THE MARKET PLACE OR THE VINEYARD

In the twentieth chapter of Matthew it is recorded that the Master. Christ Jesus, related a parable about a householder who owned a vineyard. Early in the morning the householder went out to hire laborers for the work. Having agreed with them for one penny, he sent them into his vineyard. During the day more help was required; so at the third, sixth, ninth, and even at the eleventh hour, he visited the market place and hired others, also promising them a fair and just recompense for their work.

At the close of the day all the hired men came for their wages, and each received a similar reward. This equality of recompense did not seem just to those who had worked many hours in the heat of the day. The Gospel records, "And when they had received it. they murmured against the good-man of the house, saying. These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day." Judged from a human standpoint this seems sound reasoning, but from a spiritual standpoint it was not so.

The vineyard of our Lord includes the true vine, the Christ, for did not the Master say (John 15: 1 ), "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman"? The Christ-consciousness expresses the "kingdom of heaven," which Mary Baker Eddy defines in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 590 ) as. "The reign of harmony in divine Science: the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme."

Called to serve God, one enters the realm of unerring and eternal and omnipotent Mind, wherein time yields to eternity in and finiteness to the infinite. There is one divine, eternal, and unerring Mind—God—in which, as ideas of God, we live, and move, and have our being. In this Mind there is equality of opportunity, perfect law, perfect justice, and complete satisfaction. All is governed by perfect and unerring Principle and its divine law.

The laborers who murmured against the husbandmen in the parable are typical of those today who have lost sight of the spiritual significance of life, who have allowed envy and self-pity to suggest that substance is material and temporal and that injustice exists. Christian Science shows that Spirit is the only substance—eternal, indivisible, and unexpendable—and that justice is an ever-present and immortal law.

The parable points to the fact that those who lose the true sense of substance as infinite and indivisible are those who forsake the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind and dwell in the market place of worldly thinking. We must continually watch that our thinking is not molded by mortal mind or lowered to accept as true any sense of lack, injustice, or inequity.

The parable points also to the need of continuous spiritual activity. Those who were idling in the market place believed no one required them. But this was not true. The householder of the vineyard was searching for more laborers to tend his vines. The divine demand to do so was imperative. At all hours of the day a call was sent forth. Some responded quickly, others apparently remained deaf to the call because they were sleeping and dreaming in the market place of material pain or pleasure. But even at the eleventh hour, some heard and obeyed.

One must be awake to the suggestion that his days of usefulness are over or that he is not required. If this is the viewpoint, then he has lost sight of Mrs. Eddy's admonition in Science and Health (p. 246 ): "Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof."

Whether we wake to the truth of spiritual existence in youth, maturity, or advanced years, this awakening will unfold the facts of Life eternal, which are not controlled by time or finiteness. A fresh, inspirational outlook expresses the vitality of the real man. It is ours now if we will cease to waste our time in the market place of mortal mind and wake up to obey the Father's call to work in His vineyard. We have ample opportunities to make our lives more productive and to spread the gospel of the healing Christ throughout the earth.

If we have been waiting and sleeping in the market place, it is up to us to be more alert and to listen. If we have been watching the sun recede and the shadows fall, it is imperative that we rise up and become active and alive to the glorious opportunities that God has given us.

The true vine, our consciousness of the Christ, must be loved, cherished, pruned, and watered. We must diligently cultivate the spiritual idea which takes form in Christian healing, until the mesmerism of mortal mind yields to the omnipresence of Spirit and we awake to realize that we are indeed God's image and likeness, working not in the dearth of mortal belief, but where the true vine, the Christ, is flourishing.

The market place of worldly ambitions, sensual pleasures, disagreement, distress, and iniquity must one day close down and become desolate. But before it does so we can respond to the call and be led into the vineyard of more spiritual interests. The gates of the kingdom of God are always open.

The call has come to rise up and work. The budding tendrils need upward guidance; the surplus growth—willfulness and personal ambition—needs to be pruned. The young fruit must be protected from marauding pests.

In the home, church, or business our work awaits us. As Christian Scientists we are obedient to the call of the Father, active in the truth, and diligent in expressing joy, courage, and confidence. This being so, we shall reap the reward of true substance, which is unexpendable, unfailing, and infinite. Moreover, we shall be able to trace the hand of divine justice in all our affairs and willingly trust God for our reward, because we have left the market place of mortal mind to work in the Father's vineyard.