There is one song which I think we are familiar with, or at least we have heard it before.
We may have even sung it at the karaoke sessions, or in the private studio of our bathrooms.
Even though we may not be familiar with all the lyrics of that song, yet we know that line that is repeated in almost every verse.
And that line is this: I did it my way.
Yes, it’s a song made popular by the late Frank Sinatra in 1969.
The last verse of that song sums up what it is essentially all about, and it goes like this:
For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The records shows, I took the blows –
And did it my way
So to have it my way means to say the things I truly feel, and not the one who kneels.
So as much as we try to be diplomatic and careful with our words in order not to put our foot into our mouth, there are times when we say what we truly feel when things don’t go our way.
Especially when we want to grumble and complain about certain things in life.
From our earliest days, we ask why our brother or sister seemed to get the bigger piece of cake, or the better toy, or a better treatment from our parents.
As we grow older, we may ask why others get the ipod, the iphone, the ipad, and we get the “iron”, meaning to say, others seem to get the perks, while we get the pits.
And so we say what we feel, we complain and grumble, we say that life is not fair, because we didn’t get it our way.
So say what we may, but we would have to admit that it is easier to relate with the grumbling first-comers in today’s gospel parable than with the late-comers.
Who among us have not felt cheated or unfairly treated?
Yes, we feel that life is unfair and we grumble and complain.
We seem to do more, but we don’t seem to get more; in fact, what’s worse, we seem to get less!
There is this story about a priest who always addresses complains and grumbles with this phrase – Thank God, it could be worse.
So when his parishioners complain to him that the aircon is too cold, he would say : Thank God, it could be worse. Or when it’s too warm, he would also say : Thank God, it could be worse.
Or when the toilets are not clean, or when the place is dirty, he would always say : Thank God, it could be worse.
So a man got tired of hearing the priest say this same thing always, so one day he went to see the priest.
And he said : Father, last night I had a bad dream. I dream that I was falling and falling in pitch darkness and I finally landed in hell, and the fire began burning me and the worms were eating me up, and I was screaming in pain. What have you to say about this?
The priest, as usual, said : Thank God, it could be worse.
The man retorted : Just how could it be worse?
The priest replied : Thank God it’s only a dream. But it could be worse, in that, it could be real!
Well, the grumblings we heard in today’s gospel parable, admittedly, is a reality in our lives.
We seem to think that we do more, but we seem to get less, we seem to be worse off, so we grumble and we complain.
Yet, in today’s gospel parable, there is a revelation about the nature of God.
In the words of Jesus, God is telling us this : Have I no right to do what I like with my own? Why be envious because I am generous?
In other words, what God is saying is this : I do it my way!
The 1st reading pushes the point further by saying : God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, God’s ways are not our ways.
And just as the heavens are as high above the earth, God’s ways are above our ways, God’s thoughts are above our thoughts.
So as we try to understand God’s ways and God’s thoughts in comparison with our own, we still need to resolve our envy, our complains, our grumblings.
We may say that life is not fair, but could it be worse?
In the last line of the gospel, Jesus mentioned something about the last will be first, and the first, last.
There seems to be some sort of reversal of roles.
And this is one of the realities of life, in that we find ourselves on the other side of the fence.
So what we criticize, we will eventually become.
So if we criticize our boss, we might eventually find ourselves in a managerial position and in turn get criticized by our subordinates.
When we put ourselves in the position of the grumbling first-comers in the gospel parable, then there will come a time when we eventually find ourselves in the position of the late-comers.
We can imagine how those late-comers feel at the 11th hour.
They would feel dejected, rejected, useless, hopeless, desperate.
When we are in their position, or when we had been in their position, then we know we can’t have it our way.
We can only utter the words of one who kneels.
Because our only hope is in God’s mercy, which is the way of mercy and compassion, the way of love and forgiveness.
We can only utter words of thanks as we kneel before the Lord.
When we have a heart of gratitude, and give thanks to God, then God assures us that all things will work for the good of those who trust in God’s ways.
When we trust in God’s ways, there won’t be grumbles, there will only be gratitude.
And we will want to live our lives, not our way, but in God’s way.
In this Eucharist, let us give thanks to God, and let us always give thanks, and may that be our way of life.