Fairness and Deserving
Fairness and Deserving
Thursday after Ash Wednesday – February 27, 2020
Matthew 20:1-16
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
The parable of the workers in the vineyard is one of the most radical stories Jesus tells. So much is going on in the parable, and even more is taking place when you consider it in the context of the previous couple of chapters.
I remember sitting among a group of seekers 15 years ago while on retreat. The retreat leader read the parable a couple of times, then ushered us into settled silence to hear the story more deeply. Then she invited persons in the group to respond to what we heard as we listened with our hearts.
One man spoke slowly, shaking his head from side to side, incredulous, as if he had just discovered the secret of life. He said: “This means deserving and fairness have no meaning for God. They are not categories in which God operates!” And the words emerged from such a depth and gravity within him that it was obvious this profound truth had touched his very soul.
Indeed, fairness and deserving are not categories in which God operates. When we say, “That’s not fair,” or “I didn’t deserve that,” we may be speaking our feelings, but we’re speaking a language foreign to God. (And just to be clear, “That IS fair!” and “I DID deserve that!” are phrases not in God’s lexicon, either!)
Truly understood and experienced, God’s grace is the most radical possible notion, counter to most every cultural idol we hold dear.
Read what Beatrice Bruteau says:
I believe that one of the basic principles that Jesus taught is that God doesn’t operate in terms of “deserving” at all. This seems to be the point of the story about the workers in the vineyard who came in at different hours but all got paid the same (Matthew 20). This policy was offensive to the workers, who were used to the idea that rewards are proportional to desserts. But the vineyard owner waves all that away, and replaces it with the notion of “generosity.” The least that he gives is what is just in our eyes, what we would make a deal for as a quid pro quo. But that isn’t really how he operates. His own context ignores the question of deserving altogether and treats everyone equally with “generosity.”
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus points out that God sends rain and sunshine indiscriminately on the good and the evil, and then recommends to us that we be “perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:45 – 48). Be perfect, complete, not partial, whole. Give freely without examining the “desserts” of the recipients. Anyone can love someone who is loving and lovable. But if you would live up to your heritage as children of God, you must not seek such a reason for your love.
[Beatrice Bruteau, Radical Optimism: Rooting Ourselves in Reality (New York: Crossroad
Publishing, 1993).]
For reflection:
o I want to spend a moment considering my own relationship to “fairness” and “deserving.” Can I trace their origins within me to certain people who valued fairness and deserving? In what way do I continue to live into that model, ingrained in me over a lifetime?
o The notion of a generous God is difficult for me to comprehend. More commonly, I view God as stingy, doling out blessings and goodness to those who deserve them.
o It is one thing to talk about the “grace of God.” Few of us realize how truly radical that phrase is. I think about what the “grace of God” means to me.
Thursday after Ash Wednesday – February 27, 2020
Matthew 20:1-16
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
The parable of the workers in the vineyard is one of the most radical stories Jesus tells. So much is going on in the parable, and even more is taking place when you consider it in the context of the previous couple of chapters.
I remember sitting among a group of seekers 15 years ago while on retreat. The retreat leader read the parable a couple of times, then ushered us into settled silence to hear the story more deeply. Then she invited persons in the group to respond to what we heard as we listened with our hearts.
One man spoke slowly, shaking his head from side to side, incredulous, as if he had just discovered the secret of life. He said: “This means deserving and fairness have no meaning for God. They are not categories in which God operates!” And the words emerged from such a depth and gravity within him that it was obvious this profound truth had touched his very soul.
Indeed, fairness and deserving are not categories in which God operates. When we say, “That’s not fair,” or “I didn’t deserve that,” we may be speaking our feelings, but we’re speaking a language foreign to God. (And just to be clear, “That IS fair!” and “I DID deserve that!” are phrases not in God’s lexicon, either!)
Truly understood and experienced, God’s grace is the most radical possible notion, counter to most every cultural idol we hold dear.
Read what Beatrice Bruteau says:
I believe that one of the basic principles that Jesus taught is that God doesn’t operate in terms of “deserving” at all. This seems to be the point of the story about the workers in the vineyard who came in at different hours but all got paid the same (Matthew 20). This policy was offensive to the workers, who were used to the idea that rewards are proportional to desserts. But the vineyard owner waves all that away, and replaces it with the notion of “generosity.” The least that he gives is what is just in our eyes, what we would make a deal for as a quid pro quo. But that isn’t really how he operates. His own context ignores the question of deserving altogether and treats everyone equally with “generosity.”
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus points out that God sends rain and sunshine indiscriminately on the good and the evil, and then recommends to us that we be “perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:45 – 48). Be perfect, complete, not partial, whole. Give freely without examining the “desserts” of the recipients. Anyone can love someone who is loving and lovable. But if you would live up to your heritage as children of God, you must not seek such a reason for your love.
[Beatrice Bruteau, Radical Optimism: Rooting Ourselves in Reality (New York: Crossroad
Publishing, 1993).]
For reflection:
o I want to spend a moment considering my own relationship to “fairness” and “deserving.” Can I trace their origins within me to certain people who valued fairness and deserving? In what way do I continue to live into that model, ingrained in me over a lifetime?
o The notion of a generous God is difficult for me to comprehend. More commonly, I view God as stingy, doling out blessings and goodness to those who deserve them.
o It is one thing to talk about the “grace of God.” Few of us realize how truly radical that phrase is. I think about what the “grace of God” means to me.
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