to be different, I didn’t want to just go with the crowd. So when I saw priests wearing their cool Roman collar, I thought: not many people get to do that! I’ll be different by being a priest. By the way, I started thinking about this way back in 8th grade, and at that time I had a huge crush on this beautiful little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was gorgeous. I had to make a choice to pursue her or pursue the priesthood. Do you know which one I chose?

              That’s why I love Robert Frost’s famous poem called “The Road Not Taken.” He talks about this choice to pursue the familiar or to dare to be different. The great Poet Laureate wrote: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both / And be one traveler, long I stood / And looked down one as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth.” Then Frost concludes with these memorable lines: “I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence: / Two roads diverged in a wood and I - / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.” In other words, I didn’t become a priest just to be holy, but because I wanted to be different, and so I chose the “road less traveled.” When you dare to be different, you sometimes choose God over the girl.

               In the gospel today, Jesus tells the parable of a landowner who also chose to be very different. But did you catch that difference? He hires workers to take care of his vineyard, some of whom he hires for the whole day, but others he hires at the end of the day and they only work one hour. Do you remember how he pays them? He pays those who worked one hour the same as those who worked the whole day. This shocked the workers, and probably shocked Jesus’ disciples, too. Why? Well, because it was completely unexpected and different; indeed, it seemed unfair to them because that’s not what everybody else does! But Jesus gives his explanation in one line, where the landowner says: “Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?” In other words, the landowner also took the “road less traveled by” and paid his workers very differently from other employers. Jesus is urging his disciples to think differently, to act differently, to choose differently from the rest of the world. Sometimes, that’s how you choose God over the girl.  That’s precisely what the disciples did in leaving everything behind and following Jesus.

                 Boys and girls, when you are in junior high school, you walk in the shoes of Robert Frost –and sort of walk into that poem – and you have to choose which path to pursue: the ways of the world, or to dare to do something different, the “road less traveled by.” For example, try an extracurricular activity you’ve never attempted before, like reading poetry, or like golf or tennis or drama or try a new instrument in band like euphonium! (I just like to say euphonium because most people don’t know what that is.) That’s why I love learning Latin – because it’s so different, so few people do that. If you see someone being bullied, or students using curse words, or drinking alcohol or misusing snapchat in immoral ways, dare to be different, don’t trod down the road everyone else travels.

                 Do you know what the word “FAD” really means? It means “For A Day.” Don’t choose fads that are here today and gone tomorrow. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said: “Dead fish float down stream; it takes live fish to fight against the current.” Don’t be a dead fish and just go along with what everyone else does but dare to be different, fight the current. Jesus said in the gospel: “Am I not free to do what I wish with my money?” By “money” Jesus is referring to everything we have, our whole lives. So choose wisely how you will spend your treasure, your time and your talent; choose differently from the rest of the world.

               I hope Dr. Hollenbeck will forgive me if I paraphrase our school motto in order to summarize this homily: “Be something different, do something different, leave something different from the world, all for the glory of God.” Who knows, you may even choose God over the girl.

Praised be Jesus Christ!