The Divine Way of Thinking – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church and Missions, Burns, Oregon; September 20, 2026

My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.

Through the prophet, the Lord invites us to consider the difference between the divine and human way of thinking. Already this year, in the cycle of Sunday Gospels, the contrast between the divine and human way of thinking has been set before us in the person of Jesus Christ.

First, Jesus asks his Apostles about human opinion: Who do men say that the Son of man is? (Mt 16:13) The human answers all fell short of the truth because all saw him in comparison to the prophets. Then he asks the Apostles, Who do you say that I am? To which St. Peter replies, on behalf of them all: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Mt 16:15-16) Jesus confirms Peter’s answer as surpassing mere human opinion, attaining to the realm of divine thought: Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. (Mt 16:17) The divine thought reveals the truth of the man Jesus, that he is the Son of God; the divine thought reveals what is hidden to the human thought, that the Son of God has become man.

Then, Jesus takes another step in revealing the divine way of thinking when he announces that he would go to Jerusalem, suffer and be killed by the elders and high priests, and rise again from the dead. St. Peter, while accepting the divine thought of Jesus’ identity, is not willing to receive the divine thought of his work and mission; he seeks to dissuade Jesus from the way of the Cross, only to meet with his rebuke, You are not thinking as God does, but as men do. (Mt 16:23)

Now, the prophets who were identified with Jesus in human opinion all spoke in condemnation of human sin and injustice, while announcing the coming of God’s salvation – that last word, in Hebrew, is Yeshua. Human opinion loves the condemnation of injustice and looks forward to salvation not as mercy but as the wicked getting their just desserts, while the righteous – and the human thinker always counts himself in this category – enjoys the reward of the earthly paradise, life in this world without all the bad guys.

In a word, the human way of thinking focuses on justice here and now – certainly a good thing, so far as humanly possible – but the divine way of thinking, while it does not neglect justice, puts a premium on mercy. We want justice; there is evil in the world and we want the wrong doers brought to account. Yesterday.

We easily fail to consider that before God, we are all wrongdoers. He would spare us the judgment of condemnation, if only we would seek his mercy and be converted to him.  As I live says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. (Ex 33:11) That is the divine way of thinking.

There will be an accounting. At the end of his life each one will have to render an account before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10); at the end of time, when Christ comes in glory, he will make the judgment public before the whole universe; then perfect justice will be established forever. (Rev 20:11-14) We need to seek his mercy now that we might be able to stand before his judgment seat when the time comes.

I know a man who when he was 20 years old, went to a Catholic priest, said to the priest, “I have done evil.” The priest assured the young man that there was nothing he could have done that could put him beyond the realm of God’s mercy. The young man believed, was baptized, accepted God’s mercy, and his life was changed. Divine mercy is not a license to continue in sin, but a gift that gives an opportunity for a new life. Divine mercy would take the man who is standing idle all day and give him the opportunity to work.

The divine perspective helps us understand the parable in today’s Gospel. Here again, we are confronted with the contrast between the divine and human way of thinking.

Our human instinct tells us that those who worked the whole day should have been paid more than those who worked only the last hour. If this happened on any of the ranches around here, we might well agree with the workers of the first hour, “You have made them equal to us, and by doing so you do us an injustice. You may be free to be generous with what is yours, but the way you exercise your generosity insults us.”

Yet, when we move from the letter of the parable to its meaning in relation to God we can grasp that to be able to work in the Lord’s vineyard at all is a gift, a great gift. The workers of the first hour have failed to recognize what the workers of the last hour do recognize. The workers of the first hour see the work merely as a burden – we bore the day’s burden and the heat – an evil to be endured for the sake of the salary. They see no good in the vineyard or in their ability to work.

The Lord’s vineyard can be understood as either the created world or the Church. The work belongs first to God and we have been created to share in his work, collaborating with him in bringing it to completion. We might have an image of Eden as having been a place of all play and no work, but God put Adam in the garden to till and keep it. (cf. Gen 2:15) There was no opposition between work and play, for man was created to imitate divine wisdom, who speaking of his work in the creation of the world said, I was beside him [God] like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, playing before him always. (Pr 8:30-31)

It is only when Adam disobeyed God and was expelled from the garden that God said to him, Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. (Gen 3:17) Sin turned work into toil and set up the opposition between work and play. Through his death on the Cross, through his divine way of thinking, the Son of God made man, Jesus Christ, teaches us to see anew that the work in the vineyard is a gift; he teaches us to embrace the toil along with the gift; he teaches us to collaborate with God’s work in creation and redemption.

Our body was not made for idleness; when our body is idle, when we do not get enough exercise, we start having problems with our health. Yet, when it comes to bodily exercise, a work-out in the gym serves a purpose, but is not as worthwhile as plowing a field because in plowing a field a man goes beyond himself, renders a service to his neighbor and works with God, bringing the divine work to completion.

Neither was our mind made for idleness. When the mind is idle, the imagination runs wild – cyberspace opens the doors wide to the wild imagination – and the devil has a ball. We need to exercise our mind, to improve ourselves, serve others, and give glory to God. Mental exercise, however, should not be the pursuit of curiosity – to which cyberspace furnishes abundant opportunities – but should be ordered to the investigation of truth and meditation on the word of God, the fruit of which is placed at the service of others.

Neither was our spirit meant to be idle in the order of grace. The grace of God was given to us that we might turn to him in prayer, offer him our love and devotion, and rejoice to do his will.

We were not created to be idle, but we were created to enjoy the rest of the seventh day, which is rest in God.

That leads us to the usual daily wage; that expression translates a word that was hidden in last week’s Gospel under the much smaller amount that one servant owed to another; the usual daily wage is one denarius.

When Jesus was asked about paying taxes to Caesar, he asked to see a coin and they showed him a denarius, on which appeared the likeness and inscription of Caesar, the ruler. (cf. Mt 22:15-22) The Fathers of the Church were quick to recognize that as the likeness and inscription of the earthly ruler was found on the coin of the earthly realm, so the likeness and inscription of God, the ruler the whole created universe, is found on the human soul, created in his image.

Jesus, speaking of the proper use of earthly riches, makes the surprising comment, If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give that which is your own. (Lk 16:12) In other words, if you do not make right use of the goods of this world, if you do not work faithfully in the Lord’s vineyard, who will give to you possession of your own soul?

We will not have secure possession of our own soul, no longer subject to temptation and doubt, no longer to be swayed by the prosperity and adversity of this world, but fixed and secure in the possession of the good, until standing before the judgment seat of Christ we merit to hear his words, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master. (Mt 25:21, 23)

Then we will possess not just the likeness and image of God in our souls, but God himself, whom we shall see face to face. (1 Cor 13:12) Yet, already we partake of the one denarius every time we receive communion with faith and devotion.