(Or, in today’s gospel story, do you picture yourself in the front or the back of the line?)
• “Check out my new ride. The insurance payment from the accident covered everything! It is so sweet! I LOVE THIS CAR!”
• “It is so good to be dating again. It feels like it has been forever. We’re going to the movies on Friday and to dinner on Saturday and then Sunday we’re…”
• “I’m so excited. I just got a full ride scholarship for my Master in Nursing at Wash. U. Life is so good!
These are common experiences, aren’t they, as people share their world and their life’s story with us. If I am having a good day, it is easy to rejoice with them, isn’t it? “That is great news! Congrats! Way to go! If I am having a ‘not so good day’, I might say those same things, but when I lay down in bed and have my little talk with God –my truer feelings come out.
• “How come I’m still stuck with that clunker that burns oil and seems to be nickel and diming me to death?”
• “Great – they are out on a date, and once more, I am in my room on a Friday night. ALONE. AGAIN.”
• “What gives, Lord I’m working two jobs to pay my tuition at UMSL, and they’re getting a full ride? And who has the time to fill out scholarship applications anyway?!”
When that green monster of envy appears, it is so difficult to rejoice in the good fortune of others.
The people at the back of the line in today’s story found that to be true. All they could think about was their toil, their labor, their suffering. What they had endured, and therefore, what THEY had earned in terms of reward. “WE have labored all day in the scorching heat…” They were so trapped in their own world that it was hard for them even to phrase what the experience might have been for those in the front of the line. “How exciting for them!” was not even in their vocabulary, much less their hearts.
Of course, in my mind, I am always toward the front of the line – not the first group, but close enough to be glad for the people in the front who received such generosity, who were the recipients of good news. Of course it is easy to celebrate success in other people’s lives. That’s me, Lord! No green monster of envy lurking under my bed. Or so I thought until this Thursday.
We had an opportunity on our convocation to make a holy hour, and they had the option of the sacrament of reconciliation. I wasn’t planning on going. So, I was praying in the back of the room. And in the quiet, I found myself looking around the room at some of the guys and thinking, “Boy, he’s got a plush assignment – no school and no financial worries. And what about him – a school that is full and two full time associates. What a sweet life. I’m a lot busier than him, and his associates combined…” And that little ‘pity party voice’ was playing in my head: “They don’t HAVE to work as hard as you do, Bill Kempf. ” And there was that green monster staring me right in the face. And suddenly I was in the back of the line in today’s gospel, one of the grumblers, one of the murmur-ers, instead of being excited by the gifts that these, my brothers, bring to their parishes and assignments. After that, I put myself in the line for the sacrament of confession…
What do you do when jealousy rears its ugly head? And how easy is it for you to celebrate the good fortune of others. Among the many things that this difficult parable asks us to do is just that – to open up our hearts in rejoicing for the good that happens in other’s lives. Instead of being threatened by it, as if the world is a zero sum game and there is only so much goodness that God is going to mete out, we are called to rejoice that God is generous in the lives of so many people. In some ways, it is a little barometer of our life in grace – that ability to give thanks to God for goodness and experiences of generosity wherever and whenever we find it. And that is the best antidote I know to the green monster of envy – gratitude for what I have been given by a loving God.
So, this weekend, – give thanks for the good that God has given to you, but even more so, find reasons to celebrate the good that God is doing in others. Be generous with your love, and even more generous with your enthusiasm. And whether you find yourself in the front of the line or the back of the line, be ready to dance a jig to the tune of the amazing grace we all have been gifted with….