DOES GENEROSITY HAVE BOUNDARIES?
[I like to write
stories for these Young People’s Masses. So for my homily today I read Jesus’
story which we just heard about the man with the vineyard that grew grapes and
made great wine. I read it 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 times – trying to come up with a way
of telling the story in a metaphor – other than a vineyard – the image that
appears in today’s first reading from Isaiah 5:1-7 and today’s gospel Matthew
21:33-43. An “Uh oh!” sound hit me as I realized – besides coming up with a
different metaphor - this is a very difficult message to tackle. Jesus’ story
is a tough story – with a tough ending – and I’m supposed to have young people
in mind. Still I wanted to try – so here goes – here comes a story entitled,
“Does Generosity Have Boundaries?”]
Once upon a time a man and a woman had one son – and
their son was like every other son – a nice kid – at least - that’s what his mom and dad thought – and they
told him so – and each time he knew how
to say back to them, “I love you too – mom, dad.”
Mom and dad wished they had other kids – but they only
had this one son.
They thanked God for him and for the love they had for
each other – as well as for their health and so many everyday blessings.
Life went on – work, weekdays, weekends, vacations,
school – eating, sleeping – coughs and colds – flu shots – visiting cousins –
their parents – friends.
They had normal gadgets and gizmos – “What’s a gizmo?”
their son often asked. Yet - year after year after year - they still used a paper calendar in their
kitchen –– as well as magnets with notices and reminders on their kitchen
refrigerator door.
Sometimes they envied other families – spotting bigger families in church or restaurants – or at baseball, football or basketball games. They both came from larger families – so they wondered and worried at times – about their son – being an only child.
So they loved it when their son brought other kids over
to play in their back yard or house – or when their son was invited to play
with other kids at their homes.
Life goes on. Sometimes there are surprises – like roads
aren’t always straight – they have curves – and streets have around the
corners.
Surprise – a big, big surprise – happened when this mom
and dad hit the lottery. They hit the lottery big time. They were the only
winners – with the right numbers - in that particular Powerball lottery. They
won 221 million dollars. After taxes it was 164 million dollars.
Surprise. They didn’t move to a bigger house. They were
happy with the house and neighborhood they were in.
Surprise. Another surprise…. One day – this mom - got an
interesting idea. Behind their house there were no houses. But there were 10
empty lots – so they bought all 10 lots. On this land they had built a little
league field – which could also serve as a football field. Then thinking winter
and January and cold and snow - they had a big building put up. It had an
indoor basketball court – plus a swimming pool – plus pool tables – plus ping
pong tables - plus a bowling alley –
with 6 lanes - and with all their money - they were able to hire lifeguards,
referees, and bowling alley attendants – cleaner uppers – etc. etc. etc. And,
well, obviously, all the kids in the neighborhood could use the
facilities – free of charge.
Well the kids loved this mom and dad – as well as this
kid who was an only child kid. Kids and their parents aren’t stupid. They knew
a good deal when they were getting a great deal.
And having money – lots of money - – didn’t go to their head – or change their
personalities. They were sort of quiet people – but also thought to be nice
neighbors – before and after hitting the lottery.
And so – their son and all the neighbor kids - used this great sports complex 7 days a week – 365 days a year. Hey, it was free of charge.
Surprise – there was one little thing – there’s always at
least one thing – and this one thing embarrassed their son from time to time: they
named the sports complex after him – their only son.
Time moved on.
Their son – their only son – graduated from high school –
went off to college – far, far away. His choice surprised the – but they told
him – it’s your life. Go for it.
Since his mom and dad loved to see kids having the time
of their life in their sports complex – they kept it going all through the
years. It became part of the neighborhood and part of the town.
After college their son met a great gal – at his job – in
another city.
They got married – and had 6 kids – 3 girls and 3 boys.
And mom and dad – always wanting to have had a big family
themselves - were super happy to see their son and daughter-in-law so happy –
having such a nice big family.
Now every story – well most stories have at times a negative
twist or an ugly turn – like coming around a curb or corner – or over a hill -
and traffic is stopped - because of an
accident.
One Thanksgiving – when their son and daughter-in-law –
came to see mom and dad with all their kids– two of their girls went over to
the gym – to play basketball.
Ug – ugly – boo - bummer – the kids there not knowing who
the strangers were - wouldn’t let them into any games. They weren’t locals and
they didn’t want new comers hoarding in on their good deal.
The two girls waited their turn – but the locals still
wouldn’t let them into a game.
The same thing happened when they tried to bowl - play
pool – or play ping pong.
So without saying anything – or who they were - they went
back to their grandma and grandpa’s house.
Seeing their faces, grandpa said, “What happened?”
Not wanting to disappoint their grandparents, they said,
“Nothing grandma. Nothing grandpa….”
They knew how proud their grandparents were of the Sport’s Complex – named after their father. They had overheard from time to time – how someone upon hearing that this couple had won the lottery - would ask, “What did you do with the money?” And they would answer, ‘Oh we invested some of it – and we had built a great sports complex just behind our house – so kids could have a chance to play sports – all year round.”
Then they would add, “Oh – okay, we named the Sports Complex – after our son – our only son.”
Next: grandma and
grandpa – pushed – to try to find out why their two granddaughters seemed a bit
agitated and disappointed – after coming back from the field of dreams just on
the other side of their backyard.
One of their granddaughters finally said that the kids
over there didn’t like them and wouldn’t let them into any games.
“Whoa!” grandpa said.
Then he added, “Okay, go back over there and this time bring
your other sister and your three brothers. I’m sure they will respect all of
you – if you go as a family.”
Then he said, “I’m
sure they’ll get the message that if our family hadn’t had all this built and
attended to – all these years – they wouldn’t have such a great sporting
paradise for themselves. Fair is fair!”
All six went over – and went to the edge of the
basketball court – waiting their turn for the next game.
The same thing happened again – this time even worse.
Rejections happen.
It’s not just poor people who get looked down on; it’s
rich people as well – at times.
Sometimes when folks get something for nothing – they
don’t respect it – as much as if – they had to raise money and pay for it themselves.
The 6 then went to the ping pong and pool tables as well.
Still no luck – no respect. Nobody stopped to say, “Hey kids. It’s your turn to
play.”
So all 6 came back home to grandma’s and grandpa’s – kind
of dejected and kind of depressed.
Grandpa – was really disappointed.
So he went to his son – and told him what had happened.
Then he asked his son to go over and talk to any parents
over in the Sports Complex – and explain what their kids did to his kids.
He went over. He looked around. He spotted about 7
different small groups of adults - parents – here and there - around the
different places in the complex.
Without pushing who he was – and what his name was – he told
them what happened to his kids – and how disappointed and hurt they were – in
not being given a turn to play.
They said, “Mister. Whoever you are. Kids are kids. They
don’t know who your kids are. And they were there before your kids were there.”
It was then that he said, “My mom and dad built this
place years ago for all the kids around here – so fair is fair. They built it
so every kid could get a chance to enjoy playing together. I know I did when I
lived around here.”
A man said, “Wait a minute. In reality – this is our
place. We never see your mom and dad over here – so what’s your gripe? Just
because you have money – if your parents hadn’t won the lottery – you’d be like
the rest of us – so show us
some respect.”
At that he walked away and went back home to his mom and dad
and told them what had happened.
Does generosity and goodness have boundaries?
At that his mom and dad – became silent.
After his son and daughter-in-law and family left – his
mom and dad became even more silent.
Then they made a decision. “We’ll move. We’ll sell the whole kit and caboodle – and move on.” Their son once asked, “What’s a caboodle?” and neither mom or dad really knew what a caboodle was.
Well, that’s what they did. They sold the whole kit and caboodle
for millions and moved on. The land the sports complex was on had become prime
real estate – and from time to time developers came to them with offers. This
time they accepted a great offer.
And they moved to another state – closer to their son and
daughter-in-law and their kids.
They added – “We’ll do this again in another place – but
this time – we’ll hope – things will work about better – because we’ll be over
there volunteering more with the kids. This next time we’ll be more involved.
Happy ending to this story? For some, “No”.
Happy ending to this story? For
some “Yes”.
Generosity sometimes has boundaries – sometimes it
doesn’t.
