Blessed be God.
Praise be to Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.
Come Holy Spirit—fill us with joy,
set our hearts ablaze
with Your presence. Amen.
Friends… the Lord has always given me simple,
everyday ways to explain the Gospel—
little stories tucked into ordinary life
that suddenly shine with grace.
And this week,
He handed me one
too good not to share.
It’s not a parable about vineyards.
It’s not a parable about wages.
It’s the parable of the pink flamingo.
If you’ve ever raised children—
young or grown—
or watched your grandchildren tussle over toys or treats,
you already know something about jealousy, envy,
and that little streak of pettiness
that can run right through a family.
Just the other day,
my daughter came home from a week‑long trip.
She brought gifts for the kids.
And mercy… there was a racket.
She didn’t get them all the same thing.
She got a bright pink flamingo for my granddaughter
and two stuffed alligators for the youngest boys.
Well, my grandson—
who loves pink flamingos so much
we’ve got metal ones stuck in the backyard—
looked at his mama with
big wounded eyes and said:
“Why didn’t I get a pink flamingo?
You know how much I love them.
You must not love me.”
And suddenly—
jealousy, envy, childish pettiness—
all rising up like a storm.
Friends…
that same spirit shows up in today’s readings.
It’s the very spirit Jesus exposes
in the parable of the vineyard workers—
a quiet thread woven through the story,
and one that rises in our own hearts
more often than we’d like to admit.
It leads us to a question that stings a little
when we finally face it:
Are we envious because God is good?
Isaiah doesn’t soften the blow.
He speaks a straight, sharp truth of God:
“My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.”
Isaiah is telling us plainly:
God doesn’t operate the way we do.
We measure. We compare.
We keep score.
We decide who deserves mercy and who doesn’t.
But God…
God pours mercy out like water.
He forgives generously.
He draws near to anyone who calls upon Him.
And sometimes—
if we’re honest—
that bothers us.
Because deep down,
we want God to be fair
according to our standards.
We want Him to reward the ones
who work hard,
who show up early,
who do things the “right” way.
And when He blesses someone
we think hasn’t earned it…
something tightens inside us.
A little resentment.
A little envy.
A quiet whisper: “Lord… why them?”
But Isaiah reminds us:
God’s ways rise higher than ours—
higher than the heavens above the earth.
His mercy isn’t a reward.
His generosity isn’t a prize.
His forgiveness isn’t rationed out like scarce food.
He gives because He is good—
because goodness is His very nature.
Saint Paul turns that truth inward:
“Christ will be magnified in my body,
whether by life or by death…
For me, life is Christ.”
Paul isn’t competing with anyone.
He isn’t comparing blessings.
He isn’t asking why God gives more to one
and less to another.
He simply wants Christ to be magnified—
whatever it costs,
whatever it looks like.
Paul tells us:
“Conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.”
That means letting go of envy.
It means celebrating God’s generosity—
even when it seems unfair.
It means trusting that His goodness toward someone else
does not diminish His goodness toward us.
It means believing that mercy is not a limited resource.
The psalm gives us the heart of it:
“The Lord is near to all who call upon him.”
Not just the holy.
Not just the disciplined.
Not just the long‑timers in the vineyard.
All who call upon Him.
Now for my grandson,
that pink flamingo isn’t just a toy.
It’s a reminder.
God’s gifts don’t always look equal.
They don’t always look fair.
But they are always good.
Always intentional.
Always rooted in love.
And sometimes the gift He gives someone else—
the flamingo we didn’t get—
is meant to teach us trust, humility,
and the freedom that comes from letting go of comparison.
The question remains:
Are we envious because God is good?
Or can we rejoice that His goodness
is bigger than our expectations,
wider than our judgments,
deeper than our sense of fairness?
Because if God were only as generous
as we think He should be…
none of us would stand a chance.
But because His ways are higher,
because His mercy is abundant,
because His forgiveness is extravagant—
we live,
we hope,
we rise again.
Be good. Be holy.
Preach the Gospel by the way you live your life.
Love one another.
Forgive freely.
Let Christ shine through you.
Praise be to Jesus Christ,
now and forever. Amen.
