It’s Not Fair!

"Now when the first came they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last only worked one hour, and you would have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat?' [The landowner said] 'Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?" Matthew 20:10-15

I remember a day when my son was in elementary school.  He came home in a fuss about the fact that his best friend got blamed and was punished for something that he didn’t do.  “It’s not fair!” David howled as he barged in through the door.  

We might have the same reaction to this parable.  Let’s face it.  I don’t see how we can be anything but scandalized by this parable. It runs absolutely counter to our convictions about fairness and justice. 

This parable knocks us off our feet!   What in the world is Jesus getting at here?  What does Jesus even mean by telling such a story?

You see, our problem with this parable is that we would like to think that the world operates, or should operate, on a value system of commensurate and proportionate reward received for effort given, especially when we feel we made a good effort and have been short-changed. Just look around at some of the industries in the past couple of years that have repeatedly gone back to their employees  asking for financial sacrifices to help corporations financially survive.  It gets to be a pretty sticky and convoluted business, especially when those at the lower end of the pecking perceive they are making a greater sacrifice than those at the higher end of the pecking order.  At that point people dig in their heels and in anger and protest say, “It’s not fair!”

As I alluded to last week in my sermon, it appears as if we, as a nation, are on the verge of a very public and national discussion about poverty in America.  It’s long overdue.  It’s a discussion that has been postponed and sidestepped for at least 20 years.  If Hurricane Katrina did any thing at all besides destruction of life and property, it’s forced that issue into the public forum.   Already I have heard the debate begin.  One voice says that everything from reconstruction of the Gulf Coast to addressing deeper issues of poverty must be done without raising taxes.  Another voice says that if taxes are not raised, especially on the rich, then the only way to pay for it is to cut the federal budget, which means cutting programs that mostly affect the poor with the end result being the poor end up paying the most and making the greatest sacrifices.  Another voice says that the private sector and the faith community must play a greater role, but certain voices in the private sector say that the resources needed are so great, and the problems of poverty run so deep and are so insidiously systemic the private sector and faith community cannot possibly get the job done.  What is interesting is that every one of these voices, and many more, all appeal to a sense of what is perceived to be fair and just from their perspective.   

You see, the reason we have hang-ups with this parable is that we think this parable is about us. We have a great deal of trouble with this parable because we insist that rewards be commensurate with effort given.  And if they are not, (and often they are not) and if we are at the short end of the stick, (and often we may be) we are disturbed. Most of us in this room this morning identify with the laborers who worked all day and got the same pay as those who worked only one hour.  And in the face of that reality, however it may express itself in life around us, we protest that “It is unfair.”

We may see a politician get away with something and we say, “If I were to do something like that, they would lock me up and throw away the key. It’s not fair”

Perhaps you’ve been passed over at work for the promotion and someone else got it; someone who in your mind, was much less deserving, and you do a slow burn muttering in a quiet rage, “It’s not fair.”

Back to New Orleans for a moment: I’ve heard numerous discussions the past week about the rebuilding of New Orleans, and the conversation inevitably comes around to how will it be financed; who will pay for it?  I’ve noticed many people are already beginning to feel a curious and uneasy internal conflict.  Out of a sense of compassion and decency people acknowledge that massive financial help is needed, but on the other hand some are saying, “But why should I have to pay for it?”    As one person said to me this week, “New Orleans was a mini welfare state anyway, why should my tax dollars go to rebuild that?  It’s not fair.”

A comment like that has the same tone to it as the disgruntled workers’ protests in the parable: “These last only worked one hour, and you would have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat?”  (It’s not fair!)

No it’s not.  It’s not fair – at least not by the standards commensurate reward we apply. 

As long as we insist upon bringing our ingrained standards of commensurate reward to this parable we are never going to even come close to appreciating what it’s about.  As long as we identify the most with the disgruntled workers in the parable, we are not capable of receiving or hearing the truth of this story.

You see, like the disgruntled workers, we are always trying to make everything be about us.  We try to make this parable about us, but it’s not about us; that’s the problem.  The only way we can even begin to approach this parable is to first throw away all of our preconceived notions about what is fair and not fair.  Second, we need to wipe away the idea that this parable is about us.  It’s not.  We are in it, yes.  But it’s not, first of all, about us.

I know that is hard to do because we always want to make everything be about us.  And we join a pretty esteemed cast of Biblical characters when we do: 

- Adam and Eve thought it was all about them; that they were smarter than God; but they were not.

- King Saul thought it was all about him; that he had god-like impunity; but he did not.

- King David thought it was all about him; that had godlike authority over who lives and who dies; but he did not.

- The Israelites thought it was all about them; that they possessed godlike exclusiveness; but they did not.

- Peter thought it was all about him; that he had godlike loyalty; but he did not.

- Saul of Tarsus thought it was all about him; that he had a godlike mission to wipe Christians off the face of the map; but he did not.

This is a parable, first of all, about God.  And the astounding truth this parable reveals is that God is out-of-control; God has gone berserk; God has gone completely over the edge - with grace.  Like a crazed lunatic God is dolling out grace indiscriminately, recklessly and foolishly all over the place!  There’s no score-keeping – no records – no rational accounting methods – no respectability – nothing – just a God who is out-of-control. 

You see, there is only one way to see this story as Good News.   This story is only Good News if we begin to see ourselves in the story, not as the disgruntled workers who are jealous because those who only worked one hour got the same wage so they felt gypped; but see ourselves as those last and least who were called upon to work only one hour in the vineyard and got a full days wage.   Only when we see ourselves in that role will the story cease to be about us and all about the lunatic landowner gone crazy with generosity. 

If you live your life as if everything is always about you, and you insist on hanging on to  commensurate reward as the measure for all things, then I just want to remind you, you are in trouble – in fact we are all in trouble. 

Paul reminds us in Romans that, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  “There is no one righteous, not one,” he says.  If you insist on dragging your holy standards of  commensurate reward into the throne room of God you are going to be in for a big surprise – and it won’t be a very positive one I assure you! 

But if you see yourself as among those who have done, for whatever reason, the least you also will be in for a big surprise – a glorious and wondrous surprise of the full day’s pay for way less than a full days work.  And amazingly, just like that, your focus will begin shift from everything always being about you, to everything being about God – the lunatic and out-of-control grace-giver – who by the way looks an awful lot like the Lord Jesus himself hanging on the cross, nailed there by your sins and mine, on his last croaking breath saying, of all the things he could have said, words of forgiveness and grace for his very executioners, “Father, forgive them.”

If you begin to see the story that way; and begin to internalize the story that way; this parable may even begin to affect the way you see and relate to those who are deemed the last and least in our community, nation and world today.  You may not even find yourself to be as upset when you perceive that one of the last and least has received that which they do not deserve.  In fact, you may even be shocked and surprised to find that you have become the giver. 

Amazing – Grace – It’s not fair!