It's Just Not Fair

How many times do we hear that refrain?  From the cries of young children (and sometimes in more sophisticated forms, older folk as well) who are frustrated by not getting what they want, to a much more altruistic sense of injustice, the theme of fairness is often one that we regard as being well worth paying attention to.  But  whatever the particular mixture of self interest and genuine altruism seems to be in any given situation, this story, this week, sets the issue in an entirely different light.

Grace is like that.  And by allowing grace and generosity to frame the story differently, we find ourselves coming to conclusions that are shocking, challenging, and, perhaps, if we let the story have its way with us, transformative.

In his sermon, "It's Just Not Fair," Lou Venden led us in reflecting on this story that Jesus told which literally set conventional thinking "on its head," in some powerful and wonderful ways.  The passage from which he preached is to the right.  Questions to reflect upon further are below.  If you would like to listen to the sermon, click here.

Matthew 20:1-16 (TNIV)

    1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

    3 "About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5 So they went.

    "He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon 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 supervisor, '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 five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When 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? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don'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."

In what ways can you identify with the inner experience of the workers who labored all day long, and yet were paid no more than those who started much later?In what ways can you identify with the inner experience of the workers who came at the very end of the day, and wound up getting a full day's wage?How does you own sense of privilege or entitlement  influence the way you would experience such a story if you were living in the midst of it, or your understanding of it when you hear it told?

As you listen to the the owner of the vineyard and what he has to say to those who complained at the end of the day about their wages, and as you noticed how he treated those who came later, what  do you hear the most clearly?