Life is Unfair

Matthew 20:1-16
Ordinary 25
September 20, 2020

The owner of the vineyard said, “Are you envious because I am generous?” The answer is yes.

Here is an annoying little story that never fails to create a reaction. The apparent lesson is that people are not rewarded for what they deserve. Some vineyard workers show up for an hour of work at the end of the day. They get paid the same as those who put in a hard day’s work. It’s simply not fair.

Now, I know there are protections for those who work. We might grumble, but we can expect it. The first time I pulled into a service station in New Jersey and tried to fill up the tank, the owner came out and yelled at me. “What do you think you’re doing? Put that nozzle back.” Somewhat stunned, I did as he commanded. Then he nodded at his worker who was paid to pump the gas. That’s the law in New Jersey. It preserves jobs.

We understand, even if we grumble. A good friend went to set up a display at a convention center in Manhattan. It was the night before a major trade show. He paid for premium parking, carried in poster boards, portable tables, all the sales materials. They stopped him before he could plug in the extension cord. That could only be done by a member of Local #3, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The union electrician plugged in the cord, and then sat on a folding chair for the rest of his shift. The bill was astronomical. It might have been fair, but it didn’t seem fair.

Labor relations often raise questions of fairness. What is a fair day’s work? What’s not? How much should the job pay?

Jesus tells about five different groups of workers, each punching the time clock at different moments. The first group is recruited at the crack of dawn. By six AM, they are on the job. The next group stood around the market for a 9:00 coffee break. The vineyard owner finds them and sends them off the fields, promising “whatever is fair.”

At noon, the owner returns to the market and lines up some more workers. Apparently, he has a really big vineyard. Either that, or he hasn’t planned very well. He does the same at 3:00, and again at 5:00 – an hour before quitting time on the farm. According to the story, they are idle, just standing around. The boss puts them to work. This vineyard owner is really something

So you can imagine the excitement when the whistle blows, and they call it a day. The owner says to his pay master, “Line them up, starting with the ones that I hired an hour ago.” They all line up, tuck in their shirts, and stand tall. At the front of the line, everyone is given $200 – for an hour’s work! Maybe that’s a mistake, but they don’t argue and get on their way. Behind them, the line begins to buzz.

The 3:00 workers are next. All lined up, excited, enthusiastic. Each of them is given $200 for three hours work. It’s disappointing, but that’s an exceptionally good wage for a few hours of picking grapes. So they don’t say anything, lest there be a problem, so they take their money and go.

Then it’s the noontime workers. The buzz in the line has subsided, but they are hopeful they will do better than the workers just dismissed. Imagine their confusion when each of them receives $200 for the half-day’s work, the same as the 3:00 and the 5:00 workers.

If the 9:00 a.m. workers and the full day workers are paying attention, they probably know what’s coming. Oh, when the payroll line began, when they saw each of the 5:00 workers receive two crisp hundred-dollar bills, they began to multiply the numbers in their heads. $200 for an hour, times twelve hours? This is going to be a really good day.

When they saw the 3:00 workers each receive two crisp hundred-dollar bills, they thought well of the vineyard boss. He was kindly offering a tip to the latecomers who helped at the last minute. It was a magnanimous gesture.

But when the noon-time workers each got their measly two hundred dollars, there was grumbling in the ranks. The result, of course, was inevitable. At least one of them murmured, “If this cheapskate comes around tomorrow, looking for workers, I’m going to hide until 5:00.” It just doesn’t seem fair. Nobody is getting what they deserve.

Now, most of us have eaten grapes, perhaps sipped a few, but probably never picked them for money. Nevertheless we know unfairness when we see it.

Some friends were discussing those gender-reveal parties that announce if the baby will be a boy or a girl. The context might have been that terrible disaster in California, when a couple prepared to launch blue or pink colored fireworks and ended up setting a forest on fire. “I have a better idea,” the woman said. “If you are going to announce a baby’s gender, give everybody an envelope with money in it. If it’s a boy, make it an envelope with a dollar in it. If it’s a girl, make it an envelope with 72 cents.”

We groaned – to think that in this day, there is still that kind of difference between the pay for a man and the pay for a woman. (God bless Ruth Bader Ginsburg for her life’s work in advocating for equality!)

There are inequities in life. You have your list, I have mine.

• I think of two of the most capable young adults I have ever known. Each was bitten by a tick, didn’t know it, contracted Lyme disease and a few other diseases, and their health has been debilitated. Not fair.

• I think of the woman unable to conceive a child for years. She went for surgery. They told her it was corrected. Now that she can conceive, she has been unable to carry a baby to full term. It’s unfair.

• The smartest man in my life was stricken with a disease that robbed him of his ability to process any thought. It was humiliating for him. That was not fair.

• High school seniors were denied graduations due to the corona-virus. Third graders must watch their teachers on a computer for the same reason. The economy is shaken, and people have lost their jobs None of this is fair.

And yet – and you know in the parables of Jesus there is always a “yet” – unfairness is a matter of perspective. The 6:00 a.m. workers were in the right place at the right time. Same as the 9:00 workers, who had already enjoyed two cups of coffee before work. A lot of the good breaks in life are the result of another kind of unfairness. Ever think about that?

I do. My life has been charmed just because of when and where I was born. I was born white, raised as a male in a small town in America. My dad always had a good job. The family stayed intact. I attended good schools. My entire life has been full of encouragement from people who love me. Any one of those details could have gone another way.

I’m tempted to say, “I’m blessed.” But what could be said of those who haven’t received the advantages that I have? Shouldn’t they be blessed, too? Otherwise, all my privileges are unfair – and they have been received at the expense of those who really might have had a better life if they could have had just a little bit of all the goodness that I have taken for granted.

Now, if we confess any of this, we might have to swallow pretty hard. We might have to reconsider who we are and how we got to where we are. That’s hard work. But it is important work – even essential work.

Did you know that, back when Matthew wrote down this parable for his book, there was a major squabble in his church? Some of the Christians in his church had been there for a long time. Not only since 6:00 a.m., but for forty or fifty years. They were Jews who had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.

Into that vineyard, others had come – Gentiles, new believers. They had not put in their time. They didn’t now know the Bible. They held their worship bulletins upside down, didn’t know the difference between an introit and a benediction – and the Gospel announces they are equal with the rest. No difference between short-timers and old-timers, not so far as God is concerned. All are one in Christ.

Can’t you see the old-timers squirming? Can’t you hear them say, “Yeah, but…”? Can’t you feel the anxiety rising among the very-well-experienced when these newcomers come, not only with their energy and enthusiasm, but with the affirmation that also belong?

And to this, we hear the owner of the vineyard say, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

So I’m starting to think differently about this parable. Maybe the vineyard owner is onto something. For one thing, he did not rest until he got everybody working. If it weren’t for him, none of them would have gotten a job. If it weren’t for him, none of them would have gotten anything.

For another thing, he made it clear that he wanted every single one of his workers. They were there because he invited them. They were there because they were equally valuable to him. They all had a place in that vineyard.

So, is this story unfair? I suppose it is. The unfairness is rooted in the complete fairness of grace. That vineyard does not run on the seniority system. That vineyard does not reward for longer tenure. There are no advancement opportunities in that vineyard. All the kingdom of heaven offers is an invitation to work and completely equal benefits. That’s so fair that it doesn’t seem fair.

Just picture it: Grandma pulls a hot apple pie out of the oven. Three kids circle around. “Wait,” she says. “You all can have a big piece. Let it cool off a bit.” While it cools, she issues her plan: the oldest child will take a knife and cut the pie into pieces. The youngest will select the first piece, then the middle kid, and finally the biggest. “That’s not fair,” says the oldest. “I was here first.” But Grandma’s rule sticks.

Do you know what happens? Of course you do. The oldest kid gets out a laser-guided measuring stick, just to be sure little sister didn’t get one extra crumb more than he will. Those pie slices are exactly the same size. That’s what seems so unfair.

And yet it’s completely fair. In fact, it’s so fair that if it weren’t for Grandma, there wouldn’t be an apple pie. Which is to say, everybody gets even more than they deserve. That’s the good news.

Jesus gives us a parable that about giving up all comparisons. The vineyard is a place where we can’t say “this person has been here longer,” or “that person has been working harder.” There is no need to compare, contrast, or compete, because it will never get any of us a better position in God’s eyes. No, no. We are here because we are wanted. Let’s just leave it at that - and live in love and fairness, as if everybody here belongs.

(c) William G. Carter. All rights reserved.