Matthew 20:1-16
Imagining a New Reality
James Sledge September
24, 2017
I
was still in elementary school Elvis Presley’s movie career ended, but his
movies ran on television regularity when I was growing up, and I probably saw
most of them. I can’t say that I recall very much about them. Elvis didn’t
really make cinematic masterpieces, but there is one that made a bit of an
impression on me.
I
don’t remember the name of the movie or the larger story line, but I do
remember a court hearing where an unscrupulous child welfare worker tries to
take away the adopted children in an odd, extended family where Elvis is a adult
son. Most vividly I recall two, young, twin boys among these adopted children. I
didn’t remember their names, but thanks to the internet, I now know they were
Eddy and Teddy.
In
a recurring gag, these boys have to share a candy bar. I could have this
backwards, but we’ll say Eddy would always break the bar in half, but not
actually in half. One piece was always significantly larger. Naturally Teddy
noticed this inequity and complained about it. At which point Eddy would bite
the extra length off and hold the two pieces up again, satisfying Teddy that he
was now getting an equal share. Near the movie’s end, Teddy figures out he’s
being scammed. And during the court hearing, when Eddy pulls the trick yet
again, Teddy grabs the two pieces from him, bites off the extra length himself,
and hands one of the now equal parts back to Eddy, with the judge as an
astounded, sole observer.
Now
I have my doubts that any real child would have taken as long as Teddy to
figure things out. In my experience, issues of fairness are pretty high on
children’s radar from an early age. “That’s not fair,” is a common childhood
lament, and most parents have to deal with the “fairness” issue from time to
time.
Did you ever wonder why children become
so concerned over whether or not a sibling of friend got a bigger slice of cake
or a bit more ice cream? If I have a tasty slice of cake, why does it really
matter if anyone else’s slice is a little larger? Why is this a fairness issue?
People
often wonder about the fairness of today’s parable. The first workers do get
the wage they’ve been promised, but it is hard not to sympathize with them.
Having worked a long, hard day in the vineyard, they watched workers who hadn’t
even been at it long enough to break a sweat get paid the same as them.
I
suspect that the unfairness of this parable is magnified by our tendency to
hear Jesus literally, as though he were making suggestions about how companies
should pay employees. But he’s not, as a quick glance at the reasons for the
parable will show.
Just
prior to this parable, a rich young man had gone away grieving after Jesus told
him to sell all his possession, give the proceeds to the poor, and come and
follow Jesus as his disciple. After the man leaves, Jesus tells his disciples
how hard it is for a rich person to become part of God’s kingdom. “It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle…” says Jesus. This
astounds the disciples because, like many people, they think of wealth as a
blessing from God. But Jesus speaks of it as a curse.
Then
Peter says, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we
have.” Jesus assures them that those who have left everything to follow
him will be rewarded. Then he adds, “But many who are first will be last, and
the last will be first.” And then Jesus tells his parable.
Clearly
Jesus is letting his followers know that God’s new day does not operate by the
rules of the world. Answering God’s call does not put anyone at the front of
the line.
But
understanding parables is about more than realizing the situation the parable
addresses. It helps to understand the nature of parables. Parables are not the
biblical equivalent of fables, memorable stories communicating a moral or
lesson. Unlike fables, Jesus’ parables often turn the world upside down.
Walter
Brueggemann writes that Jesus’ parables are “revolutionary activities.” They “are
subversive reimaginings of reality.”[1] In
the “realities” created by human societies, there is not enough for everyone.
Scarcity is the norm, and so we must strive and be diligent, lest we find
ourselves without. This reality is so dominant, so unquestioned, that toddlers
have already picked it up and incorporated it into their worldview. And so
young children in homes overflowing with food of every sort, at no risk of ever
“going hungry,” are troubled when their slice of cake doesn’t measure up to
their sibling’s or friend’s.
And
we adults, many of us living in luxury the rest of the world can only dream of,
closets and garages and attics and storage lockers overflowing with consumer
goods we no longer use, still feel a twinge of need when we see the latest cell
phone, a bigger TV, our neighbor’s new car, a fancier kitchen, a new pair of
shoes, and on and on.
And
while it seems counter-intuitive, the wealthier we get and the more stuff we
have, the less generous we become. That may strike you as odd, but it actually
makes sense. As people acquire more and more, they typically buy more deeply
into that “reality” of scarcity, of not enough. And so deep, significant
generosity becomes difficult. It might leave one without enough to keep
acquiring more. Our slice of cake might get smaller than our neighbor’s.
But
Jesus’ parables imagine a world completely at odds with our “reality.” In the
new reality of God’s kingdom, God’s new commonwealth, our reality is exposed as
myth, the “myth of scarcity.” This myth denies that God is our good and
generous provider, that there is enough, that all neighbors matter as much as
we do, that abundant life is possible for all, and that we don’t need to get
ahead of anyone or worry about those who we deem less deserving.
This
myth of scarcity produces the world of anxious striving that most of us live in,
a world that, for many, feels like a tremendous weight, an unbearable burden. The
vicious consumer ism of our world leaves many longing for relief from never
being good enough or doing enough or having enough or producing enough. Many
long to be released, to find true rest, true sabbath.
Jesus
says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is
easy, and my burden is light.”
In
the new reality Jesus imagines and invites us to inhabit, in the dream of God’s
new day, we all are called; we all have work to do, but there is no need for
anxious striving. There is no need to be first. God’s abundance will provide in
this divine economy of grace, in this new reality rooted in love.
That
makes gospel faith incredibly counter-cultural, undermining the prevailing myth
of scarcity and calling people into a new reality. And so as the Church, we are
called to be a counter-cultural community that embodies this new reality for
the world, that invites the world to experience love and welcome and acceptance
and abundance and the freedom to be generous and true sabbath rest that are not
earned or deserved, but freely given in love.
In
God’s new reality, the last may be first and the first may be last, but all are
invited. All are welcome. Because all are loved by God, and Christ dreams of
that new day when all find their place in God’s beloved community.
[1]
Walter Brueggemann, “The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity,” an essay
in The Christian Century, March
24-31, 1999.
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