主題：為甚麼我們這樣思考？
雖然這個著名的比喻已流傳了二千年，但大部份人仍未吸取其教訓。
很多人喜歡引述阮文順樞機的作品《希望的見證》，當中提及「耶穌的五個缺陷」。阮樞機謙遜地說：「我捨棄一切跟隨耶穌，因為我愛祂的缺陷。」（14頁）就在講述第五個缺陷時，樞機引述了今天的比喻：「第五個缺陷：耶穌不懂財務或者經濟…倘若提名耶穌做一個團體的署理人，或者一所企業的總裁，這機構必然倒閉和破產。一個黃昏五點纔開工的人怎可以支一個由朝做到晚的工人同一樣的薪酬呢？是耶穌疏忽嗎？還是他的會計錯了？都不是。耶穌是故意的！為甚麼耶穌有這些缺陷呢？因為祂是愛（若一4:16）。真愛不講道理、不量度、不製造障礙、不計較、不記仇與及不設條件。」（17-18頁）
耶穌不是教會的署理或總裁嗎？不是，因為教會仍未倒閉或破產！倘若我們認真看待樞機的說話，希望教會能展示耶穌有缺陷的真面目，我們就應該清君側，推翻祂在世的代表！請重新小心閱讀前面的三句話！為甚麼我們會運用這樣的思考模式呢？就是減低情感，運用冰冷的邏輯、老謀深算、設立限制和強加自己的主意？
人類崇尚理性，因為他們相信理性是人類生存的依靠。經過進化的淘汰，那些倚賴體力、速度和爪牙的類似人類的生物，已經成為了更強、更快的猛獸的食物。依靠理性的卻組成團體，智取其他物種。他們改造周圍的環境，為自己創造一個安定的環境，繁殖繁榮。早期的社會，屯積資源是保證穩定資源供應的策略，勤儉就是美德。但效率有限，常被四周環境所局限。後來，不知從那麼出現了一些敢於冒險的人類，他們不惜犧牲目前的收成，將它再投資到未來更大的收益去。這再投資的策略像滾雪球一樣，帶來更大的繁榮安定。但這種理性亦同步趨近冷酷的謀算。工人與生產工具，例如一把鋤頭或者一袋肥料，沒有分別！企業管理繼承了封建主義。今天統治階級社會的，不再是王侯而是企業家。權力奉效率之名，集於一身；本質沒有變，祇是銜頭改了。冷酷無情的謀算被提拔到神壇之上。
另一方面，工業革命帶給工人的苦果，孕育了社會主義，一個無階級的烏托邦，在那裡人人平等。要建立一個無階級的社會，必須先打破現有的階級；流血革命在所難免，於是暴力被認可了。共產黨員登上政治舞台挑戰企業家。崇尚暴力和限制自由的極權主義登基了。
天主希望看見這一切嗎？不！耶穌曾教導：「沒有人能事奉兩個主人：他或是要恨這一個，而愛那一個，或是依附這一個而輕忽那一個。你們不能事奉天主而又事奉錢財。」（瑪6:24）愛在那兩種意識形態，完全沒有地位。因此，作為臨在世上的一件聖事，教會是不會認同它們中的任何一個。她要告訴世界，她的天主是愛。即使天主絕對可以極權，但祂沒有這樣做，反而給擁有位格的人，完全自主。作為有位格的人，我們不可傷害近人。當然，天主亦要求我們愛人如己（肋19:18），因為我們是彼此的守護者（創4:9）！所以，教會不是共產黨的朋友，雖然她不排除無可避免地要與共產政權合作。
聖詠的作者告訴我們在宇宙間的定位：「由赤子乳兒的口中，祢取得完美的讚頌。」（詠8:3）的確，在天主前，我們祇不過是赤子乳兒。不久前，耶穌更進一步教訓我們要像小孩進入天國：「我實在告訴你們：你們若不變成如同小孩子一樣，決不能進天國。」（瑪18:3）小孩子不謀算！服從她的主的訓導，教會不會認同資本主義那冷酷無情的謀算。
保祿在《愛之歌》這樣教導：「愛是含忍的，愛是慈祥的，愛不嫉妒，不誇張，不自大，不作無禮的事， 不求己益，不動怒，不圖謀惡事，不以不義為樂，卻與真理同樂：凡事包容，凡事相信，凡事盼望，凡事忍耐。」（格前13:4-7）天主是忍耐的，所以我們也要耐心忍受痛苦；天主是慈祥的，所以我們放棄暴力；天主是真理，所以我們以真理為樂，因為真理把我們從奴役中出解放出來，得以自由成長（若8:32）；我們包容、相信、盼望和忍耐，因為我們希望看見近人明天會更好。他們都是天主按自己的肖像創造出來的，總有光芒四射的一日。
那麼，當主人說：「你們也到我的葡萄裡去吧！凡照公義該給的，我必給你們」（瑪20:4），他說的「公義」是指甚麼？我們很容易再次以人的公義來思考天主的公義。在個人範疇，我們的公義是有仇必報；你敬我一尺，我敬你一丈。在社會範疇，我們倡議教育平等，選舉平等和同工同酬等。在這些範圍，人類社會已有長足的成就，但處境仍然有很多有待改善的空間。例如今次疫情，便揭露了社會上不平等的實況。當同學們困在家中網上學習時，貧富之間的「數碼洪溝」，盡顯無遺！理論上，教育應該可以幫助社會的低下階層脫貧。今天做不到了。這種「平等」的觀念是不足以表述天主的公義，因為世上沒有任何事物能與祂平起平坐！天主的公義就是祂的慷慨、慈悲和拯救。祂樂於看見我們成長，達到祂心中為我們每個人所訂下的目標。倘若我們把一個「德納」（20:2）象徵我們所得的救恩，它不是我們所「賺取」的。換句話說，我們領洗的年資、我們虔誠的唸經、我們在堂區熱心的事工和我們的獻金等等，算不了甚麼。那麼，我們的嫉妒是沒有理據了（20:15）。首批工人嫉妒，因為他們以同工同酬思考。倘若「平等」足以述說天主，他們便有權以冷酷的謀算，來為自己「賺取」救恩。在經濟領域看似正確，其實是一個「迷思」。經濟學告訴我們，價格由供求來決定。因此，酬勞絕不與努力成正比。但很多人樂意鼓吹這個迷思，有些人為了在勞苦中尋求一點慰藉，有些人卻利用它來剝削其他人。這是錯的，這不是天主的旨意。保祿說：「直到我們眾人都達到…成為成年人，達到基督圓滿年齡的程度。」（弗4:13）
各位兄弟姊妹！我們需要檢討自己的思考模式，以達到基督圓滿年齡的程度，成為成熟的基督徒。對，我們應當善用我們的理性去追求真理，它不應該是冷酷無情的，因為真理可以釋放我們。真理內有愛，否則它不能令生命豐富。另一方面，沒有真理的愛是盲目的，反過來會傷害生命。讓我們祈求真理之神與愛德之神，以天主的生命充實我們。亞孟。
天主保祐！
2017年講道
Twenty Fifth Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: Why Do We Think the Way We Think?
Though this famous parable has been told us for nearly two thousand years, most of us don't seem to have learnt its lesson.
Many people quote from a book written by Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận, "The Testimony of Hope" (2000), and talk about the "five defects of Jesus". Cardinal Francis Xavier begins humbly with these words, "… I left everything to follow Jesus, because I love the defects of Jesus." (pg.14) In the fifth defect, he quotes this famous parable. "The fifth defect: Jesus doesn't understand finances or economics … If Jesus were named the administrator of a community or the director of a business, the institution would surely fail and go bankrupt. How can anyone pay someone who began working at 5:00p.m. the same wage paid to the person who has been working since early morning? Is this merely an oversight? Is Jesus' accounting wrong? No! He does it on purpose … Perhaps we can ask ourselves why Jesus has these defects. Because he is love (cf. 1 John 4:16). Real love does not reason, does not measure, does not create barriers, does not calculate, does not remember offenses, and does not impose conditions." (pp. 17-18)
Isn't Jesus our administrator or director of the Church? No, it isn't Jesus because the Church hasn't failed or gone bankrupt! If we take the words of the Cardinal seriously and want the Church to reveal the true face of Jesus with His defects, we should reinstate Christ and dethrone the Pope as the Vicar of Christ! Go back and read the last three sentences carefully once more! Why do we keep thinking in the way we usually think, viz. we minimize affection, we use cold logic, we calculate, we set barriers and we impose?
Human beings worship rationality because they believe that on rationality their survival depends. Through evolution, those humanoids that relied on strength, speed, teeth and claws were devoured by stronger, speedier animals and those that relied on the use of reason which enabled them join together into communities to outwit other species survived. They managed to modify the surrounding environment and created for themselves a stable environment to prosper. In the early stages of society, hoarding resources was the major strategy to ensure steady supplies and diligence was a virtue. However, its efficiency was limited, in particular, by the total environment they were living in. Somewhere somehow some risk-taking souls arose to prominence. We can't be sure whether it was greed that bred them. Those brave souls were willing to sacrifice their fruits of labour and re-invest them for bigger gains in the future. Such a strategy snowballed and the rise of capitalism saw greater prosperity and thus stability. At the same time, this rationality has approached the edge of cold calculations because labourers are no different from other productivity tools such as a plough or a bag of fertilizer! Entrepreneurship is an heir of feudalism. Instead of kings and dukes ruling the land in a society of strata, entrepreneurs are. Powers are centralized in the name of efficiency. Only titles change, not essence. In other words, cold calculation is canonized!
On the other hand, the plights of workers during the Industrial Revolution sowed the seeds of socialism, a utopian ideology of a classless society in which all are equal. In order to build a classless society, the proletariats needed to break down the classes. Bloody revolutions became inevitable and violence was condoned. Communists came on stage to challenge entrepreneurs. Blatant violence and restrictions on freedom became inevitable and totalitarianism was crowned.
Does God want to see this? No, Jesus Christ has warned us before, "No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24) In both ideologies, love has no position. Therefore, as a sacrament on earth, the Church can't condone either of them. She needs to remind the world of her God who is love. God has never been a totalitarian. He should be but instead, He gives us total autonomy as persons. As persons, we don't harm our neighbour. Of course, God demands us to love our neighbour as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18) because we are each other's keeper (Genesis 4:9)! Thus, the Church can't be a friend of Communists, though she doesn't exclude the inevitability to work with Communist regimes. The Psalmist teaches us to know our places in the universe "Ex ore infantium et lactantium perfecisti laudem" (Psalm 8:3). We are no more than infants and suckling before God. Jesus further teaches us, not long ago, to accept the kingdom of heaven like small children, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3) Children do not calculate! Following the exhortation of her Master, the Church does not condone the cold calculation of Capitalism.
In his "Ode of Love", Paul writes, "Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) God is patient, so we must be long-suffering as well. God is kind, so we must rule out violence. God is true, so we rejoice in truth which makes us free from bondage as well as free to grow. (John 8:32) We bear, believe, hope and endure because we want to see our neighbour become better day by day. They were created in the image of God which surely will shine forth in the end.
Then what did the Master mean by "just" when he told the late comers "You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just" (Matthew 20:4)? Once more, we think of human justice instead of God's justice. We think of fairness in the personal sphere in terms of tit for tat and you scratch my back and I scratch yours. In the societal sphere, we uphold the equal opportunities of education, of voting and of equal work equal pay etc. Human societies have achieved much, but the situation is less than desirable. For example, this pandemic has revealed very clearly before our eyes the inequalities existing in our society. When students are confined at home to study online, the digital gap between the rich and the poor starkly shows up! Education is supposed to empower the poor and help them move up the social ladder. Nowadays, it fails to do so. No, such equality concept is not appropriate to talk about God's justice because God has no equals! God's justice is generosity, mercy and salvation. He is happy to see all of us grow to the fullness He intends for each one of us. If we take the daily wage (20:2) to mean salvation which we don't "earn", then our work and services won't count, viz. how long we have been baptized, the pious prayers we have said, the enthusiasm in parish works, the money we drop into the treasury etc. Therefore, our jealousy shall have no basis (20:15). The first workers were jealous because they thought in terms of equal work equal pay. If equality were adequate to describe God, they were entitled to "earn" themselves salvation through cold calculation. It "looks" true in economic sphere but in fact it is a myth. In economics, price is determined by supply and demand. Therefore, your reward is never directly proportional to the amount of effort you put in. But there are many people who want to perpetuate this myth for various reasons. Some want to console themselves and to relieve themselves of daily hardship while some want to exploit others. No, this is not what God wants. In Paul's words, "Until we all attain to … mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13)
Brethren! We need to examine our mode of thinking in order to attain the full stature of Christ, to become mature Christians. Yes, we should make good use of our rationality to seek the Truth which should not be dry and cold because the Truth is liberating. There must be love lest it fails to enrich life. On the other hand, love without truth is blind and will do harm to life. Let's pray to the Spirit of Love and Truth to infuse us with God's life. Amen.
God bless!
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