Matthew 20: 1-16
Years ago when I used to
direct Vacation Bible School this same principle – equal wages for equal work -
played itself out. At the end of
Vacation Bible School I liked to give the volunteers a small token of
appreciation for their help. Seemed like the nice thing to do. But as more people are in
the workplace there are less and less volunteers who can give an entire week to
help at VBS. So I had to make a grid of the teacher roster and it looked like a
patchwork quilt. It helped me determine “if it’s Tuesday it must be Carol in
the kindergarten class.” There
were a lot of creative, children loving volunteers.
Well I thought about what I
should give to the volunteers, usually it was a plant. Should the ones who could only help for
one day be given the same gift as the ones who were there to help for the
entire week? I tell you, I stewed
about this one for about a week.
Until it hit me. VBS needed
every single person, whether they could give a week or a day, Vacation Bible
School wouldn’t be able to happen unless each person were there giving of their
time and resources.
So I realized that fairness,
as we might see it, in my gift giving with volunteers was absolutely NOT the
issue. Having a good program with
happy volunteers was the issue! They all worked, they all received plants. Still,
I wanted parity, I thought the ones who worked 5 days should have gotten a bit
more than the ones who worked one day until I realized that I needn’t be such a
tight wad.
In
this parable of the laborers in the vineyard it is disconcerting to think that
those who work eight hours get the same wage, the exact same amount of money
and benefits and acceptance as those who work for only one hour. In our 21st practice of fair
labor it would be an outrage. It goes against all of the labor practices that
we are conditioned to expect, work for, and demand. And, if this parable were
about impartiality, and justice, and workplace equity, then it simply wouldn’t
be fair.
We try very hard to justify
God’s ways, God’s actions on our own human terms. But God’s ways are not our ways. God’s peace and love, and justice goes far beyond our human
capacity for understanding. Here
lies the tension and the grittiness of this parable. This is why it makes our hackles spike higher than Mount
Everest.
Systematically the landowners would come early in the
morning to the public square where commerce began early in the day. The day laborers, those living hand to
mouth, gather, at nine, at noon, at three and at five…they just keep coming out
in hopeful expectation for a little work so that they could feed their
families. Who doesn’t want to feed
their families?
The landowner also, systematically comes out to see who is
there, who is still waiting, hoping to land some honest work for the day. They were not just idly standing there
pounding down beer in the blazing heat.
The laborers were waiting there unemployed in anticipation that they
would be chosen for the next job. They. Needed. Work. And the finally get it.
The landowner comes through and gives the laborers what is
needed – work and wages only on his terms. Each laborer is provided for, there is enough work for all,
and enough wages for everyone, no one’s family will go hungry that day. They were given their daily bread. Isn’t that what we pray for in the
Lord’s Prayer? “Give US (all of
us) OUR daily bread”. Just enough for today, for everyone, so that no one has
to live with a growling stomach.
But still, the scent of unfairness permeates the air we
breathe right? Often in the situations
we find ourselves, perhaps like this scenario…..
I gave a good portion of my life caring for my father while
my sisters and brothers maintained their normal routines, their lives and when
he finally died they grieved as if they were alongside of him the whole
time. And then, to top it off, the
will named all four of us as equal beneficiaries of the estate. What’s fair
about that? Or…
I’ve worked here for 15 years and worked really hard to
receive $25 per hour and along comes this naïve, inexperienced worker and they
offer him $25 to start mind you, where’s the justice in that? That’s not fair.
If we take this parable literally then it just flat out
makes no sense as far as justice and fairness is concerned. It might even anger some of us
depending on where you place yourself in this parable. God doesn’t come off looking so good
here, God wouldn’t win a popularity contest with most of us probably because we
think of ourselves as the hard working laborers.
There are two absolutes here in this parable where Jesus
seeks to define a new world order for the kingdom of God. The first is that the landowner can do
what he wants to with what belongs to him. The second is that because he can do what he wants with what
belongs to him he claims the right to be generous with his holdings. He doesn’t give in to the kvetching of
the laborers who worked the entire day.
He has empathy for those who worked only one hour of the day, they, too
receive the grace and generosity of God.
We look for equity but find only generosity. Our ways and thoughts and actions are
not God’s ways and thoughts and actions.
Justice and grace just can’t be reconciled here. Justice we understand, we get
that. Grace well, that is as
elusive as can be. It is a part of the nature of God and God’s generosity often
violates our own sense of right and wrong. We’ll never know why God seems to act unjustly to some, why
the first that show up in line, that worked their tails off receive seemingly so
very little then those who show up at the very end and also receive a portion
of God’s love.
There will be times when others will receive a blessing and
you will not. Don’t be hurt. You are not diminished because someone
else is lavished upon. It does not
mean that God loves you any less than someone who got more than you. Get over it. God, our benevolent God is generous, and God meets us when
we are in need of being met, and where we are in need of being met.
God is consistent and systematic in pursing a vibrant
relationship with us. We come to the vineyard hungry and in need and without
fail are met by God who loves us, who knows us and who provides for our living.
Like the landowner God, who knows our needs, receives each one of us into the
vineyard to collect our sustenance for living. We are cared for, we are loved.
Why then should we grumble?
The Kingdom of heaven is like this.
Amen.
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