Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16
For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to
hire laborers for his vineyard. (2) After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily
wage, he sent them into his vineyard. (3) When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw
others standing idle in the marketplace; (4) and he said to them, 'You also go into the
vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. (5) Then he went out again
about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. (6) And about five o'clock he went
out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle
all day?' (7) They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also
go into the vineyard.' (8) When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his
manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then
going to the first.' (9) When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received
the usual daily wage. (10) Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more;
but each of them also received the usual daily wage. (11) And when they received it, they
grumbled against the landowner, (12) saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you
have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'
(13) But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree
with me for the usual daily wage? (14) Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give
to this last the same as I give to you. (15) Am I not allowed to do what I choose with
what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' (16) So the last will be
first, and the first will be last.
- Matthew 20:1-16
Here's a confounding parable. We encounter a boss who pays fifty bucks to slackers who
show up for work just as the whistle blows. They arrive just in time to collect their
wages and go home. Then he pays workers who have toiled all day long in the hot sun the
same amount.
Call the AFL-CIO, the Bureau of Labor and the Better Business Bureau! This isn't fair!
Better yet, let's organize a picket! If there's anything we believe in this economy is
that you should pay someone fairly for the work they do, and if they don't do any work,
then they certainty don't get paid. When the workers who have slogged in the fields all
day long protest, the boss answers angrily, "Am I not allowed to do what I choose
with what belongs to me?" He sounds like Enron's Kenneth Lay, Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski
and a 19th Century robber baron rolled into one.
Then Jesus comes along and says, "The kingdom of heaven is compared to
this." What a confounding parable!
Paying the same wage for different hours of work may be the kingdom of God, but it
isn't fair and it's bad business. And it's a sure fire way to inspire a labor revolt. Some
workers get up before dawn, sweat all day in the hot sun, get dirt in their eyes, teeth
and everywhere else. At sundown, they trudge home exhausted for a measly fifty bucks.
Others arrive just as the western sun kisses the horizon and that cool mountain breeze
that comes down off the mountain feels so good. You put in an hour's worth of work, admire
the sunset and know its quitting time. You pick up your check for fifty smackers, head
home, sip a brew and know that life is good.
It's wrong, isn't it? Paying everyone the same regardless of how much work they do,
destroys the fabric of the economy. Fifty bucks for one hour and fifty bucks for twelve?
It destroys initiative. Sounds like something a liberal would dream up. It's bad business.
Of course, if this a parable about the kingdom of God, then it not only unfair and bad
business, it's also bad religion. Is there to be no reward for faithful service at the end
of life, when all the accounts are settled? Some of us have been a part of the church
since the day we were born and baptized. We taught Sunday school, pledged sacrificially,
served on every committee and board, persevered through some mighty church conflicts,
given and given and given, sung, prayed, and came back for more without complaining
(much), went through some real lulus as pastors, and you mean to say that some part timer
that shows up on Easter or Christmas is going to get the same amount as me? Is some
drunken skid-row addict that shows up for Jesus before he croaks going to get the same
reward as Mother Theresa, or say, me?
You know when you work hard and long, you should get more reward. You have that right.
So you hear this parable and you want to shake your first, knock on heaven's door and
scream, "It's unfair!" "God is unfair!"
It's one thing to have a parable about a boss that pays wages on a whim, making up
rules as he goes along, but if God is like that, then we're all dangling by a thread.
"God is sovereign over all the universe," we say, "but if this sovereignty
is capricious, arbitrary and fickle, then we're in deep trouble.
How many times has it been that we've wanted to demand of God, "Why did you let
these things happen?" Children abducted. Suicide bombers. Personal tragedies. But at
least God should be fair with us good church folk who work so hard and who lead decent
lives. When you hear this parable, you do want to know what the heck is going on. Are some
of us rewarded for what we do and other for what they don't do? Fifty dollars for one
hour? Fifty dollars for twelve? God, you don't play fair!
So we listen to the parable again, expecting an understanding and compassionate God
when we complain, and how does God answer? What does God say? "Take your lousy pay
and your lousy self and get out of here! Get out of the church!" That's what the boss
says in the parable. "Take what belongs to you and go!" We're dumfounded. Can
God be rejecting us? Can God be rejecting the very people who work so hard to gain God's
approval, for doing things right? And we try so hard. We work and sing and pledge and meet
and place our hard earned cash in the offering plate. We expect a little approval, a word
of thanksgiving, a little appreciation a little divine appreciation.
Instead we get scolded, "Take what's yours and get out!" "Get out of my
church!" We hear the words of the parable but don't understand.
Then, in a moment of insight, we begin to catch on. The boss in the parable speaks:
"'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily
wage, what you bargained for?" Bargained? All along we have thought that we could
somehow earn God's approval by working hard, by doing the right things, and then, in
return, we would get our reward, at least we would get to be understood and appreciated.
If we work harder, pray harder, do the right things and believe the right things, then we
ought to be rewarded with some inner peace. A bargain. Religion based on a bargain. So we
count up our virtues and we know our tally sheet looks pretty good, so we ought to get a
fair return on the bargain.
Well, no wonder we harbor our resentments against God and neighbor. If we have turned
our faith into a bargain with God, like all we have to do is scramble maniacally to get
the cosmic parent in the sky to like us, then we want God to treat everyone else fairly as
well. So we keep track of our hours and everyone else's as well. We look around at our
neighbors and say:
"At least I haven't made many serious mistakes."
"At least I spend some time with my family."
"At least I'm sober."
"At least I haven't had a divorce."
"At least I live in a better home and have a better degree."
"At least I'm not a racist or a homophobe like my neighbor."
"At least I'm not a sinner like them."
Because if salvation is something you earn, you gotta keep score. And everybody else
should have to earn it as well. That's the point, isn't it?
So if salvation is free, if getting right with God is free and all the malcontents and
riffraff and all the failures and rejects can get in free, show up late and do nothing,
where's the justice in that? Look, we've worked all day in the hot sun, while the others
show up and do nothing.
Yeah, they show up and do nothing. They bring their weaknesses and their failures and
their scared places. They bring their grief and their loneliness and their masks and their
deep aching need for love. We show up so vulnerable and needy and dependent, and upon
these people, our people, God builds the church. We are here because we wouldn't make it
if we weren't and to be here is pure gift.
Look, in God's world everything is grace. You can't earn it, deserve it, or win it. You
can't be moral enough to secure it. Grace is handed out freely to those with a broken
heart and a contrite spirit while the self-righteous who don't accept it take their pay
and go.
Listen. Do you earn God's love? Did you deserve the cross? Did God say to you, "My
goodness, look at all those good, wonderful, perfect church people. My, oh my, I think
I'll die for their sins."
No. God is love. God is gift. In God's world, grace is gift and always undeserved. In
God's kingdom, you work with joy, with wide open, wondering eyes, saying "thank
you" and living grateful lives, because you've been given life, itself.
And because you've been given your life back, you are grateful. To be grateful is
recognize the love of God in everything God has given us. And God has given us everything.
Every breath we draw is a gift of God's love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it
brings immense graces. Gratitude takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is
constantly awakening to new wonder. We know that amid all things, God is good and we are
grateful.
So what's the good of that? Well we do get paid a fair wage. We are paid with the gift
of inexhaustible love that never let's us go, both now and throughout eternity. That's a
pretty good deal. Amen.
