“Unfair Grace”
“Unfair Grace”
Matthew 20:1-16
Matthew 20:1-16
In the name of the Living God and the Risen Christ. Amen.
Totally Not Fair! — that’s a good summary of the first workers’ complaint against the landowner. They’ve worked all day in the hot sun, picking grapes, and these slackers arrive at the final hour, when the sun is almost set, and they get paid the same! What kind of landowner is this? Totally Not Fair!
You can look at this parable from a business model perspective, an HR perspective, a legal perspective, or from a 5th grade math perspective and you’ll get the same answer: Totally Not Fair! The only way this parable makes any sense is from a Kingdom of God perspective. It helps us understand the counterintuitive, offensive, even scandalous grace of God (c.f., Jeffrey A. Gibbs, Matthew, vol. II, p. 991).
Our world, our flesh, and the kingdom of the Evil One loves to look at others and compare and make judgments, followed by pronouncements. I’ve worked longer than they have, so I should get paid more. I’m more talented than she is, so I should have gotten the job. I’m better looking, so I should have been elected homecoming king. My OPS is higher than his, so I should have gotten the call-up to the Cubs. I’m nicer than she is. I pray more than he does. My Greek’s better than his. My life glorifies God way more than theirs… and on and on it goes. Totally Not Fair!
And the more we focus on each other and analyze ourselves in comparison with others, the more unfair just about everything seems. Why was I dealt this hand? Why did I have to lose my loved one at an unfair time, in an unfair way? Why am I asked to carry this deep pain from my past, when others seem to get off scot-free?
So you see, this parable is not really about the disciples, or ancient agrarian economic injustice. It’s certainly not a parable endorsing Marxism, although it’s been misinterpreted that way. It’s revealing something to us about the human condition and something about the unfairness of God’s grace. This means it’s about us, about you. Ever since Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Sarah and Hagar, Jacob and Esau, the eyes of all humanity have been fixated upon what others have or don’t have, or do or don’t do, or are given or not given, in comparison to me. The problem is, of course, there is no way out of this cycle: the more we stare at each other, the more points of comparison and complaint will emerge, the more unfairness we will find.
No human way out of this cycle, that is. Those that worked all day, and complained they got paid the same, had only one essential problem: they took their eyes off the gracious Lord. They turned away from their relationship with him, and fixated upon what others had or shouldn’t have had.
Think about it in this way: if each of those workers had only concentrated on what he had been given to do, and what the gracious Lord was paying him, there would have been no problems, and in fact, no parable at all. Those hired first: They are given honest work, which they need. They are given decent, good, even gracious pay for their work. They get to work in a vineyard, and participate in the making of wine, which is always nice (I’m sure everyone is over 21 in the parable). They are paid on time and are given just what they were promised. Those hired last? “Wow! What a gracious lord! He only needed us for an hour, but we got paid for the whole day. Amazing!”
But when those hired first turn their eyes off the gracious lord and start looking at others, that’s when they get into trouble. “Hey, those hired last, get paid the same as us?! Totally Not Fair!”
The problem is the same for us: when we take our eyes off our Lord, and how gracious he’s been to us, and instead evaluate our relationship with God based upon our perception of what others have been given, we’ll never be satisfied. Rather, Jesus’ words takes the community of faith and its members and places them all on the same level: completely covered in his grace alone (c.f. Gibbs, 991). All work because God calls them, all receive abundant grace regardless of their status or accomplishments, all will under his grace receive their equal eternal reward. That’s not fair exactly, but praise God that He isn’t fair. Let me ask it in this way: would you rather have him give you exactly what you deserve? Would you?
Dear friends, let us fix our eyes squarely on our gracious Lord, and all other comparisons and complaints and judgments will melt away. See Him only. He has loved you with an everlasting love; he has forgiven every sin and short-coming; he has poured out his grace upon you abundantly, in ways you don’t even know and can’t even understand. He died for you in Christ and suffered a horrible, pain-filled, shame-filled crucifixion for you. Let me ask you something: was this fair? And what’s more, he has even defeated death, the devil, and hell for you eternally. Isn’t this enough? Isn’t it enough to keep working in the vineyard without complaint or comparison? Enough to live a life before God in contentment?
Of course it is. Let this be enough. And so, let’s get back to work. Vineyard work. Let’s take our eyes off comparisons with others and focus only on what each of us has been given to do, what he’s given us, and the amazing ways our gracious Lord has blessed us. Totally not fair!
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen