PENTECOST +14
Matthew 20:1-16
I have a question for you about the scriptures. Who, in this parable of the workers in the vineyard, do you relate to? It’s a serious question, and I would like you to take a moment to think about it – do you relate to the worker hired on at first light, who then put in a full day’s labour for their usual daily wage? Are you the one who showed up late and was hired on at noon, expecting half a day’s wage and then getting a full one? What about the one hired at 5pm, with only one hour of work, who is then given a full day’s wage? Or maybe you relate to someone else. Whoever it is, WHY do you relate to that person?
And now, who is it in the story that you WANT to relate to? The worker who put in a full day’s work and grumbled about receiving the usual daily wage when others worked less and were paid the same? Or the manager who had to pay off the workers in equal amounts starting with those who had worked the least amount of time, in full view of those who had toiled all day? Or the worker who put in one hour and unexpectedly was gifted with a full day’s wage? (Some people actually think this is what clergy do – we work for an hour on Sundays and have the rest of the week off. Uh-hunh. Thank God none of YOU believe that fairy tale!)
So here’s my next question for you – why do you relate to that character from my first question, and why do you want to relate to that character in my second question? What do we actually KNOW about these people? What do we think we know about them? Well, we’ve all passed judgement on these folks, haven’t we? We’ve made an assessment based on incomplete facts. The workers hired at daybreak? Obviously they’re honest, hardworking folks. Those hired at noon? Probably had too much to drink at dinner last night and couldn’t quite get up on time, but at least they tried to work. The lazy so-and-so hired on at 5? Ugh, let’s not even GO near the lack of work ethic on THAT guy! Sadly, we all do this in our daily lives as well – the folks on EI are lazy, if people wanted a job they’d have a job, kids today just don’t know what it means to work, etc.
And yet, again we’re making assumptions and judgements without all the facts. We do not know what people’s situations are which are impacting their lives. The labourer hired at 9 may have been late to the line because he had to milk the goats to feed his family before coming to the marketplace to seek additional work. The man hired at 3 may have had to walk several miles on arthritic bones knowing that most employers would look him over anyway. The labourer hired at 5 may be battling some demon or is simply too old to be really effective in the fields all day. In this day and age, maybe the woman on EI has been trying daily to get a job but is found to be overeducated for menial tasks, maybe the squeegee kid was kicked out of home and has no other options if he wants to finish school, maybe the man’s demon is a mental illness. We just don’t know what people’s situations are, and yet we tend to cast judgements on them without trying to know them.
And it’s not fair.
It’s not fair to them, it’s not fair to us, it’s not fair to God.
A while back I heard a listener-submitted essay on the CBC about the unfairness of life. A Canadian woman has recognised that global society is not fair – she was born in a country and position of priviledge, which is unfair, yet she has made an effort to embrace the unfairness with justice. It reads:
“I remember growing up, as the eldest of three sisters, hearing the constant refrain of “That’s not fair!” if one of us felt that she was not being treated equally. My father’s reply to this was always “Well, life’s not fair.”
I have come to learn that he was right. Life isn’t fair. But also to believe that the world would be a better place if he had been wrong. I believe that around the world, wherever you go, people are people, with the same hopes and expectations, joys and sorrows, as people anywhere else, and that they should also have the same rights as people anywhere else.
I recently had the opportunity to spend three years volunteering as a physiotherapist at a hospital in rural Tanzania, East Africa. While I was there, I attended weddings and funerals; I sang and danced with my friends; I held a new-born baby, and held the hand of an elderly man who was dying. My friends taught me many lessons about the important things in life, including the value of family and community. But I saw again that life isn’t fair. What did I do to deserve the happy accident of birth that had me born into a relatively well-off family in a prosperous country like Canada, with the ability and opportunity to attend university; which led to a well-paying job and the chance to travel the world? My Tanzanian friends: Edither, Judy, Mambo, Taybebwa, Jenester, Christer, Kandaga, Jeska, Denis will never have these opportunities. Life isn’t fair.
But then I remember back to my sisters, and our insistence that we be treated equally. I believe that all people, no matter where they are in the world, are my brothers and my sisters. I feel the need to insist that we all be treated equally. Here, living in Canada, I can make my voice heard as I speak out about social justice. I do my part to work for a more equitable society here in my community of Thunder Bay. I raise awareness about international development and how each of us can play our part to work towards a more just world.
I believe in my heart that every individual around the world is born with inherent value, and should have the same rights as any other person in this world. I believe that we all have an obligation to do our part to make this world a fairer place for all."
We all have the opportunity to see the unfairness of the world, and to struggle for justice. We cannot make the world a fair place, but we can try to do our part to make it a just place. There is a difference – the landowner didn’t tell the labourers that he would pay them what was fair, he told them he would pay them what was right. And he did – he gave to everyone an equal wage for their efforts that day. Was it fair? Not really. Was it right? I would argue that it was.
We tend, from our position of privilege, to speak for wanting fairness but we seldom act in that direction. We in North America are profoundly privileged; we have the blessings of clean water, food, shelter, health care, education, the list goes on. And while we know that the majority of the world is nowhere near as fortunate as we are, we wouldn’t want to give up any of these things to try and reach that equality. Certainly we hope that everyone can have these things, so long as it doesn’t cost us anything – because that just wouldn’t be fair!
I see our society as being the day-long labourers. We claim we want fairness, but we don’t challenge the societal norms. These labourers have seen just but unfair behaviour as they watched their colleagues who worked fewer hours receive the same pay. They have lost nothing, but they have felt entitled to more based on what others received. And yet they don’t question the unjust structure in which they are working. The landowner has significantly more than all of the labourers combined, and even though he hired labourers (instead of working himself) they don’t expect him to do without. So the cry for fairness is not so much about a societal fairness, but their own individual gain. We in Canada also seldom question our structures, so long as we continue to benefit as individuals. It’s not fair – we have so much more than is just – but we’re okay with that.
Now, when we encounter the divine, our challenge is to remember that we are not being denied anything just because others are receiving the same as us. God’s love for us is NOT fair! It is not distributed fairly – it is not based on what we have done, or how well we have done it, or how long we have been Christian, or how many times we came to church, the list goes on. God’s love is given to us – to ALL of us – simply because we are willing to receive it. When we respond to God’s call, we benefit from his grace and generosity and compassion. Whether we have been part of God’s workers for all of our lives, whether we’ve come to know God late in life, whether our Christianity has been overt or more subtle, all God cares about is that we have come to Him. We cannot ever receive more love than God has to give us, but God will never give out less love, either. Our spiritual journeys are as individual and unique as our working journeys. God loves us all the same. And he will celebrate that love with each and every one of us, from the last to the first and back again. It’s not what we consider fair, but it is what is right.
And I don’t know about you, but if the kingdom of God really is like this vineyard, then that’s somewhere that I really want to work.
***CBC essay written by the delightful Kate Jones, who I am privileged to call a friend
