Sunday September 20th 2020

First Reading
(Philippians 1:12-30)
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To Live is Christ
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I want you to know, my friends,
that the things that have happened to me have really helped the progress of the gospel.
  As a result, the whole palace guard and all the others here know that I am in prison
because I am a servant of Christ. 
And my being in prison has given most of the believers more confidence in the Lord,
so that they grow bolder all the time to preach the message fearlessly.
Of course some of them preach Christ because they are jealous and quarrelsome,
but others from genuine good will. 
These do so from love,
because they know that God has given me the work of defending the gospel. 
The others do not proclaim Christ sincerely, but from a spirit of selfish ambition;
they think that they will make more trouble for me while I am in prison.
It does not matter! I am happy about it—just so Christ is preached in every way possible,
whether from wrong or right motives.
And I will continue to be happy, because I know that by means of your prayers
and the help which comes from the Spirit of Jesus Christ I shall be set free. 
My deep desire and hope is that I shall never fail in my duty,
but that at all times, and especially right now,
I shall be full of courage, so that with my whole being I shall bring honor to Christ,
whether I live or die.
For what is life?  To me, it is Christ.
Death, then, will bring more.
 But if by continuing to live, I can do more worthwhile work,
then I am not sure which I should choose. 
I am pulled in two directions.
I want very much to leave this life and be with Christ,
which is a far better thing; 
but for your sake it is much more important that I remain alive. 
I am sure of this, and so I know that I will stay.
I will stay on with you all, to add to your progress and joy in the faith, 
so that when I am with you again,
you will have even more reason to be proud of me in your life in union with Christ Jesus.
Now, the important thing is that your way of life should be as the gospel of Christ requires,
so that, whether or not I am able to go and see you,
I will hear that you are standing firm with one common purpose
and that with only one desire you are fighting together for the faith of the gospel. 
Don't be afraid of your enemies; always be courageous,
and this will prove to them that they will lose and that you will win,
because it is God who gives you the victory. 
For you have been given the privilege of serving Christ,
not only by believing in him, but also by suffering for him. 
 Now you can take part with me in the battle.
It is the same battle you saw me fighting in the past,
​ and as you hear, the one I am fighting still.

Second Reading
(Matthew 20:1-16)

The Workers in the Vineyard

The Kingdom of heaven is like this.
Once there was a man who went out early in the morning to hire some men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them the regular wage, a silver coin a day, and sent them to work in his vineyard. He went out again to the marketplace at nine o'clock and saw some men standing there doing nothing, so he told them,
‘You also go and work in the vineyard, and I will pay you a fair wage.’ 
So they went. Then at twelve o'clock and again at three o'clock he did the same thing. It was nearly five o'clock when he went to the marketplace and saw some other men still standing there.
‘Why are you wasting the whole day here doing nothing?’ he asked them. 
‘No one hired us,’ they answered
 ‘Well, then, you go and work in the vineyard,’ he told them.
When evening came, the owner told his foreman,
‘Call the workers and pay them their wages,
starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.’ 

The men who had begun to work at five o'clock were paid a silver coin each. 
So when the men who were the first to be hired came to be paid,
they thought they would get more; but they too were given a silver coin each. 
They took their money and started grumbling against the employer. 

‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said,
‘while we put up with a whole day's work in the hot sun
—yet you paid them the same as you paid us!’ 
‘Listen, friend,’ the owner answered one of them, ‘I have not cheated you.
After all, you agreed to do a day's work for one silver coin.
 Now take your pay and go home.
I want to give this man who was hired last as much as I gave you. 
Don't I have the right to do as I wish with my own money?
Or are you jealous because I am generous?’

 And Jesus concluded,
“So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last.”