19A Pentecost                                  Matthew 20:1-16                                  Sept. 21, 2008

Let me ask you, has life ever been unfair to you?
Have you ever done your very, very best, only to see someone else walk off with the blue ribbon?
Have you ever been the one who came to work early in the morning and turned off the lights at night only to see someone else get the promotion?
Have you ever seen a co-worker promoted because of charm or connections instead of hard work?

There are certain lessons in life we all need to learn and one of those lessons can be found in today’s readings and that is: Life is not fair.
And while we might struggle to hang onto the notion that life ought to be fair, we all know that it is not.
We know this because we see good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people.
We see some people labor for long hours in terrible working conditions and walk home with barely enough to make ends meet while others make hundreds of thousands of dollars with a simple phone call.
We see some who are physically fit and look after themselves die suddenly while others do terrible things to their bodies and neglect to care for themselves and they live to a ripe old age.
We have seen and know people who have had to foreclose on their homes with no help in sight and then we watch as institutions like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and a host of others get bailed out and the CEO’s walk away with golden parachutes.
And to all of these we can only say, it’s not fair!
So the sooner we get that lesson in grained in our thought process, the better. Right?

Much like the readings we had last week on forgiveness, this week we encounter yet another teaching of Jesus that we have a hard time accepting because we are a people who value fairness.
Fairness is a value we believe in.
We have been brought up with the understanding that no one should receive more than someone else, especially when they don’t deserve it.
We have been told time and time again as children, to play fair.
And by and large most of us do play fair and for that reason we get upset when others don’t and come out ahead or everything comes out equal, something that many find almost more appalling—the idea that equality is for everyone.

Apparently this notion of fairness is not limited to our time and culture.
Apparently the people who spent time with Jesus also had some issues with fairness and equality.

In this parable of the workers in the vineyard-Jesus tells a story that doesn’t seem fair.
This parable comes around in the lectionary every three years, and I have more or less gotten used to it—but it still has the potential to set my teeth on edge because when I read it there is still that little voice within me that wants to cry out—“it’s not fair!” and to be honest I expect better from God—I expect justice.
With that confession of mine out of the way, let’s look at the story again.

In the parable, the landowner –- God—hires five groups of people:
+ He hires one group early in the morning, and they work in the vineyard all day.
+ He hires the second group at 9:00 AM, and they work most of the day.
+ He hires the third group at noon, and they work half a day.
+ He hires the fourth group at 3:00 PM, and they work only a few hours.
+ And then he hires the last group at 5:00PM, and they work only an hour.

All of that is fine and good.
The grapes need to get harvested and the landowner has to do what he has to do.
And yet I can’t help but notice that the landowner seems more concerned for the people standing around the labor hall than about his grapes and maybe that ought to tell us something.
Maybe the landowner just wants everyone to have a job? And that’s OK, it is even admirable, if only more landowners or business owners could show that kind of concern.

But then we come to the hard part at the end of the day when it is time to paying the workers.
First, he starts with those hired last, the latecomers and he pays them the full days wage.
I suspect if I had shown up early and had worked all day in the hot sun I might have found this strange, but hey, it’s his money, besides, if they are getting paid a full day’s wage, that means I ought to get more since I have been here longer and worked harder, right?
It’s only fair.

But then we all know what happens—everyone ends up getting paid the same amount regardless how long or how hard each might have worked.
And that’s when the grumbling begins.
To be honest, I suspect Jesus toned down the potential rhetoric that took place outside the vineyard. I suspect the language might have been a bit more colorful and a bit more heated than what has been recorded, don’t you think?
It has been my observation; most labor/management negations are a bit more heated regardless of who is at the table.

At this point Jesus tells us that the landowner takes one of the grumblers aside and says, “Listen Pal, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?”

And here ends the lesson.
So what are we to make of this?
It seems to me such a story begs the question, why did Jesus tell it in the first place?
And, what does this story have to say to you and me?

Regarding the first question, Jesus was in the midst of a conflict with the community of faith.
As is the case with every conflict there were two groups of people.
There were those faithful Jewish people who had grown up in the faith, they followed the laws of the Torah, they worked faithfully for generations, who had in their mind, earned their way into the kingdom.

And then there were the Gentiles, the new kids on the block, who were recent converts to the faith.
And you know what, Jesus had the audacity to treat them the same.
In his eyes, it didn’t matter when they joined the community of faith.
They were treated equally and both groups were part of God’s kingdom.
But you know what happed?
The first group cried foul, they cried No fair!

In other words, God was going to give equal access—equal rights to everyone—Gentiles and Jews alike and for those Jew who were following Jesus they could not get over the fact that as Jews they had been God’s chosen people for centuries—since the time of Abraham.
And quite honestly, they were looking for something like a religious gated community—protected from the riff-raff—a place with no Gentiles.
But Jesus’ parable painted a different picture—a picture of God’s kingdom—not as a gated community—but a community with the gates unlocked and flung wide open to all who desired to enter.

As you can imagine, to some this was good news and to others it was terrible news.
And this leads us to the second question; what does this parable mean for us today?

Well, to begin with it means that each every one of us – each and every one of us who happens to be a Gentile (that is, not Jewish), this is good news.
It also means that our status with God is isn’t determined by the number of years we have been in relation with God or how many years we have served—or the offices we have held in church—or the money we have given—or anything else.
It means that we all come to God with empty hands.
It means that we are all dependant on God’s grace.
It means that the kingdom of God is not about fairness or being equal.
It’s not about being in first place.
It’s not about winning or getting what we deserve.
It’s not about the protestant work ethic.
No the kingdom of God is about grace—pure and simple.

Today’s parable is also about the generosity of God.
I say that because the landowner was generous to all the worker—even those whom he hired early.
Those crack of dawn workers didn’t have to stand around at the union hall all day, wondering if anyone would hire them—wondering where their next nickel was coming from—wondering if they would be able to put food on the table for their wife and kids.
Yes, the sweated all day in the hot sun, but they didn’t have to sweat whether their children would go hungry that night.
They started the day secure in the knowledge that they were employed—that they were earning money—that they would be able to provide for their families.

So hiring workers early in the day was a generous act.
It was a different kind of generosity than paying latecomers for a whole day’s work—but this landlord was generous to both groups.
And so this parable promises God will be generous to all of us.

I have to admit that while I might still struggle with this obsession with fairness, I really am grateful as well.
I am grateful because it teaches me that God makes it possible for me to be as happy and blessed as any great saint.
It tells me that God will be as generous with me as he will be with a missionary who devoted his or her lifetime to service in some hellhole of a mission field.

And that my friends, is good news!
It is good news for me and it is good news for each of you as well.

Earlier I said that I expected better things of God—that I expected justice.
Since I have already made one confession, I might as well make another—in my heart of hearts, I want justice for most people, but I want mercy for me.
And I want mercy for you too.

This parable promises that we will get mercy—that God will be generous rather than fair—that we will give you better than you deserve—and that he will give me better than I deserve.

And lastly—let’s make this perfectly clear—Jesus was not about fairness.
If you are still hanging onto the notion that life ought to be fair or that God ought to be fair—get over it!
Jesus was far more concerned with faithfulness than fairness.
Just as we have been blessed—God calls us to be a blessing to others.
We are not judged by our standing in the community or our achievements.
We are judged by our faithfulness.
Notice that those who were hired last went to work in the vineyard without any contract, without any promise of payment and without any benefits.
They were asked to go and they went.
They were rewarded not because of the number of hours they had worked or their skill level.
They were rewarded because of their faithfulness.

Life may not be fair.
And we might continue to struggle with that, but let us do so with the promise of God’s grace that is not earned, but something we respond to.
And we may still want justice—and that is well and good—but let us also hang on to the promise of God’s mercy, which we will all be in need of at the end of the day.
And lastly, as we may strive to be fair and just in all that we do—let us ever remain faithful to the One who promises to be faithful to each of us—the one who will be there to swing wide the gates of the kingdom when the day is done and the evening gently settles in anticipation of a new and better morning in the kingdom of God. Amen

Pastor Stephen P. Blenkush
Zion Lutheran Church
Milaca, MN

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