Is it Fair?
Matt 20:1-16 September 18, 2005
1"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3"About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5So they went.
"He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'
7" 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered.
"He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'
8"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'
9"The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'
13"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'
16"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
CCI: Grace is cause for celebration, not resentment because everything we have is Gift.
Intro: Of all of the stories Jesus told, this one seems the most unfair. Why would a group of workers who only worked an hour receive the same wage that those who worked 3 hours, 6 hours, 9 hours and 12 hours. It can not be argued, it is patently unfair. If an employer was to do that today the workers would react the same way they did in Jesus’ story.
We saw it happen in 1980. That is when President Jimmy Carter signed a bill giving two acres to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund to honor those who had served. After receiving the land, the Memorial Fund conducted a nationwide design contest. Architects and amateurs from all across the nation would submit entries. In the end 1421 individuals submitted entries. Many of these were men and women who had years of experience designing thought provoking structures. However, the winner, Maya Ying Lin, an undergraduate student at Yale was instructed to enter the VVMF design competition as a requirement for an architecture course. She had never even experienced the death of someone close to her. And yet, her design was chosen from all others. The National Parks Service website understates the reaction of others who had made entries when it says, “Many were surprised to discover that the winner was a 21-year-old Chinese-American woman.” The reality is many were incensed. “How dare they permit a student, a chinese-american student to design this memorial. Especially one who had never done anything like this before.” And yet the memorial has touched thousands of lives.
The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
We live in a society where we want to believe we will get what we deserve. The American dream and ideal is, if you work hard, do your best, you will get ahead. Stories of pennyless immigrants who work hard and become wealthy and powerful fill our national mythology. The idea that anyone who pays her dues can be successful is a dream that we pass from generation to generation. The stories of men like Arnold Schwartzenager and Herbert Hoover are presented as proof that any who apply themselves can get ahead. We have heard the story of Henny-Penny and her lazy friends and cheer her on when she turns away those lazy ones who want to eat her bread without having worked for it.
And so we work to try to earn everything. We earn good grades, we earn raises in our jobs, we earn our place in life. We even want to believe we earn our parents love. I even remember thinking as a child that if the last will be first and the first will be last, then I want to be sure I am at the end of the line, so I can be first when it really matters. Yes, we try to find ways around God’s clear teaching that first and last don’t count.
Our sense of fairness and the idea that we deserve what we get makes it very important that we encounter a story like this one. A story where the last moves up, not because they work hard and not even because they figured out the trick about being last, but because of the favor of the farm owner.
I have a colleague who is fond of saying, “95% of all I have ever had or will ever do is pure gift, and it is only my arrogance that takes credit for the other 5%. I was born to parents who valued education, I was given the chance to learn in the classes of great teachers, I did not have to quit school to work at age 12. I had friends who loved me enough to confront me about my alcoholism. Yes, it is all gift.”
And that is the message of this parable. Who you are, what you possess, and even what you achieve is a gift from God.
But so often we find ourselves in the position of the laborers who have worked 12 hours. We have put in our dues, we have labored in the hot sun, we have sacrificed for God and His church and suddenly, along comes someone who has lived the life of a reprobate, has never had time for the things of God, has even spoken against us. This person meets Jesus and then is welcomed into the family as a long lost son. We are happy for them, but it does not seem fair. And then hear the words of Jesus, “'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” And we often must say, “Yes, I am envious because you are generous.”
And yet it is only the generosity of God that makes it possible for any of us to even approach his throne. In God’s economy it is not about being first, or being last, it is about God’s gift.
Denise Banderman, Hannibal, Missouri writes: In the spring of 2002, I left work early so I could have some uninterrupted study time before my final exam in the Youth Ministry class at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Missouri. When I got to class, everybody was doing their last-minute studying. The teacher came in and said he would review with us before the test. Most of his review came right from the study guide, but there were some things he was reviewing that I had never heard. When questioned about it, he said they were in the book and we were responsible for everything in the book. We couldn't argue with that.
Finally it was time to take the test. "Leave them face down on the desk until everyone has one, and I'll tell you to start," our professor, Dr. Tom Hufty, instructed.
When we turned them over, to my astonishment every answer on the test was filled in. My name was even written on the exam in red ink. The bottom of the last page said: "This is the end of the exam. All the answers on your test are correct. You will receive an A on the final exam. The reason you passed the test is because the creator of the test took it for you. All the work you did in preparation for this test did not help you get the A. You have just experienced?grace."
Dr. Hufty then went around the room and asked each student individually, "What is your grade? Do you deserve the grade you are receiving? How much did all your studying for this exam help you achieve your final grade?"
Then he said, "Some things you learn from lectures, some things you learn from research, but some things you can only learn from experience. You've just experienced grace."
Now in that classroom there were some who had studied hard and thought it was unfair that the slackers got the same grade. But if we are part of the family of God, and we understand out family relationship, resentment goes out the window.
Robert De Moor, while reflecting on his childhood said, “Back in Ontario when the apples ripened, Mom would sit all seven of us down, Dad included, with pans and paring knives until the mountain of fruit was reduced to neat rows of filled canning jars. She never bothered keeping track of how many we did, though the younger ones undoubtedly proved more of a nuisance than a help: cut fingers, squabbles over who got which pan, apple core fights. But when the job was done, the reward for everyone was the same: the largest chocolate dipped cone money could buy.
A stickler might argue it wasn't quite fair since the older ones actually peeled apples. But I can't remember anyone complaining about it. A family understands it operates under a different set of norms than a courtroom. In fact, when the store ran out of ice cream and my younger brother had to make do with a Popsicle, we felt sorry for him despite his lack of productivity (he'd eaten all the apples he'd peeled that day--both of them). God wants all his children to enjoy the complete fullness of eternal life. No true child of God wants it any other way.
So today, I invite you to embrace the gift of grace and celebrate the gift of Grace in your life and in the lives of those around you. It is all gift and if the master wants to give the same to another, rejoice, not because you have worked for what you have, but because the gift is available to all.