September 18, 2011
More Bible Math
- Matthew 20:1-16
- Dr. Teri Thomas
A three year old cries to her mother,
“it is not fair, his ice cream is bigger than mine.”
A sixteen year old yells at his parents,
“It is not fair. All my friend’s parents are letting them go to the party.”
A 35 year old complains to her colleagues,
“It isn’t fair that I was passed over and he got that promotion.”
A sixty eight year old moans to his neighbor,
“It just isn’t fair that my retirement account has dwindled to almost nothing in this economy.”
It just isn’t fair. The unfairness of life strikes us all, at any age, in any circumstance.
It isn’t fair complain the Israelites to Moses, in Egypt we had meat to eat, we had all the bread we desired. We were never hungry. And now you brought us out here in the desert to die of starvation. It isn’t fair.
It isn’t fair, wail the workers in the vineyard. We worked all day in the hot sun. We are tired and sweaty and sore. Those other folks just showed up an hour ago. All they did was help clean up.
Why are they being paid the same? It isn’t fair.
This must be more of that Bible math. Remember last week when 70 X 7 did not equal 490.
Bible math.
It is the math that pays a worker $7.25 an hour for 12 hours –
$87 for the day.
But then the next worker is paid $7.25 per hour for 8 hours
and he gets $87.
The next one is paid $7.25 for four hours
and also gets $87.
Sure enough, the guy who worked one hour got $87.
This Bible math made some of the workers angry. Can you blame them? Anger is a pretty normal response when we believe we have been treated unfairly. We experience anger when others, who we perceive not to have worked as hard as we have, receive generosity and goodness in spite of their lack of efforts. When we speak of those who get something for nothing, those who live off our tax dollars, or those who beg for money on the street corner,
we are quick to condemn them for their lack of "work ethic."
What is maddening is that just when we think that we have figured out how to get ahead in the world, we find others not playing the game in the same way yet doing quite well. We, like the laborers, are indignant at their good fortune.
Jesus, however, does not condemn the laborers for their anger; instead he reminds them that all were treated according to the covenant established with them. Everyone received what they had initially been promised. Perhaps the Bible math is less about "fairness" and more about remaining faithful to the covenant.
But the parable Jesus tells also violates our sense of entitlement.
Consciously, or unconsciously, we believe that being a Christian,
a citizen of the United States, being educated, or some combination of these characteristics,
ought to entitle us to something.
If we are the first ones in line, the first workers in the field, the first members of the church,
we are entitled to some rights and privileges. Aren’t we?
But in this Bible math everyone is equal, all are claimed by God. We are all entitled to the same grace.
John Westerhoff was once invited to consult with teachers who worked in schools on Native American Reservations. The teachers all shared a common concern. Their students cheated.
The teachers had tried everything to get them to stop and could not. So Westerhoff went to the students and asked them why they kept copying off one another’s papers. The students were very clear-If one person in the tribe knows something he should tell everyone who doesn’t know it. If someone in the tribe doesn’t know something, he should go and find someone who knows to tell him. The teachers called it cheating. The students called it cooperation. We are all entitled to the same things.
But Jesus parable also picks up the sense of envy we experience when we realize that God’s mercy extends to the first and the last. We believe that the good fortune of others somehow jeopardizes what is left over for us. We believe that there may not be enough to go around;
those who do not "work for it" should not receive the same amount. We tend to define justice for those who have worked hard as rewards they deserve; and if people go without, it should be those who did not work.
The story of the laborers in the field reminds us of the unfairness of Bible math.
Or perhaps it would be better to say that the story suggests to us
that when we try to apply our rules and assumptions
to God’s grace and mercy, they don’t fit.
God’s reign does not seem to be logical. The judgments we make of what others deserve
is often less generous than God’s grace.
Indeed, this is the good news of the story: God’s grace and mercy
do not match our self-understandings or expectations.
We have difficulty celebrating a gift someone else receives. But this landowner is determined to provide for everyone. in this parable we have a landowner who does payroll with Bible math;
who is so generous that he seems reckless.
But that is from our perspective.
And don’t we usually identify with the full-day workers?
What if we read the story from a different point of view?
What if we read the story from the perspective of the last hired?
Is it still about what we deserve?
What if we are a neighbor, our daughter is getting married soon,
the landowner promised us some wine from this new harvest for the wedding? Do we care what the workers are paid?
What if we are a shopkeeper in town? One of those last hired has a running tab in our store he needs to pay off? How do we see this story?
What if we are the landowner? Our harvest is in and it is huge. Everything is done. The work is over. He is content and wants to rejoice. So he celebrates with generosity.
This parable, like many others in the New Testament,
doesn’t add up.
Fairness + entitlement + hard work should = God’s grace.
But instead it has to do with such things as covenant,
being claimed as God’s children, and grace sufficient for our need.
God’s grace and goodness is free and it cannot be divided.
We get it or we don’t. There are no fractions, no partial shares.
And there is a never ending supply.
The parable indicates that God intends to be gracious to all,
far more than any of us deserve or can imagine.
Jesus shows us that the freedom of God is far beyond our understanding and reason.
Generosity is the deepest characteristic of the holy and because we are made in God's image, generosity is the secret to our joy as well.
Life is not fair. Bible math is not fair. We don’t get what we deserve or even what we’ve earned.
Thank God.
We get what God gives us. And that would be everything. And that would be grace.
Thanks be to our generous God. Amen