{"id":27137,"date":"2026-06-11T10:05:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27137"},"modified":"2026-06-11T10:05:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:05:32","slug":"embracing-the-divine-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27137","title":{"rendered":"Embracing The Divine Exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Phil Keaggy Find me in These Fields\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Joo_EuB_SaE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cac.org\/themes\/embracing-the-divine-exchange\/\">EMBRACING THE DIVINE EXCHANGE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Laborers in the Vineyard<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Thursday, June 11, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cac.org\/online-education\/the-divine-exchange\/\">The Divine Exchange<\/a>&nbsp;<em>course,<\/em>&nbsp;<em>Cynthia Bourgeault explores the parable of the laborers in the vineyard:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1\u201316) is a beautiful and much misunderstood story. There was a vineyard owner who wanted people working in his vineyard to get his crops harvested. He went out and contracted with laborers at sunrise for the usual daily wage. He went out again at nine and at noon. At three in the afternoon, he saw a bunch of guys hanging around and asked, \u201cWhy aren\u2019t you working, for God\u2019s sake?\u201d and they responded, \u201cBecause nobody asked us.\u201d He says, \u201cWell, you go into the vineyard as well.\u201d Finally, when it came time to settle accounts, he gave everybody the same amount of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This just drives the egoic consciousness nuts!\u00a0<em>I<\/em><strong><em>t\u2019s not fair<\/em>, everybody screeches, and it won\u2019t be, as long as we\u2019re using the egoic mind that operates out of separation and scarcity.<\/strong> It\u2019s going to tell us that the ones that got there first got a bum deal. This parable only \u201cworks\u201d when we understand that it\u2019s not about the vineyard owner getting his crops harvested. <strong>The vineyard, as it tends to be throughout Jesus\u2019s teaching, is a symbol of the relational field, the dynamic interactiveness of the kingdom of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever reason we may project onto the vineyard owner for bringing people in, what he actually states is that he\u2019s bringing people in because he can\u2019t stand to see them isolated and just sitting around on their own: \u201cYou too go into the vineyard.\u201d T<strong>he real fruit of this day is not a bunch of grapes getting harvested. It is human beings working together<\/strong>, doing something that\u2019s dignified. You can imagine the songs, the work, and all the things that happen when you\u2019re participating and engaged jointly in an activity. The idea of paying them the same simply invites people to put their attention on what the real proportions are. When \u201cmore and less\u201d are introduced into the equation at the end of the parable, we\u2019re just scattering our attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The bottom line is that everybody has enough.<\/strong> The ones that came in early thought the usual daily wage was fair. That\u2019s taken care of. <strong>The real fruit being generated<\/strong>, just like grapes turn into wine, <strong>was the work together<\/strong>. In these circumstances, i<strong>t\u2019s fermented and transformed into some fragrance of human interactivity and abundance that doesn\u2019t exist otherwise<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reading this parable against the backdrop of a relational field rather than individual competition, entirely different elements jump out. Without that relational field, you simply can\u2019t see where Jesus is going. Trying to understand it with your mind, you\u2019ll never get it because your mind will keep coming back to \u201cmore and less\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s not fair.\u201d It\u2019s not until you begin from the fullness of love, and the order and coherence that arise from it, that you can recognize what\u2019s being said and how radical it is<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We get the invitation to go into the vineyard, but it\u2019s only in stepping up, saying yes, and trusting the relational field that we\u2019re going to actually be participants in the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reference:<\/strong><br>Adapted from Cynthia Bourgeault, \u201cExchange in the Teachings of Jesus\u201d in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cac.org\/online-education\/the-divine-exchange\/\"><em><strong>The Divine Exchange: Living in Sacred Rhythm<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Center for Action and Contemplation, 2026).\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cac.org\/online-education\/the-divine-exchange\/\">Enroll now<\/a>\u00a0to explore Christian wisdom traditions in this self-paced online course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ray&#8217;s Thoughts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Luke 23: 39-43 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>39&nbsp;<\/sup>One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: \u201cAren\u2019t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>40&nbsp;<\/sup>But the other criminal rebuked him. \u201cDon\u2019t you fear God,\u201d he said, \u201csince you are under the same sentence?&nbsp;<sup>41&nbsp;<\/sup>We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>42&nbsp;<\/sup>Then he said, \u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.<sup>[<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Luke+23:33-43&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-25978b\">b<\/a>]<\/sup>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>43\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus answered him,\u00a0\u201cTruly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s fair about this?  This criminal has likely done whatever he wants his entire life without regard for his immortal soul, or any semblance of focus on being &#8220;good&#8221;? He likely has left a swath of relational carnage in his wake while pursuing his  path of pathological narcissistic hedonism. He clearly did not play by the &#8220;rules&#8221; and is on the cross as a consequence. So why does he get a get out of hell free card?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Could it be that he is invited by Jesus because for the first time in his miserable earthly existence he has been touched by the message to his heart, not to his head or &#8220;gut&#8221; or groin? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The &#8220;coherence of the fullness of Jesus&#8217; love&#8221;, as Cynthia shares in the writing above, adjusts our lense to help us understand the heart relationship is the thing and it is never too late to awaken&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EMBRACING THE DIVINE EXCHANGE The Laborers in the Vineyard Thursday, June 11, 2026 In&nbsp;The Divine Exchange&nbsp;course,&nbsp;Cynthia Bourgeault explores the parable of the laborers in the vineyard: The parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1\u201316) is a beautiful and much misunderstood story. There was a vineyard owner who wanted people working in his vineyard [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27137"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27137"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27147,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27137\/revisions\/27147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}