Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-november-26
Matthew 20:1-16
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
It’s not uncommon to hear Christians say that the God we love and serve is a just God. But from my experience, what those people mean is that God is a God of judgement and punishment. In other words, what they’re saying is, “You’d better straighten up, or you’re going straight to hell.”
The problem with that way of thinking about God is that it makes our relationship with him dependent on our ability to earn his favor. We have to do that by obeying his commandments and doing good deeds. But the theology of the New Testament tells us that it’s impossible for us to be good enough deserve God’s favor. We’re told instead that we receive new life in Jesus as a gift of God’s grace. And as you might remember, grace is defined as the un-earned favor of God.
Today’s reading is a parable Jesus uses to illustrate the difference between the grace of God and our human idea of justice – or as we usually express it, fairness. Our default mindset is that the world should operate according to what’s fair.
In the parable, a vineyard owner goes out first thing in the morning to hire people to work on his grape harvest. Then he goes out again at noon and in the afternoon, and even at the end of the day, to hire all the workers he can find to help get his grapes harvested.
At the end of the day, the vineyard owner pays the workers, beginning with those hired last. Each gets a denarius, which was the standard daily wage for a blue-collar worker in the ancient world. Those workers hired at the end of the day were probably thrilled to get a full day’s wages, since they hadn’t worked a full day. But the ones who had been hired first thing in the morning are furious when they just get a denarius too. They get the same wage for a whole day that the last guys hired get for a couple of hours’ work.
From the perspective of fairness, this story makes no sense. (In fact, one modern expert in human resources management said it’s an example of atrocious Labor Relations practice.) But that’s probably just what Jesus intended.
It seems that he wants us to understand the vineyard owner in this parable to represent God. So Jesus seems to be making a point that flies in the face of our standard way of thinking: the truth is that God is not fair.
I can’t help thinking that Jesus knew perfectly well that his followers would have trouble wrapping our heads around the idea that God is unfair. I say that because there are other parables in which Jesus makes the same point about God being unfair. The other one that comes immediately to mind is the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
We’re taught as kids that the Parable of the Prodigal Son is about how willing God is to forgive us when we sin. But that, it seems, is only part of the story. When you look closely at that parable, if the prodigal son’s father had done the fair thing, he would have punished the boy when he came home – or at least made him be a servant to the rest of the family.
But that’s not what the prodigal son’s father did, is it? He didn’t do the fair thing. Instead, he threw a party. And the older brother hated it. He thought it wasn’t fair. And when that parable ends, the older son is standing in the road, refusing to go in to the party the father was throwing for his brother.
It seems to me that both of these parables challenge us to examine another of our default human ideas, which is that if God is fair, we will get into heaven. From the time we’re little kids we’re taught that if we’ll just be good, then we’ll get into heaven. And the typical idea of ‘being good’ we get as kids is a pretty low bar, isn’t it? Don’t be any worse than the average person. Go to church once in a while. And if you meet that standard, you’re in – you’ll go to heaven.
But in Jesus, God says, it’s not enough not to murder someone, we can’t even let ourselves think violent thoughts. It’s not enough not to be sexually promiscuous, we can’t even look at someone for the purpose of lusting after them. It’s not enough to be good to the people we like – we have to be good to the people we don’t like. It’s not enough to forgive people once or twice – we have to forgive seventy-seven times. It’s not enough to be no worse than others. We have to be willing to sacrifice ourselves in service to the kingdom of God, and to other people.
So when we really face up to what God is asking of us, when we really hold ourselves up to the standard of Jesus, a very unsettling realization strikes us:
If God is really fair, we’re not going to heaven.
But if you really think about the point Jesus is making, this Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard becomes a story of very good news. Because what Jesus is telling us in this parable is that God is unfair – but that God is unfair in our favor! God doesn’t give us what we deserve; he gives us more than we deserve. God gives us his un-earned favor. God give us new life, not because it’s fair, but as a gift out his grace.
And of course, it has to be said that if we’ve been given new life as a gift out of God’s grace even though we don’t deserve it, then we have an obligation to extend grace to others, too. We don’t have the option of giving others only what they deserve. We’re obligated to extend them more favor – more patience and forgiveness and love – than they deserve. More than just what’s fair.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you that by your grace, you have offered us the gift of faith and new life in Jesus. We thank you for giving us that great gift we do not deserve – for being unfair in our favor. Amen.
Blessings,
Henry
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