"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 the vineyard. When he went out at nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 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 at noon, and at three o'clock, he did the same. Around five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?' They replied, 'Because no one has hired us.' So he said, '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 at five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. So when the first to be hired came, they expected to receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 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.' He answered 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.
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There is a story of a man who sang in the church choir, who was embarrassed by the fact that his elderly father kept falling asleep during the sermon. He called his son, and asked him to give “gramps” a nudge every time he nodded off, and paid him $1.
Sunday came, the sermon started, and right on cue “gramps” nodded off. The little boy did nothing, just sat there.
After the service was finished, the father came down, and asked his son why he didn’t wake up “gramps”.
“That’s easy” said the boy, as he pulled out a five-dollar bill. “Gramps pays better!”
I remember when my kids were small - and I’d bake a cake or some dessert for dinner - measure each piece exactly, right down to the millimetre, and for sure one of them would say “He got a bigger piece than I did!!” No amount of showing and measuring would prove it different. I can still see the teary face and temper of my eldest son, accusing me of loving all the other three more than I loved him.
In the Exodus reading, we find the Israelites grumbling at Moses and Aaron, questioning God, claiming that they were better off as slaves back in Egypt than wandering along after Moses. They awake in the morning to find quail and a crystal edible substance on the sand which they called manna. While we now know that there are natural explanations for these things, for the Israelites, unfamiliar with desert life and the plants which did grow in the Sinai, it would surely seem like a miracle.
Read a little further in the story. When when the people went out to pick up the quail and manna, some greedy ones tried to squeeze extra into their baskets, somehow thinking they deserved more, and not thinking about whether or not any of the others would be cut short. And yet, when they sat down to eat, everyone had no more and no less than was needed, and they were not able to hold it over till the next day. They were given only enough for each day, all that they needed.
Imagine for a moment that we are some of those labourers in Jesus’ story, who didn’t get picked in the first call, or even the second or third. We are standing there, waiting, as person after person is picked for various jobs throughout the morning. The sun beats down on us, noon approaches, we take out our meager food, if we even have some. Every once in a while someone else gets picked, but as the day wears on, three o’clock comes, and we begin to think that we are going to have to return home tonight empty handed, to families who were depending on us. It’s a stubborn few that the landowner finds standing around at the hiring location at 5pm. And then, to our amazement we suddenly find ourselves being led to the landowner’s field with a promise of a wage. Hey, by this point, we are just happy to get anything, so we gladly set to work alongside those we haven’t seen since dawn. After an hour’s labor we are led to the person in charge of paying us our wages. Wait a minute, there must be some mistake. Did you get what I just got? A denarius? You too? Yes! But we all got the same thing. Is that fair?
Maybe we’ve experienced something like this at our own places of work. We’ve worked hard for our company for 15 or 20 years and have finally gotten a “decent” salary. Then suddenly, our employers decide to raise the starting salary for new hires; now, people who are just starting out in our department are making what we’ve worked years to achieve. When I started in ministry, I was earning almost a much as my father was earning as a minister when he retired. I remember Dad laughing about it - but it made me feel uncomfortable. ...and yet, if I am honest, I look at the salaries newcomers to ministry receive, or designated lay ministers - and I know they don’t have as much training as I have, or experience - and there is a part of me which feels it really isn’t fair.
Think about it. Every single one of the laborers waiting to be hired *needed* that denarius to support their families for the day. Without it children would have gone to bed hungry, necessities could not be bought, and worse, spirits would have been crushed. The landowner saw this and acted generously. The day laborers who had been working all day should have understood; without the grace of the landowner choosing them early in the day, they would have been in the same situation. Everyone got what they NEEDED. It was only the attitudes of the disgruntled workers that marred this occasion; they wanted more than they needed; so even though their needs were provided for, they were still comparing and insisting they should have got more.
What this parable calls out is our attitude to those who are poor, disenfranchised, less fortunate than we are. On my clergy discussion list, someone commented that people should just take responsibility for their own lives, rather than governments giving money for the poor. The question then is, how do the dirt-poor hillbillies in Kentucky or Tennessee “take responsibility” for their own lives - if their own federal government doesn’t know they exist, if they have no education, no way of providing for themselves. The poor black families in and around the outskirts of New Orleans - how are they supposed to take responsibility for themselves? How do those in the outport communities here, the small fishing communities, make ends meet? They are trying to be responsible.
Last December, outside the Royal Bank here in Corner Brook, I met a man who needed money. He had moved back here from Toronto, he said, hoping to find work - because finding work which paid enough in Toronto for someone like him was almost impossible. He had a place to live here in Corner Brook, but didn’t have enough money to get food. He was going to every single job training placement he was given, but there were no jobs. Here was a man *trying* to be responsible for his life, and almost beaten before he even started.
In this parable today, Jesus compares the realm of God to this man hiring labourers. Is this parable about what’s fair in our eyes, or about how God sees justice. Those people, particularly the ones who were hired last, were probably the ones nobody wanted. Maybe they seemed a little weaker, unable to do a full day’s work. Maybe some of them were physically disabled or mentally challenged. Being part of the realm of God means we might not get what’s “fair” in our eyes, but God gives us what we *need*.
We, in our arrogance, assume that we have all the things we have because we’ve worked our butts off; we develop a sense that we are entitled to have more than others, simply because we work hard. It also gives us that sense that if we were able to do it, others should be able to as well. Why should we offer them our help? Someone will pop up and say “God helps those who help themselves”. In fact, that statement isn’t even in the Bible at all; it originated in Aesop’s Fables. The Bible says the opposite - that God’s justice and mercy are *for* the helpless and poor. Remember the old notion of pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps, as if all it takes is determination and hard work, and the doors will open.
Two years ago, on a cruise, I got into a discussion with some Americans about socialised medicine - the kind of health care we have here in Canada. Most of the people at the table were in the health care system, and felt the changes were needed in for Americans. But there were two at the table who were against the new changes. People should be able to buy their own, or go without. When asked what they did for a living, they replied they had recently retired from the military. “Oh’, said one of the others “then you already *have* socialised medicine, paid for by the Government.” Needless to say the air was a little tense for awhile.
God does not give us what we want. God doesn’t give us what we expect. And thank goodness, God doesn’t make decisions based on what other people think is right. We must be reminded of the few words of the prayer of Jesus; Give us *this* day our bread, give us enough for today, forgive our bad behaviour, help us in times of trial. To this I would add the words of Hosea the prophet - God requires us to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
Today we have stories of God's complete, utter and total generosity to everyone. It is a perfect example of what we humans would call foolishness, and God calls reality. It is the kind of generosity that turns things on their head. It is the kind of justice and gratitude we are called to do and be, because that's what God shows us. Jesus is pointing out to us that as his followers, we are called to model and emulate the characteristics God models and emulates for us in the example of Jesus. The good news is that God is there with us along the way.
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