Matthew 20:1-16
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them,
‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them,
‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’
When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 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 worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
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?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Tim was one of our neighbors at St. John’s. He and his brother slept on our property most nights, usually under a bougainvillea bush. Tim was about my age, I think, hard to tell with folks who have lived on the streets for some years. He had a lip ring, dressed in baggy clothes, and walked with a limp. Most days I saw him panhandling at one of the major intersections near the church, holding a sign that said “anything helps, God Bless” in one hand and his cane in the other.
Tim never said much but he was always kind, thankful for the coffee I’d bring out, and the peanut butter from the food pantry. It was common for our neighbors to drift, spend a few days on our property and then be gone for a while. One day I realized I hadn’t seen Tim at all that week and wondered where he’d been. I walked around to find him, sure enough he was there. I asked him where he’d been. With more energy than I’d ever heard from him, he said, “I am great! I was working yesterday.” “Tim, thats wonderful! Where were you working?” “Oh just as a day laborer for a construction job”.
Immediately, I thought of this parable.
If there was ever a parable, a teaching of Jesus that was counterintuitive to our culture, insulting, that smacked in the face of what we teach in schools, at home, in the workplace, it would be this one. We get what we earn; that's only fair. Which is why this parable infuriates us. For most of us, I imagine we identify with the laborers who went into the vineyard first. You got up early, went into town before 6:00am and were off working shortly after agreeing to the usual daily wage. You’ve worked all day, endured the heat, plucked more grapes, pruned more vines, and then when it’s time to get paid, you’re a little frustrated that the people who came last get paid first and get paid the same amount you agreed to.. for a 12th of the work.
In your head, you start to do the math, “wow if she’s got that much, I’ll get 12x times that, it’ll only be fair”. Then to your absolute shock, you get whatever else got. And rather than rejoicing that these fellow laborers have what they need to feed their families for another day, you are outraged at them and the landowner; Never stopping to wonder why the folks were picked over in the first place or why they showed up later, you think “how could these people get the same pay?! They didn’t earn it, they didn’t work hard enough for it, they are not worthy of it”. And that sentiment, that feeling right there, is something we’ve all felt.
We question the worth of others all the time, from little things to big. “Well they don’t really deserve $15 an hour, it’s just fast food. If they aren’t working, why do they get medicaid? And why put that beautiful new park in that neighborhood, it’ll just get ruined”. We try to say what people are worthy and unworthy of all the time.
Yet here Jesus tells us that the way he works, the way God works is opposite to how our world works. God doesn’t give according to worthiness, but according to need. In fact it is because we are unworthy that God so freely, generously gives love and mercy and grace. But, surely I am not the only one who has thought, “but that person doesn’t deserve forgiveness. Or how can God love me and that person the same?! They didn’t earn grace like I have!”
And there's the point to this parable, to the kingdom of heaven, to the way God works in this world… you can’t earn any of it! God’s grace is not dependent on you earning it through good deeds, or working hard, or how many hours you clock in at church. Everyone, regardless of how long you’ve been a follower of Jesus, how much or how little you think you sin, or the doubts you carry, everyone is offered the same grace, the same daily wage, including people like Tim.
I asked Tim how his day at the site went. He said “it was really good, especially because I got paid for a full day even though I showed up more than two hours late”… At first, I couldn’t help but think that Tim didn’t deserve that full day’s pay; he was late, given his physical condition he couldn’t have moved mountains at the construction site. But then I thought about all that Tim had to go through just to arrive at the job.
After sleeping outside under a bush, Tim had to wake up extra early so he could limp his way down to the bus stop. Hopefully he had some peanut butter or canned fruit left from the pantry to eat before standing in the phoenix sun all day. Then he had to take who knows how many transfers and pray the lines were running on time. No wonder he was two hours late, in fact it’s really an achievement he was only two hours late. And then I saw the large cup of coffee he had gotten from the gas station, the food from the Walmart down the street (enough to share with his brother and the others in his group). Why was I so quick to judge Tim unworthy? And unworthy of what, food? A Hot cup of coffee? He may not have deserved a full day's pay, but he certainly needed it.
As I walked away, I was glad that the construction manager, whoever they were, decided to be generous and not fair; just like the landowner, and just like God
If the parable tells us anything, it's that God isn’t fair. And isn’t that the best news we could hear today? Instead of being fair, God is generous. You can’t be both. God does not give to us as we deserve, but according to our need; giving more than we could ever earn, not holding back because of mistakes we made, the doubts we hold, the judgment we’ve passed on others, nor anything else.
The same decision lies before each of us as individuals and as a congregation. We can be fair, giving to others only what they deserve or what they’ve earned of our time, our trust, our money. Or we can be generous, and give more than what’s expected, meeting the needs of our neighbors.
The choice is ours.
Amen.
