I remember watching a child having a temper tantrum. The child stomped around the room saying, “It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair.” How often do adults do the same thing, as though we expected life to be “FAIR”. This problem is not a new one as even the Israelites had the same problem as demonstrated in today’s first reading. We all want God’s mercy for the things we have done wrong but want God to punish others. What is fair about that? The reading this week follows up on the Gospel from last week where the laborers were complaining thinking they deserve more pay. Remember in that parable Jesus has the landowner saying, “I will give you what is just.” Justice isn’t always “fair” by the world’s standards, but whose standards would we really prefer, God’s or human’s?
The Psalm has us asking God, “Remember your mercies, O Lord.” Paul reminds us to, “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rathe, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others. When we think of fairness, we are typically only thinking of what is best for us. Yet as Christians we are called to think of what is best for EVERYONE! Do we do our will or God’s the Gospel asks of us? What is more important what we want or what God desires?
Countenance of God 