The first reading today emphatically states that God is completely different from us humans. It says: “God’s ways are not our ways. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.” This is aptly expressed and illustrated in the parable that we have heard today, which is the “Parable of the of the Workers in the Vineyard.” I suppose that this story is Jesus’ way of defending himself from his adversaries who criticized Him for giving more preferential love to the outcast than to the virtuous. He teaches that God is full of mercy and compassion to the poor and outcast, and that His generosity is based on His nature which we humans cannot merit.

The whole of Matthew 18 teaches about “community life” and its intricacies about human relationships. Last Sunday, the Lord taught that we must correct our erring brother or sister because we responsible for each other and that we belong to one community, thus we are all brothers and sisters united under the Fatherhood of God. In correcting, our aim is to win over our erring brother or sister, devoid of judgement, embarrassment and humiliation.

This Sunday readings follow a theme: “As God’s people we belong to one community, therefore we are responsible for each other.” Our first reading (Ez 33:7-9) tells us about the role of a prophet or messenger which is to point out the error or mistake of the person and lead him to the truth. We have the responsibility to warn people for God.

The Gospel reading today is the continuation of last Sunday’s Gospel. After Peter’s profession that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. Immediately, he predicts his own passion, death and resurrection. Meaning to say, he is willing and determined to take upon himself the role of the “Suffering Servant” which Isaiah has prophesied many years back.

Did Jesus undergo an identity crisis?

Apparently “Yes” by the fact that he asked this million-dollar question: “Who do the people say the Son of man is?” Many biblical scholars dubbed this as “the Galilean crisis”. It is noteworthy that Jesus asked this question when he and his disciples reached the region of Caesarea Philippi. A region named after two famous personalities of that time, Caesar Augustus, the emperor and Philip, one of the sons of Herod the great. Likewise, it is a Greco-Roman city with altars and statues of pagan deities, most especially the god “Pan”.

Fr. Flor McCarthy, SDB, the author of New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies has this cool story to share with us: “Once a severe winter took place in the Arctic; all but two people in a certain camp died of starvation. The two survivors were an Eskimo woman and her baby. The woman began a desperate search for some means of obtaining food. Eventually she found a small fish hook. It was a simple matter to rig a line, but she has no bait, and no hope of getting any.

Where do you turn to when you are beset by difficulties and insurmountable problems? Do you naturally turn to God in prayer? But this seems to be a very selfish and pragmatic approach to God which should not be the case. We have to always turn to God in good and bad times.

Our first reading tells us about Elijah fleeing from the wrath of Queen Jezebel who threatened to kill him after King Ahab told her that he was responsible for the death of two thousand prophets of Baal. Elijah ran away and fled for his life, going from Beersheba to Judah until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it.

Our Sunday readings today point to one theme, that is, we have a God who is our Father who provides us with abundant blessings and graces because of his profound unconditional love for us. He reassures us that he never abandons us. His presence and care are constant, and he invites us to be an extension, a concrete and tangible expression of his provident love to our brothers and sisters in need.