19 Pentecost A, Proper 20, Sept. 21, 2008
St. James, Zanesville
Kathryn P. Clausen

Exodus 16:2-15
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45

“Unmerited Grace”

Sometimes the Gospels can be frustrating. But it is my job is to proclaim the gospel as it is written and to do my best to interpret it and try to show you how it works in your life. Some messages are easier than others, but I will never duck the issue by preaching on one of the other lessons if the gospel seems too difficult or harsh. This is one of those times. Jesus is telling a story that is puzzling and quixotic.

On the face of it, the landowner is being grossly unfair. He is paying the “Johnny-come-latelys” the same wage as the workers who toiled all day. It is a violation of the principle of “equal work for equal pay”. It is discrimination. The pay should fit the job and show no favorites. That is only fair. But this little story has a lot more to say about grace than it does about justice. And it carries a profoundly important message.

First of all, the workers were not cheated, were they? They agreed to a fair wage and were paid according to the promise. The landowner did not take anything from them to pay the others. Their problem was not what they were paid, it was what the others who only worked one hour were paid. They were making comparisons. It was a matter of relationships, not absolutes. The workers would have been perfectly happy if they had not known what the others received. The trouble started when they found out. I guess that is why we never publish people’s salaries. It just causes trouble in the ranks when people start comparing. “Joe is paid more than I am. But I have been here longer. Is there something wrong with my work? Is he the boss’s favorite? It isn’t fair.” Trouble in paradise. Best to keep it confidential. We are intensely competitive by nature, I guess. We always want to be better or do better than another. We are always comparing ourselves to other people. We must be bigger, faster, stronger, richer, smarter. You name it. Every word ends in “-er”. They are words of comparison. To say something is “good” is condemnation by faint praise. “Better” is progress. “Best” is the final goal, the top of the heap. For many people, their lives would seem empty if they didn’t have somebody or something external to compete with. Says a lot about our own sense of confidence and self-worth, doesn’t it? If we can’t compare favorably with someone else, we have no value at all. We exist only in relationship, not on our own.

In truth, it was no business of the workers what the others were paid. It wasn’t their money or their decision. If the landowner wished to pay them for a full day, that was his choice. They should have spent more time worrying about their own work rather than the others, but that is often easier said than done. I think we spend a lot of time and energy worrying about issues of injustice and inequity. For adolescents, it is a way of life. “It just isn’t fair. She got something I didn’t. You love her more than me.” The teen mantra. Parents know that isn’t true at all, but usually grow weary of explaining themselves and justifying their decisions. Besides which, a demand for explanation is actually a challenge to parental authority. Parents don’t need to explain their decisions to their children. They are the parent. The child is not. They will understand after they become parents themselves. Their decisions are made out of love, and love should not need to be justified.

The overriding message in this little story is not justice. The payment of the workers was not equal. It was, therefore, unjust. It was, however, generous and loving. To that extent, it was totally consistent with the message of the Gospels. Over and over again, Jesus turns the law upside down. He flies directly in the face of the Pharisaic view of law and justice which dominated their culture and their lives. They had rules and laws for everything, and justice was the prevailing moral value, over and above all else. But justice can easily be morphed into vengeance and retribution, and eye for an eye and all that. Perhaps it is not surprising that even today, peace in Jerusalem seems an impossible goal. It will be a thousand year war of retribution for the last act of retribution on back into the mists of history. Someday, perhaps somebody will break the cycle and call a truce. Forget justice. It never happens. Grant amnesty and forgiveness and start over.

Jesus did not advocate injustice. But what he did say that it should not be the prevailing cultural value. And divine Justice might not be what we expect anyway, not the primitive human version. Jesus told us that the greatest commandment was love, not justice. God does not treat everybody equally. Sometimes more is required of those who are capable of giving more. That is just the way it is. It may not be our way, but it is God’s way. And, as believers, we have to accept that.

If we spend all of our time and energy worrying and making judgments about what other people are doing, we are not looking after ourselves and our own actions. The workers in the vineyard were upset with the landowner, but they would get over it. They got their pay and no harm done. The sin would be if they became obsessed with making sure everything was equal to the extent that it ruled their lives. That would get in the way of their ability to love and forgive others, and that would separate them from God. That is the definition of sin.

The real message of this gospel story is actually about Grace, not justice. The definition of Grace is that it is God’s unmerited forgiveness and love for us, love that we don’t earn and don’t even necessarily deserve. It is unconditional.

The last may be first and the first may be last. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we can be confident of God’s unmerited love for us no matter what, good times and bad. I, for one, am thankful every day that we don’t get what we deserve. We get what God chooses to offer, and he chooses to offer Grace. Amen.