Scriptures: Jonah 3:10-4:11; Matthew 20:1-16
Whenever I read this parable, I always think, “You know… that’s just not fair!” You bust your butt all day, do your work, then you get to see your reward. You earn it.
That’s the way the world works. That’s the way I was raised. It’s that good old fashioned mid-western work ethic. You work hard – you reap the benefits of those rewards. You don’t work hard… well, if life were fair, then everyone who doesn’t work as hard doesn’t get to reap the same benefits.
Right? That’s how we think it’s supposed to work.
However, Jesus’ parable about the workers in the vineyard stands this idea on its head. Those who have worked and toiled in the field all day receive exactly the same benefit and wage as those who were the Johnny-come-lately’s.
We resent the fact that there are those who receive exactly the same thing we do, but have done absolutely nothing to earn it.
Now, because this parable is paired with the Old Testament reading of Jonah, we immediately draw the conclusion that the laborers who are brought in late are similar to the Ninevites that are shown mercy. If that’s the case, the story naturally rubs us the wrong way.
After all, Ninevah was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. It was one of Israel’s most hated enemies. In fact, the Assyrians eventually destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
It was an empire that thrived off war and bloodlust. I’ve always said – the unbelievable part about the story of Jonah is not that he spent 3 days in the belly of the whale, but that every single person of the over 120,000 people in the capital of the Assyrian Empire repented!
And I think we all can identify with Jonah’s reaction to God’s gracious act of mercy in the Jonah story. He’s ticked off. He’s all, “I KNEW you would have compassion on them! I just knew it! Kill me now!” Jonah’s so angry at God showing mercy to people he feels don’t deserve it that he’d rather be dead than watch it happen.
In Jonah’s view – the sins of the Ninevites were so great, they did not deserve God’s grace and mercy. They deserved to be wiped off the planet. They deserved to receive the full brunt of God’s wrath and fury.
And really – I think a lot of us can identify with Jonah’s feelings… I mean really, it’s the equivalent of one of us walking up to a member of Al Qaeda or the Taliban and telling them, if you repent, God will wipe the slate clean. It’s a hard pill to swallow. It hardly seems just in our eyes. That what goes around comes around isn’t going to find its fulfillment. That the “one day, they’ll get what they deserve” may not come to pass.
But… that’s because we sometimes prefer to be the judge. To view the offenses of someone else as far worse than our own sin.
And… it forces us to ask the question, is God’s mercy and grace arbitrary? I receive forgiveness for my sins, but do others stand outside God’s grace and mercy just because they’re my enemy and I’ve decided that their sin is somehow worse than my own?
Is the fact that I like to buy inexpensive products that are produced by children in another country who are forced to work in a sweat shop and paid maybe a few pennies a day make me any less guilty than someone whose sin we are able to see right in front of our faces?
And let’s face it, our response – like Jonah’s and the day-laborers – is rooted in the breaking of the 10th commandment – in coveting what someone else is receiving. Being jealous of the fact that they didn’t have to toil and sweat and work as long as we have had to – and still get the same thing. That they can spend their lives doing horrible things, and God will still show them the exact same mercy and grace he shows us.
The scandal of the Christian faith is that the person who has lived a life of crime, violence, and judgment… is still just as deserving of God’s love and mercy as the person who has been a devoted follower of Christ their entire life – is out there feeding the hungry, helping their neighbor, coming to church every Sunday, leading Sunday school…
It’s scandalous – and quite frankly – we’re all pretty much like Jonah and those laborers who have been working all day. Knowing God is merciful even to those who have harmed us, to those who are our worst enemies, to those who haven’t earned their fair share… well, that really kinda ticks us off. We think God owes us something more for our devotion. We think God owes us something in addition to what everyone else gets because we’re the ones out there doing God’s work in the world.
Anyway – that’s one way in which we can view this parable.
The other view focuses on who these Johnny-come-lately workers are actually. Because of the pairing with the Jonah story, we naturally assume these are people who somehow shouldn’t deserve mercy and grace. That they’re horrible people. That they’re similar to the Ninevites.
Yet… if we look closely at this parable… we actually aren’t told anything about their character – only that they we were hired later than the ones who were hired earlier. We just immediately assume that they are less-deserving because they didn’t work as long.
We assume that these are the people sleeping in on Sunday mornings, not doing the ministries of God like everyone else, living it up – being lazy in their spiritual lives, and yet receive exactly the same benefits as those who have worked hard in their ministries, gone to worship every Sunday…
Yet the question that is worth asking is this: who would be sitting around all day waiting for work? Yes, perhaps the lazy and unmotivated… but if the job were offered, would the lazy person even bother taking it?
So it begs the question… What kind of people are the last to find jobs? What people are usually added to the rolls only when there’s no more labor available? Nothing suggests that those characters in the parable are irresponsible or lazy. More than likely, they are simply… unwanted.
In Jesus’ day that meant the weak, the infirm, possibly even the elderly. Those who have been in prison? Someone with a bad reputation? Those that society does not deem worthy or capable of putting in a full day’s work.
And let’s look at our own economy at the moment – how many are underemployed or unemployed at the moment? Is it because they’re lazy? Or is it simply because work is scarce? They could be college graduates who are loyal and capable – but the job market has just been slow.
The parable should make us ask the question – who is in need of what is right?
The worker who has been working all day most likely has a bit of job security. The worker who was hired to come in just for an hour, probably isn’t assured that there will be work for him tomorrow, too.
So is it not justice that the employer wants to help the unwanted, unemployed worker out who comes to the job a little later?
By hiring these other workers, the landowner has made a statement about their value and worth. That these previously unwanted and undesired workers are equal to the rest in his sight. He does not give them more than the other workers, he simply gives them equal pay. He treats them the same as everyone else.
This is the God we have come to know through Jesus. A God who shows an uncommon compassion toward to those who don’t have things so good – to those who have been the outcasts of society, who aren’t the first to be picked and chosen when there is work to be done.
Whichever way we interpret this parable – the conclusion we draw about God, however, is the same. We have a God of boundless compassion and mercy. We have a God who has mercy even on the worst possible sinners in our world – that no one – not even the blood-thirsty Assyrians – are ever beyond God’s ability to forgive and love. That even our worst enemy can be subject to God’s mercy and grace.
And we have a God who has mercy on those who stand outside society’s norms. The people we turn away, God brings in and elevates back to our level saying they are just as worthy of his compassion as we are.
Ultimately what this parable does is highlight our own flaws – our own feelings of jealousy. It highlights our own sinful desires to receive something “extra” because we do what we ought to be doing. That we should get something above and beyond what was promised, just because God chooses to give the same promise to someone else.
It highlights the fact that we are in just as much need of that compassion and grace as the workers who showed up at the last hour. That we really are no better than they are, and are no more deserving than they are.
If I were to want to change how this parable read… it wouldn’t be so that the workers who show up late don’t get equal pay, it would be so that it didn’t make me look so cheap. That it wouldn’t highlight my own sad inability to allow the benefits I so graciously receive to go to the people who need them more than I do.
Whenever I read this parable, I always think, “You know… that’s just not fair!” You bust your butt all day, do your work, then you get to see your reward. You earn it.
That’s the way the world works. That’s the way I was raised. It’s that good old fashioned mid-western work ethic. You work hard – you reap the benefits of those rewards. You don’t work hard… well, if life were fair, then everyone who doesn’t work as hard doesn’t get to reap the same benefits.
Right? That’s how we think it’s supposed to work.
However, Jesus’ parable about the workers in the vineyard stands this idea on its head. Those who have worked and toiled in the field all day receive exactly the same benefit and wage as those who were the Johnny-come-lately’s.
We resent the fact that there are those who receive exactly the same thing we do, but have done absolutely nothing to earn it.
Now, because this parable is paired with the Old Testament reading of Jonah, we immediately draw the conclusion that the laborers who are brought in late are similar to the Ninevites that are shown mercy. If that’s the case, the story naturally rubs us the wrong way.
After all, Ninevah was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. It was one of Israel’s most hated enemies. In fact, the Assyrians eventually destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
It was an empire that thrived off war and bloodlust. I’ve always said – the unbelievable part about the story of Jonah is not that he spent 3 days in the belly of the whale, but that every single person of the over 120,000 people in the capital of the Assyrian Empire repented!
And I think we all can identify with Jonah’s reaction to God’s gracious act of mercy in the Jonah story. He’s ticked off. He’s all, “I KNEW you would have compassion on them! I just knew it! Kill me now!” Jonah’s so angry at God showing mercy to people he feels don’t deserve it that he’d rather be dead than watch it happen.
In Jonah’s view – the sins of the Ninevites were so great, they did not deserve God’s grace and mercy. They deserved to be wiped off the planet. They deserved to receive the full brunt of God’s wrath and fury.
And really – I think a lot of us can identify with Jonah’s feelings… I mean really, it’s the equivalent of one of us walking up to a member of Al Qaeda or the Taliban and telling them, if you repent, God will wipe the slate clean. It’s a hard pill to swallow. It hardly seems just in our eyes. That what goes around comes around isn’t going to find its fulfillment. That the “one day, they’ll get what they deserve” may not come to pass.
But… that’s because we sometimes prefer to be the judge. To view the offenses of someone else as far worse than our own sin.
And… it forces us to ask the question, is God’s mercy and grace arbitrary? I receive forgiveness for my sins, but do others stand outside God’s grace and mercy just because they’re my enemy and I’ve decided that their sin is somehow worse than my own?
Is the fact that I like to buy inexpensive products that are produced by children in another country who are forced to work in a sweat shop and paid maybe a few pennies a day make me any less guilty than someone whose sin we are able to see right in front of our faces?
And let’s face it, our response – like Jonah’s and the day-laborers – is rooted in the breaking of the 10th commandment – in coveting what someone else is receiving. Being jealous of the fact that they didn’t have to toil and sweat and work as long as we have had to – and still get the same thing. That they can spend their lives doing horrible things, and God will still show them the exact same mercy and grace he shows us.
The scandal of the Christian faith is that the person who has lived a life of crime, violence, and judgment… is still just as deserving of God’s love and mercy as the person who has been a devoted follower of Christ their entire life – is out there feeding the hungry, helping their neighbor, coming to church every Sunday, leading Sunday school…
It’s scandalous – and quite frankly – we’re all pretty much like Jonah and those laborers who have been working all day. Knowing God is merciful even to those who have harmed us, to those who are our worst enemies, to those who haven’t earned their fair share… well, that really kinda ticks us off. We think God owes us something more for our devotion. We think God owes us something in addition to what everyone else gets because we’re the ones out there doing God’s work in the world.
Anyway – that’s one way in which we can view this parable.
The other view focuses on who these Johnny-come-lately workers are actually. Because of the pairing with the Jonah story, we naturally assume these are people who somehow shouldn’t deserve mercy and grace. That they’re horrible people. That they’re similar to the Ninevites.
Yet… if we look closely at this parable… we actually aren’t told anything about their character – only that they we were hired later than the ones who were hired earlier. We just immediately assume that they are less-deserving because they didn’t work as long.
We assume that these are the people sleeping in on Sunday mornings, not doing the ministries of God like everyone else, living it up – being lazy in their spiritual lives, and yet receive exactly the same benefits as those who have worked hard in their ministries, gone to worship every Sunday…
Yet the question that is worth asking is this: who would be sitting around all day waiting for work? Yes, perhaps the lazy and unmotivated… but if the job were offered, would the lazy person even bother taking it?
So it begs the question… What kind of people are the last to find jobs? What people are usually added to the rolls only when there’s no more labor available? Nothing suggests that those characters in the parable are irresponsible or lazy. More than likely, they are simply… unwanted.
In Jesus’ day that meant the weak, the infirm, possibly even the elderly. Those who have been in prison? Someone with a bad reputation? Those that society does not deem worthy or capable of putting in a full day’s work.
And let’s look at our own economy at the moment – how many are underemployed or unemployed at the moment? Is it because they’re lazy? Or is it simply because work is scarce? They could be college graduates who are loyal and capable – but the job market has just been slow.
The parable should make us ask the question – who is in need of what is right?
The worker who has been working all day most likely has a bit of job security. The worker who was hired to come in just for an hour, probably isn’t assured that there will be work for him tomorrow, too.
So is it not justice that the employer wants to help the unwanted, unemployed worker out who comes to the job a little later?
By hiring these other workers, the landowner has made a statement about their value and worth. That these previously unwanted and undesired workers are equal to the rest in his sight. He does not give them more than the other workers, he simply gives them equal pay. He treats them the same as everyone else.
This is the God we have come to know through Jesus. A God who shows an uncommon compassion toward to those who don’t have things so good – to those who have been the outcasts of society, who aren’t the first to be picked and chosen when there is work to be done.
Whichever way we interpret this parable – the conclusion we draw about God, however, is the same. We have a God of boundless compassion and mercy. We have a God who has mercy even on the worst possible sinners in our world – that no one – not even the blood-thirsty Assyrians – are ever beyond God’s ability to forgive and love. That even our worst enemy can be subject to God’s mercy and grace.
And we have a God who has mercy on those who stand outside society’s norms. The people we turn away, God brings in and elevates back to our level saying they are just as worthy of his compassion as we are.
Ultimately what this parable does is highlight our own flaws – our own feelings of jealousy. It highlights our own sinful desires to receive something “extra” because we do what we ought to be doing. That we should get something above and beyond what was promised, just because God chooses to give the same promise to someone else.
It highlights the fact that we are in just as much need of that compassion and grace as the workers who showed up at the last hour. That we really are no better than they are, and are no more deserving than they are.
If I were to want to change how this parable read… it wouldn’t be so that the workers who show up late don’t get equal pay, it would be so that it didn’t make me look so cheap. That it wouldn’t highlight my own sad inability to allow the benefits I so graciously receive to go to the people who need them more than I do.
I love this, Rebecca!! Not that I will this daily, but I get so annoyed when I hear people that have plenty say that people that don't have much don't deserve [fill in the blank]. We're all human and I think we all have "rights" to basic necessities like food, shelter, clothing, and yes even healthcare.
ReplyDeleteOf course, you know me, I think pets fall into this, tool. :)