Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

The Shepherds of Israel

The word of the Lord came to me with these words:

“Son of man, speak on my behalf against the shepherds of Israel! Say to the shepherds on my behalf: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep?

But you feed on milk and wear wool, and you slaughter the fattest sheep. You haven’t taken care of the flock;

you haven’t strengthened the weak, cared for the sick, or bandaged the injured. You haven’t searched for the sheep that strayed or looked for the one that was lost. Instead, you ruled over them harshly and oppressed them.

They have scattered because of a lack of a shepherd and have become prey for wild animals.

My sheep wander over the mountains and high hills; when they are scattered across the land,no one cares about them or looks for them.

Hear, then, shepherds, what the Lord says:

As I live—word of the Lord—because my sheep have been prey for wild animals and have become their food due to a lack of shepherds, because the shepherds have not cared for my sheep.

After all, you, shepherds, have not bothered about them but fed yourselves instead of the flock, hear the word of the Lord.

This is what the Lord says: I will hold the shepherds accountable and reclaim my sheep from them. They will no longer tend my flock, nor will there be shepherdswho feed only themselves. I will rescue the flock from their mouths; they will no longerbe food for them.

Indeed, the Lord declares this: I, myself, will care for my sheep and watch over them.

This story sheds light on the kingdom of heaven: A landowner went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

He agreed to pay each worker the standard daily wage and sent them to his vineyard.

He went out again around nine in the morning, and seeing others idling in the town square,

he said to them, ‘You also go to my vineyard, and I will pay you what is right.’

So they went. The owner went out at midday and again at three in the afternoon, making the same offer both times.

Again, he went out at the last working hour—the eleventh—and saw others standing around. So he asked them, ‘Why do you stand idle all day?’

They replied, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ The master said, ‘Go and work in my vineyard.’

When evening arrived, the vineyard owner told his manager, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last and ending with the first.’

Those who had arrived to work at the eleventh hour came forward and each received a silver coin.

When it was the first person’s turn, they thought they would get more.

But they also received one silver coin. Upon receiving it, they began complaining about the landowner.

They said, ‘These last ones hardly worked an hour; yet you have treated them the same as us who have endured the heavy work of the day and the heat.’

The owner said to one of them, ‘Friend, I have not been unjust to you. Did we not agree on one silver coin per day?

So, take what is yours and leave. I want to give the last the same as I give to you.

Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what’s mine? Why are you jealous when I am kind?

So it will be: the last will be first, the first will be last.”