Pentecost 17A
September 24, 2023
Matthew 20:1-16
INTRODUCTION:
Today’s readings address one of the most basic values of humanity: fairness. From as early as 9 months, humans demonstrate a sense of what is fair and what is not. In fact, even animals have a sense of this! And today’s readings will challenge your understanding of what is fair. In Jonah, we’ll hear the lesser-known part of the story – Jonah has already been eaten and burped back up by the large fish, and has preached his sermon about repentance to the people of Ninevah, and now is eager to see God’s retribution on their sinfulness. After all, they were just a bunch of Assyrians, Israel’s enemies, so they deserve punishment. But God changes God’s mind… and Jonah is not impressed!
The parable of the workers in the field definitely challenges our sensibilities about fairness, as people who worked one hour get paid the same as those who worked 12. But notice, Jesus doesn’t introduce the parable with, “This is how to run a business.” He says, “The kingdom of God is like this.”
In both stories we will see what it looks like, as Paul writes in Philippians, to “live a life worthy of the gospel” – and it might not look like our gut thinks it should! As you listen, notice how these stories make you feel – are they offensive to you? Do they make you feel a sense of justice, or frustration? Imagine yourself in the position of Jonah, of the 12-hour workers, and also, of the 1-hour workers. How do you experience the story in their shoes? Let’s listen.
[READ]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I have a love-hate relationship with today’s parable, about the workers in the vineyard. I love it because it is so rich, and where some of Jesus’ stories are a bit cryptic, this one is so easy to resonate with – which is why I also hate it! It is infuriating, and offensive! We are offended for the same reason that the early workers are offended: the landowner’s business practice rubs against our early-formed and deeply-held assumptions about fairness and justice. When we perceive something is unfair, we are quick to judge it so.
But it occurred to me this week, that while we are quick to fall back on our assumptions about fairness, we might not even realize we are doing it, might not recognize the assumptions we are bringing to the story. So today, I wanted to go through some of the ones that I realize I make when I read this story, and see if we might approach them instead with curiosity.
First assumption: I assume that the workers who came later in the day were lazy. They slept in, or they’ve been standing around gossiping all day, or they don’t have that go-getter attitude we Americans value so much. They should have been there earlier – what were they doing, after all? Once we’ve identified their fault, it is easy to judge them: they are lazy and thus undeserving of this gift. They are literally worth less than those who worked all day.
So. Let’s confront this assumption with some curiosity: Why were those people late? Maybe they had been looking for work all day and had been passed over because they were too small, too old, too sick, too dark, too light. Maybe they went from farm to farm, seeking work, but no one would hire them. Maybe they had children at home to care for, or sick relatives, or a leaky roof, or no bus-line near their home, or chronic fatigue syndrome, or severe depression. There could be any number of reasons they were standing “idle,” as the text says (though even this word carries some judgment doesn’t it? In the Greek it simply means “without work”).
But going a little deeper into breaking down the assumption… maybe the real question is not, “why were they late?” but, “Why does it matter why they weren’t there?” Would it make the story feel less offensive to us if we knew what a hard life these 11th hour workers had, how disparaged, and marginalized they were? If there’s a really good reason for their not looking for work earlier, does that make the story feel okay for us?
We just started a year-long focus on housing justice. Next week we’ll have a chance to learn about some of the causes, but here’s a fact to get you started: do you know the number one reason people are homeless in Rochester? It’s because they don’t have a home. Before we can get into any of the reasons or causes, we must start with the reality as it stands: they do not have a home. Just like the workers: what’s the reason they give for not being employed? “No one has employed us.” No judgment, just a fact about their reality. So, let’s take it from there.
Assumption #2: The landowner is a bad businessman. Well, I think we can all agree that this is likely true! Who would run a business like this? You can be sure, once word gets around, that people will be flocking to his vineyard to begin work at 5pm, work one hour, and get paid for twelve. He’ll run his business right into the ground with this way of operating!
And yet… the parable doesn’t begin, “This is the way to run a business.” It begins, “The kingdom of God is like this.” And in the kingdom of God, it isn’t about the landowner’s success. It’s not about the landowner’s need for workers – notice Jesus doesn’t say “he needed more workers” so he went out again. It says he went out, and he saw the unemployed workers. He may well have had no need at all for workers, yet he kept finding people in need of work, and so he gave them work. While this business approach would not thrive in a capitalist economy, God’s kingdom is not a capitalist economy! In God’s kingdom, faithful living is motivated by the needs of the less powerful. In God’s kingdom, God’s economy, the powerful – here, the landowner – go out in search of those in need, listen to what those needs are, and satisfy them, even over and above their own needs. Of course, we understand that in this parable the landowner is an analogy for God, who we know will always seek us out and provide for our needs. But it’s not such a bad thing to keep in mind when we find ourselves to be in the more powerful position as well: seek out the needs of the less powerful, and listen to them.
Third assumption, and this is a doozie: We assume that life should be fair. Or that we can make it fair. Oh, we know in our heads that this will never be the case, yet we still long in our hearts that it would be.
But this parable challenges not only that life could be fair, but whether fair should even the goal. You see, the landowner never claims to pay anyone what is “fair.” The first workers agree to the usual daily wage (which they get). The second wave of workers, he says he will pay them what is “right.” Not what is fair. And in this case, the landowner determines, what is right is what is compassionate and generous – not what is fair. Turns out, sometimes fairness isn’t the highest good.
This is an important reality check for followers of Christ, because my friends, I have to break something to you: grace – this wonderful gift of God that we all enjoy, around which we base our whole belief system – grace is, by definition, not fair. It is a gift that we do not deserve, and did nothing to earn. And yet God, through Christ, gives it to us anyway.
As I was working with Zach and Lena to prepare for their confirmation today, I said, “If there is one thing I want you to leave these years of confirmation knowing it is this: God loves you. God loves you. And there is nothing, nothing you can do or not do that will ever change that.” In a world in which someone is always judging us as having less value than someone else (and sometimes, we are the ones placing that judgment on ourselves), how important this is to remember: you are worth everything to God, you are beloved by God, no matter what.
That was the promise God made to Zach and to Lena at this very font, when they were baptized. And in a moment, they will stand before you and affirm that they want to continue living in that promise, and all that it implies for our lives. I hope that as they do, you, also, will remember that you stand in your own baptismal promises, that you, too, will never be out of the circle of God’s love.
After they are confirmed, we will all come to this table as we do each week. We will stand with hands outstretched, like workers being paid at the end of the day, waiting for our daily bread. And into each waiting hand will be placed the same size morsel of bread, the same swallow of wine. Each of us will receive our daily bread, whether this week you invited three new people to go to church, or you finally let that jerk at the office have what was coming to him, or you yelled at your kids, or you gave a huge gift to charity, or you managed to keep your mouth shut when you knew saying something would only make things worse, or you fell off the wagon – again – and have to start at square one in your recovery. No matter what you did or didn’t do this week, you will come before God and receive from Him what is right: enough grace to hold and sustain you – today and every day.
Let us pray… Recklessly gracious God, we long for life to be fair; and you give instead what is right and gracious, even when we do not deserve it and did not earn it. Help us to challenge our assumptions about other people, that we would err on the side of compassion and generosity. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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