evil eye - Turning to God's Word

In the Gospel According to Matthew, Jesus tells a parable about a master who pays laborers the same wage whether they worked for the entire day or only a few hours at the end. This generosity causes those who worked the entire day to complain, leading the master in the Gospel According Matthew 20:15 (NABRE) to say: “Are you envious because I am generous?” This question is not at all a literal translation. A more literal translation is something like “Is your eye wicked because I am good?”

Additionally, it’s not generosity in God that causes the problem but rather goodness. This is a subtle but interesting choice. In material matters, God cannot be generous. For someone with an infinite amount, small and large are the same. From God’s point of view, this is not at all about the money but rather about fitting treatment of those who labor for him, and this is why the complaints of those first workers are so inappropriate. In squabbling over a relatively small amount of money, they question the very nature and goodness of God. This is the corruption of greed or envy. Jesus’ point is that in being overly concerned with material things, we can easily lose sight of what matters more.

you also may like our study of the book of Genesis
The first seven lessons of In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis, a 28-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, provide an in-depth look at the very earliest biblical history—including the two accounts of Creation, events surrounding the Fall of Adam and Eve, the relationship between Cain and Abel, and the baptismal foreshadowing present in the account of Noah and the Flood. Remaining lessons look at lives of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Click here to view a sample of the first lesson.

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