School Year  2023-2024
                                             Grade 7

                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                    Religion Class

     Reminder: Religion Test on Thursday, September 28, 2023: Coverage: "The Creed"


                                



                                                                                                         

                                            Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                  The Workers in the Vineyard                                                                 

A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew                                                                                                    20:1–6A

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Focus Questions
1. In Jesus’ parable about the Kingdom of Heaven, why does the landowner go out at dawn?
2. What payment do the laborers at dawn agree on before they are sent to the vineyard?
3. Going down at nine o’clock, what does he tell the laborers he will give them if they work in his vineyards?
4. What does the landowner ask the ones standing around at five o’clock and how do they answer?
5. After receiving payment for their day’s work, why did the first laborers grumble against the landowner?
6. What does the landowner say to them in reply?
7. What does Jesus say the last and the first will be?
                                                                                                                                                               
Date Posted: September 19, 2023

Due Date: September 26, 2023

N.B.
Please submit your work to:  kcavaness@stjosepheo.com, rignacio@stjosepheo.com, to your parents and to yourself as well.  Two points deduction for each day of delay, and failure to submit  five days after due date will get  a zero.