“Talk about unfairness!”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Matthew 20:1-16 (Forward, p. 59) CEV p. 1008
Today’s parable about the workers in the vineyard gets many people all riled up, and quite understandably. My father in particular, having been on the executive of a labour union, was upset with it. To him, it was manifestly unfair and unjust, to be paid the same amount regardless of the number of hours worked. “The latter workers simply hadn’t earned it. They didn’t deserve to receive the same wage as the first workers.”
Interestingly, the same dynamic, the same kind of thinking, can also permeate the church, especially when we, as old-timers and people who have borne the ‘the heat of the day’, see newcomers stepping up to the plate and working and receiving the acknowledgement and accolades that we feel are rightfully ours. It isn’t fair, we say.
But then, the point of the parable isn’t fairness or justice. It is about grace, which is totally undeserved and unearned. Grace spots the need, a need that the person is utterly uncapable of filling, and desires to meet it. The landowner knew perfectly well that the casual day-labourers who’d hung around the marketplace the entire day weren’t doing so because they were lazy or had nothing better to do with their time. He knew that they were still there—when they could have gone home—because they were desperate. Without that wage, not only would there be the shame of returning home empty-handed, there would also be a family that would have to go without at least for that night. Many day-labourers were that close to penury, that close to destitution, that every day’s wages were crucial and counted that much. And so, the landowner chose to give them a leg-up, some help where it was solely needed.
Sadly, all too often we begrudge the showing of this kind of generosity, this demonstration of grace, whether from God or elsewhere. We look down at someone who’s getting a hand-out and think, ‘why doesn’t that person just get off his duff and do some work?’ when we don’t actually know the whole picture. And, as for the matter of ‘deserving’, we figure that we deserve it while that ‘other person’ does not. But who are we to say that we deserve anything when so much that we have is determined simply by a fluke of birth or upbringing or education or location?
And as much as this is true materially, it is even truer when it comes to our spiritual blessings. Who among us really deserves the gracious love of God? Who among us has earned it? None of us. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. While we were yet sinners/ rebels God showed His love for us by dying for us. None of us deserve that.
And, in case we haven’t noticed, God also asks us to show that same graciousness, that generosity, to others—that we give to others when they don’t ‘deserve it’. And interestingly, though our politicians would never admit it—and many voters hate it—it is precisely that same ethic that underlies much of public policy, whether it has to do with the cost of postage stamps or regional equalization payments or disaster relief or Medicare or social services or taking in refugees. We have these policies in place not because they ‘deserve it’, or because it would bless us in some way, but because there is a need. And so we follow the example and teaching of our Lord, even though we might find it unsettling at times.
Forward notes: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (verse 16).
“Worshippers came 30 minutes early to occupy the front rows of the storefront mission church. Some were fervent worshippers, but all knew that after worship, they would be called first for lunch. When the service began, the church was packed, with dozens waiting outside. After the service, the pastor announced, ‘Today, the last will be first.’ She strode to the door and called the outsiders to eat first. Then she welcomed the worshippers in the back rows to eat. Those in front protested, ‘We were here first!’ My memory recalls her saying something like, ‘There is enough food for everyone; it won’t run out. Likewise, Jesus’s love for you never runs out, whether you are outside, inside, back, or front row. All who hunger and wait upon the Lord in this life will receive eternal life.”
“I have spent my life entrenched in the front row, privileged, called first. When I feel entitled, I am reminded that God doesn’t call us according to our row but by our hearts.”
Moving Forward: “Do you hunger and wait upon the Lord?”