"No one has hired us"

This brief lament in today’s Gospel (Matthew 20:1-16) is echoed millions of times nowadays.

Unemployment is a terrible thing on many levels: social, economic, personal, and emotional.

The image of today’s parable recalls the places where day laborers congregate, waiting for someone to drive by and hire them for a day or a few hours of work.

One of the remarkable things of the parable is that even at the end of the day, there are still some who have not given up and gone home, but rather have stayed in the marketplace, looking for work.

Remarkable perseverance that is rewarded.

Of course, there is not always a happy ending, where a person is hired at the last minute and generously compensated.

Employed or unemployed, however, we are reminded by today’s readings that God is our ultimate employer: the One for whom we ultimately work and the One by whom we are ultimately rewarded.

God has hired us.

Employed, unemployed, or underemployed, may we find reward in serving the Lord and His people.