Matthew20:1-16 (Exodus 16:2-15)
It’sNot Fair
JamesSledge September18, 2011
Perhapsyou saw the news story a few weeks ago about a Youngstown man who filed alawsuit seeking a share in the lottery winnings of some of his co-workers. It seems this fellow has been part of poolwhere workers combined their money to buy lottery tickets, but he was out witha back injury the week the pool bought a ticket that was a $99 millionwinner. According to the lawsuit, themembers of the pool had an unwritten agreement that they covered for each otherwhen someone was not at work. But onemember of the pool insisted that it was a putup your money and you’re in, don’t and you’re not sort of setup.
Isaw a TV news story on this where a reporter asked people to comment on thelawsuit. Almost all those interviewedthought the fellow didn’t stand a chance in court. “Fair is fair,” onesaid. “He didn’t put anything in and sohe doesn’t deserve any of the winnings.”
Alot of us have strong feelings about things being fair and right. We know they often aren’t, but we want themto be, and so we react when we think someone is doing something patentlyunfair. I think the people in that newsstory thought the man suing his co-workers was trying to pull a fast one, tryingto get something that didn’t rightly belong to him. But I suspect if it could be proven that hisfriends had promised to cover for him while he was out of work and had thenlied about it, well then people would have a different view of things.
Whatis fair? What is the fair amount oftaxes that someone should pay? How muchmore can a CEO make compared to factory worker at the same company and it stillbe fair? What sort of punishment forcriminals is fair? Is it fair for acollege to consider that a student came from a disadvantaged home and schoolsystem in its admission standards? Is itfair when a wealthy person or a corporation is represented by teams of the bestattorneys in court while a poor person has to rely on a barely-out-of-law-school, public defender? What is fair?
Andis it fair for someone to work hard all day long at his job and then watchsomeone else who only worked one hour get paid the same as he does? That is the fairness question that seems tobe posed by the parable Jesus tells.
Isuppose the Matthew includes this parable in his gospel as a word to his Jewishcongregation made up of folks who have tried to follow the Law all their livesand have now embraced Jesus as their Jewish Messiah, but also a congregationthat is increasingly adding Johnny-come-lately Gentiles to its number. Like the parable of the prodigal son in Luke,this parable speaks to those who have tried to be faithful for the long hauland now find it difficult to celebrate with those who are latecomers.
ButI’m not sure this parable is really about fairness. Rather I think it is about an entirelydifferent sort of community, an entirely different sort of reality, somethingMatthew calls the kingdom of heaven, his very Jewish way of saying “kingdom ofGod.”
Thiskingdom has nothing to do with going to heaven. It is about an alternative to the empire of Rome and the ways of theworld. I think we sometimesmisunderstand Jesus when we assume he is talking about our getting into heavenrather than the ways of this alternative kingdom, this alternative world. And this world seems not to have books orbalance sheets.
Manyof you know that the scripture readings for each Sunday in our worship comefrom a lectionary, a list of readings for each Lord’s Day. The particular lectionary used byPresbyterians breaks from some older lectionaries in that it does not alwaystry to connect the Old Testament readings with those from the New. When we are not in a special season such asAdvent or Lent or Easter, our lectionary tries to read the Old Testament on itsown, with some continuity. And so overthe summer we’ve moved from Abraham to Jacob to Joseph and now to Moses and thestory of the Exodus from Egypt. Ourreading today about manna in the wilderness is not meant to comment on thegospel reading, but I think they have a great deal to do with one another.
Goduses Israel’s time in the wilderness to form them into a different sort ofpeople, a people who are meant to mediate God’s presence into the world. When they come into the land of promise, theyare supposed to live in a manner and construct a society that embodies what Goddesires for the world.
Oneof the lessons of wilderness is an absolute dependence on God. When God provides manna for the people, it isliterally “daily bread.” It is enoughfor today, and no more. Other than theexception of gathering a two day supply in preparation for the Sabbath, mannacannot be stockpiled. No one gets moremanna by burning the midnight oil. Noone has a freezer full of manna because she works harder than others. All have enough, but no one has more thanenough.
Thisis a very different world from the one Israel left behind in Egypt, and forthat matter the world we live in. InEgypt’s world and ours, there is not enough to go around, and so we must allstruggle to gain our share. And we mustdo more than that. We must accumulateextra so that we will be secure, so that we do not find ourselves wanting. We do not dare pray for daily bread and trustthat this will be enough. But in thewilderness, Israel must.
Theequality that comes from this mutual dependence on God is a radical one, andone that does not sit well with a human drive to take care of ourselves, toprovide for ourselves. We are proud ofbeing able to provide for ourselves and family, or perhaps embarrassed if wecannot do so. And I think some of ourconcerns about fairness arise from this.
Noticewhat those workers in the vineyard say when they raise the issue of beingtreated unfairly. “You have made them equal tous.”
Ina world of not enough, where we must struggle to secure our share, making equalsof those who do not struggle as hard as we do is a threat. But not so in the wilderness. Not so in God’s new dominion. Not so in a community shaped by love and dailybread.
Becausewe are familiar and comfortable living in our world, we are prone to think thatGod’s world is a lot like ours, only better. But Jesus says otherwise. God’skingdom is shaped by love, not competition. It is a place of abundance, not scarcity where I must secure my share,and in the process prevent others from having enough, precisely how developedcountries like ours relate to third world countries. No, the abundance of God’s kingdom features aradical neighborliness, a love that will not let another go without. It is a bit like a loving family, only withoutany of the baggage that sometimes comes with families.
Decadesago, I heard a story about a family whose second child was born with specialneeds. These special needs demanded agreat deal from the child’s parents, and her older sister began to feelneglected, even though her parents went out their way to not to do so. Children learn quickly the ways of ourworld. They realize that there is notenough to go around, and they had better struggle for their share. And so the older sister complained that itwasn’t fair that her little sister got all the love and attention.
Herparents listened to her. They madedoubly sure they were not neglecting her. They explained once more why they had to spend so much time with hersister. And then they showed hersomething about love. They lit a candleand said, “This is our love.” Thengiving her a candle they lit it saying, “We give our love to you, but our loveis still here. We give our love to yoursister,” lighting another candle, “and we still have just as much love left togive. We have more than enough love forboth of you.”
God’slove is exactly like that. And the worldGod imagines is built on love like that. Imagine an entire community, an entire world built on such afoundation… Maybe that’s why Jesus couldtalk about it only in parables.
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