9/28/2008                                                                  Matthew 20: 1-16

“God Isn’t Fair (Thank Goodness!)”

Rev. Jonathan Rumburg

Introduction

            “The last will be first and the first will be last.”  If only that were so when it came to the NFL standings!  Then, we Browns fans would be a lot happier. 

            But then again, if that were the case it wouldn’t be very fair, now would it?  I mean, after all, the Browns have not earned the right to be first. 

            You might be able to argue that they have earned the right to play some northeast Ohio Jr. High football squads, but they certainly haven’t earned the right to be first in the AFC North.  It just isn’t fair for a last place football team to suddenly be first.  (Oregon State took care of just such an injustice Thursday night.)

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            We’ve all heard it, and we’ve all said it.  “That’s not fair!” 

            And in response we’ve all heard it and I’d be willing to bet that every parent present today has said it—“Well life isn’t always fair.”  (If I had a dollar for every time I heard my mother say that to me…)

            Life isn’t fair, is it?  That’s what we’ve been taught since we were children, and that has pretty much been the party line ever since our parents first said it to us. 

            Perhaps you were one of the people in the late 1990’s who found yourself supervising college graduates who were making more money that you. 

            Perhaps you are a middle child (or oldest, or youngest) who thinks that your siblings get more than you do from your parents. 

            Perhaps you are worried that others are getting more from their retirement or government benefits than you are. 

            And we could go on and one because there are countless unfair situations and instances in our world. 

            We can spend a lot of time looking at all the unfairness of our world, and drive ourselves crazy doing so, so let’s just accept what our parents told us over and over—Life isn’t fair. 

            Is it fair that some people make more money because of their gender, even though a person of the opposite sex is doing the exact same job?  No.

            Is it fair that we the tax payers are having to bail out big companies who made poor choices?  No.

            Is it fair that after spending decades with a company a person is let go just before they retire?  No.

            Life isn’t fair, and the same is true when it comes to God, and we see that no more clearly than in our text from Matthew, a parable told by Jesus.  In this story Jesus tells, we see that our God isn’t fair.  And thank goodness for that.

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Move 1

            In Matthew’s community the actions of God, and the fairness of God, were under intense scrutiny.  The Jewish converts had been God’s children for a very long time, but there were new converts, Gentiles, who were just now coming on board.  Yet, by Jesus’ standards, all were to be welcomed into God’s kingdom, as equals.  How is that fair?

            How is it fair that those who have been faithful for their entire lives, and even for generations, are now seeing their same rights and benefits handed out to those who just signed up?  How is it fair that those who haven’t put in the time, the study, the prayer, the money, are getting the full rights and benefits of those who have!?  It’s not right.  It’s not just.  It isn’t fair.

            But this story, Jesus’ teaching, isn’t about being fair, or about having to earn God’s grace.  Rather it’s about how God’s grace works for us.  It’s about how God operates and functions in the world and in our lives.

            But that’s what was so hard for the people who heard this message.  And it’s hard for us today to accept it because how God works and thinks is in complete contrast to how our world works and thinks.  This story is about the kingdom of God and it’s a story of how the values and expectations of the world are turned upside down.

Move 2

            For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.”

            “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner.”  It’s an interesting comparison.  I would expect Jesus to say something more along the lines of “the Lord of heaven is like a landowner.”  But he doesn’t.  The individual person of this landowner is not compared to the individual person of God.  This one individual is like the entire kingdom of heaven.
            So what does that mean?  How can the kingdom of heaven be like an individual person?
            Here is a man with a thriving vineyard that requires the labor of many to succeed.  So he goes out in the early morning hours to find workers. 

            Imagine the men and women crowding into the town square at dawn hoping to find work.  They have families to feed and they are responsible individuals who have come out, at 6 a.m., the proper time, in hopes of earning a full day’s wage.  They’re willing to work a full day, because in working a full day they will make enough, just enough, to support their families.  These men and women are good, honest, hardworking people.  So the landowner hires them for the day and promises to pay them a fair wage.  
            But later the landowner goes back to the square, around nine o’clock, and hires everyone he sees.  Now, these people are getting a good break.  They might not make a full day’s wage, but they will get something.  Fair enough.
            But then our man goes out again at noon.  Now let’s be realistic here— Anyone still waiting around for work at noon probably was out carousing the night before and just woke up, or they are so weak and worthless that nobody was going to hire them.  These people are really lucky to get any work at all.  

            But our landowner doesn’t stop there.  He goes out again at three and then again at five.  Our landowner went to the public square five times in one day in search of workers and each time he went he brought back everyone who needed work.  Everyone.
            Now we all know that at the end of the parable he pays them all a full day’s wage regardless of how many hours they actually worked.  So the first thing we can say about our landowner is that this man is crazy and he will be bankrupt within one year if he continues operating in such an inefficient manner.  Maybe.  Ok, probably.  But that’s not the point of this parable.  The point is not about being fair.  The point is about generosity.

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            The workers first hired are upset by the generosity of the landowner, and they are pictured in our text as casting “the evil eye” upon the vineyard owner in an attempt to shame him into giving them more.  (I doubt they are interested in giving the others less.) 

            In the book, “A Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels”, the writers suggest that verse fifteen, which reads, “Are you envious because I am generous?” to read, “Is your evil eye because I wronged you?”

            We’ve all given that “evil eye” to people.  When someone cuts us off on the highway, we’ll speed ahead of them, and as we pass them, we’ll look over with that… well you know, that look, that evil eye that says, “Hey!  You just cut me off and now I’m so mad I’m giving you my evil eye.” 

            Which we all know will cause that driver to repent and profusely gesture their apologize.  We’ll they usually gesture something.

            Yep, we’ve all got an evil eye.  And we’re not afraid to use it. And neither were the workers afraid to use their evil eye on the landowner. 

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            Do we do that?  Do we cast an evil eye toward people when we see them receive something we feel they don’t deserve?  Do we cast feelings of judgment when someone gets something we know they didn’t earn?  Do we say, “Oh, that’s not fair!” when poor choices and unjust actions are done?  Of course we do.  That is human nature.  Well thank goodness it’s not God’s nature.

Move 3

            This parable isn’t about being fair.  It’s about being generous.  In this parable Jesus is painting a picture for us of a man who obviously isn’t hiring people because of what they can do for him, but because of what he can do for them.  This guy isn’t interested in squeezing as much out of his workers as he possibly can.  This is a man with a successful vineyard and he is sharing his wealth with anyone he can find.  In going out five times in one day, he is constantly looking for more people to bring into his work, not because of what he is going to get out of them, but because he has so much to give them.  

            So how is this like the kingdom of heaven?  Heaven is of such a nature that it wants all of us to be a part of it.  The kingdom of heaven is not opened or closed to anyone on the basis of merit.  It is just plain open to all and constantly seeking to grow.  The heavenly community that exists now does not want us to become a part of it someday because of what we have to offer, but because it has so much to offer us.
            Our landowner isn’t hiring people in order to use them, but because he has so much to give them, and he wants to share his wealth, the wealth of his vineyard, with anyone who will come and be a part of its harvest.  The landowner is truly a remarkable man, a heavenly man, whose primary motivation is to care and provide for the needs of everyone, not because they deserve it, or for what he can get out of the deal, but simply because he wants to give it.  

            Heaven is of such a nature that it wants all of us, all of humanity, to be a part of it.

Conclusion

            Life isn’t fair, and thank goodness, neither is God.

            Can you imagine how those who were given a full days wage at the last hour must had felt?  We have to believe that they knew their wage was undeserved, unearned and a wonderful gift from the owner.  The wage was a surprise, a wonderful delight, perhaps even a life saving gift. 

            There are Christians who feel that God’s generosity to them is unearned, undeserved, and they are surprised at the generosity of God.  Such Christians have the attitude that life has been a wonderful gift from God, just like the workers who came to work for only one hour and received a full days pay, and they live each day as if it were the gift that it is.

            But there are other religious people who were there at six o’clock in the morning and they worked all day long.  They were born into the Christian faith; they went to Sunday School; they were baptized into the Christian faith; they went to Youth Group; they served as a deacon, an usher, and elder; they sang in the church choir; they served on the church board; they came to church every Sunday, and they knew in their heart that God owed it to them. 

            Christians like that have the attitude that if anyone deserves to be blessed by God, they do.  They say, “God: I deserve your blessing.  I have earned your blessing because of my faithful behavior to you and the church throughout the years.”

            These are the Christians who will drive themselves crazy because they are trying to hold God to the standards of our world.

            Jesus said those who are last with an attitude of thanksgiving shall be first, and those who think they are first shall be last.

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            What did you do yesterday to deserve to be given the gift of life today?  

            What did you do yesterday that was so good that you deserved to live today?  To wake up, brush your teeth, have breakfast, see your family, come to church? 

            What did you do yesterday, on Saturday that you deserved to be alive on Sunday?

            The answer is simple.  We did nothing yesterday, or any other day, to deserve the gifts we receive.

            So let us this day, embrace the gifts we have been given, and not spend any more time or energy casting our evil eye toward God for God’s generosity.  For if we do, then we must cast our evil eye upon God for the blessings we ourselves have received.

            So it is with life and everything in life: Life isn’t fair.  And neither is God.  Thank goodness.  Amen.