Justice and faith

Unemployment

Fairness in compensation

Anger against management

These are issues that are prominent in these days of economic turmoil.

These are also issues that appear prominently in today’s Gospel (Matthew 10:1-16a).

The most fundamental point of the parable is that the same salvation is given to all by the grace of God: to the long-serving and the lately converted alike.

That is not to say that there is an advantage in purposefully deferring conversion until the end of a lifetime of debauchery. That would be presumption: one of the unforgivable sins.

Rather, we must remember that the gift of salvation is so infinite and so undeservable, that none of us will have any cause to complain in the light of the Father’s gaze.

Indeed, so wonderful is God’s salvation that the poorest man who is brought into heaven will be infinitely better off than the billionaire who goes to hell.

May God have mercy on us all.

Thus, in one sense, the inequities of this life are of little consequence.

Yet by God’s grace, our faithfulness on earth is related to our eternal destiny beyond this world.

Thus, matter of justice and charity on earth dare not be neglected by any faithful Christian who hopes for heaven.

May the Lord Jesus Christ enable us always to see aright and to follow in faith the steps we need to take on this earth and to live his life of grace forever.