Dr. D'Ambrosio on The Generosity of God

How fair is God? Dr. D'Ambrosio offers a convincing answer in his essay, The Generosity of God

He argues a persuasive thesis: Everything we have or enjoy ultimately comes from God; we owe him obedience to his commandment to love him with everything, and we often fail to do so. His reflection extrapolates this key lesson from this past Sunday's Gospel of Jesus' parable on the workers of the vineyard. Dr. D'Ambrosio observes:

The Pharisees thought that they had always done the will of God and deserved more than the rest, especially the rabble Jesus appeared to favor — including tax collectors and sinners. It roiled them to think that these Johnny-come-latelies would sit alongside them in the Kingdom of God.

Truth be told, neither they, nor any of us, are really like the folks who consistently did the will of the Master, working uninterruptedly at the assigned task. Our assigned job is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all of our strength (Dt 6:4-5) every day of our life. This is only fair since we owe God absolutely everything. But we’ve all unfairly walked off the job at various moments — thumbing our noses at Him through our disobedience, pride, and selfishness. Some have gone AWOL longer than others, and some’s sins are more spectacular than others. But the bottom line is that, in terms of strict justice, God does not owe any of us anything except, perhaps, punishment.

But in His extraordinary generosity, the Lord has offered us a deal — if we will accept His beloved Son in faith as Savior and Lord, and through the power of the Spirit seek to do His will, and if we will repent each time we fail, He will give us what we do not deserve — friendship with Him here that opens out to eternal glory hereafter. The first takers for this offer have typically been those most aware of their need for mercy. And this is why the last have usually been first when it comes to the Kingdom of God.

Seems fair to me.

Those of us least comfortable with mercy--and most likely to point fingers--hang our hats on justice. Our trouble begins when we fail to understand, as Dr. D'Ambrosio points out, that justice and generosity are not mutually exclusive. We would do far better to consider, in justice, how we've failed to fulfill God's expectations of our lives. Then we'll have the motivation to better appreciate and savor mercy. Who knows? We may actually live in gratitude and service after that! Funny, aren't those characteristics of Charity? Perish the thought!

Dr. D'Ambrosio helps provide clear insight to a scandalous Gospel. Like those grumbling workers, we often have loud opinions over who ought to get what. There's a better way to live. We owe it to God and ourselves to try it.