Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 21, 2008
Exodus 16:2-15
Philippians 1:21-30
The refrain: “It’s not fair!” is one that we have heard ever since childhood. We have something in us which is finely attuned to injustice – especially any injustice perpetrated against us. When Jesus told the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, he was issuing a challenge to our preconceived notions of what is fair and what is unfair. Perhaps of all Jesus’ parables, this is the one that people understand least. At first sight, the moaning employees at the end of the parable seem to have a point. It isn’t fair that everyone receives the same wages: from those who have labored all day in the hot sun to those who spent half the day lounging in the shade in hopes of being hired. What is Jesus telling us in this strange parable?
The context in which the parable is found is of vital
importance here. If you look at the
incidents that surround it, a theme begins to emerge. Jesus tells his disciples that in order to
enter the
Why did the landowner not pay the people who worked longest first, and then dismiss them? Why did they have to stay to watch the latecomers receive exactly the same wages? The parable concludes on a sad note. We hear nothing of the gratitude of those who have been paid a full day’s wage for an hour’s work. This, of course, is typical of life. We always hear more from those who like to complain than we hear from those who are happy. It is not enough to be treated fairly – we all want more than we really deserve.
The fact that those who worked longest are fully aware that
the generous master has paid everyone the same salary gives this parable an
interesting twist. It suddenly becomes
more than a parable about generosity or grace.
It becomes a powerful lesson on the nature of envy. Envy is a poisonous thing. Imagine the scene as those who have been
paid a full day’s wage for a full day’s work return home. Instead of telling their families that they
could enjoy their meal because they had been paid fairly, they would have been
full of tales of their ‘unfair’ treatment.
Instead of being grateful for the fair pay they had received, they would
have been full of bitterness about others who had been treated ‘better’. Envy makes us incapable of being thankful for
what we have; just because someone else has more. Some people hate to see others getting a
better deal than themselves. We complain, “It’s not
fair!” But those workers who were hired
in the morning receive what the boss promised them. What harm can it do them if the others receive the same
amount? In the
Whether you are a newcomer to Saint Esprit, or whether you have been attending for many years, the same goes for you. There is more than enough grace to go round – and there is more than enough work to go round too. Today is Rentrée Sunday, the Sunday on which we celebrate the work of each and every person who contributes to our life here at St. Esprit. As the years have gone by, more and more laborers have come into our vineyard. As numbers have increased, there is more work to be done, and more opportunities to serve. Today we rejoice in the fact that we are joined by those who have come for the first time – we extend you a warm welcome. The number of years we attend makes no difference. We are all united in our desire to serve a generous God who (fortunately) does not pay us according to our ‘merit’. Thanks to your volunteer efforts - above all during the time I had to be away because of my mother’s illness and death - this little church is a place where God’s limitless generosity is visible in the lives of every member of our community. May God strengthen each one of us as we decide how best we can serve.
The Revd. Nigel Massey