Happy Eleventh Sunday! It officially feels like summer around here. School is out, religious ed has concluded, Sunday vestments have finally returned to the familiar green, and Michigan weather is no longer confused about its thermostat setting — praise the Lord! Grad parties are also in full swing. It’s like a perpetual free date night with all the neighbors (haha!).
The weeks ahead for me will hopefully be a good time to slow down and work through the laundry list of projects that accrue each fall-winter-spring cycle. There’s a large part of me that loves to putz around and methodically do those deep-clean, deep-reorganization types of tasks. The problem is there’s seldom a good chunk of available time for them, and seldom enough energy and motivation to match. But now’s the time for me, I think!
Life is a big garden in a perpetual state of laundry list project management. Things always need weeding. Some plants are out there dying. Others are spreading like uncontained wildfire. We put our hands into the dirt, work under the heat of the sun, and simultaneously hope for the periodic rain which we have no control over. It’s the same image Jesus uses in today’s Gospel. Our own gardens can feel unwieldy; just imagine how Jesus must feel. He’s the master of every garden in the vineyard of the earth. What a monumental project list.
When Jesus says, “the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few,” I feel like he’s putting it mildly, out of concern for not scaring away the laborers. Parents instinctively do this for their children. They shield the full picture and take the bulk of the load in order to get their kids further along in life than children can manage themselves. Same here — the twelve apostles don’t have more than the slightest view of what’s in front of them! Jesus calls them into the vineyard but wisely knows how to lead them in a way their hearts and minds can manage.
Keep in mind that Jesus does the same with you and me. He sees the whole project list of our lives but shields the full picture from us out of care and concern. He takes the bulk of the load but calls us nonetheless to work in the dirt under the heat of the sun, praying for the life-giving rain we have no control over. We’re always seeing weeds, wondering why some things are dying, and why other things are spreading invasively. At the same time, some beds of flowers are blooming nicely, and the shade trees are lifesavers. It’s a beautiful mess; it’s a lot to care for. Your consolation and mine is that we get to rub elbows with the Master Gardener who’s always working the clods of dirt right next to us. Imagine how life would be without Him there.
Fr. Brian