There is a part of me that really doesn’t like this parable and another part that loves it.
First – why I really don’t like this parable. I grew up on a small dairy farm and when it was harvest season – like now – everyone worked. So having spent some summers working all day in the heat and the sun, I can sympathize with those who worked all day - and resented getting paid the same as those who worked just an hour. They cry out, “Not fair!” and they grumble.
And I get it – it just doesn’t seem fair. I understand that grumbling – and I may have grumbled too. But that doesn’t put me in very good company. It puts me with the workers who worked all day and grumbled; the pharisees who were constantly grumbling and with the older brother of the prodigal son – remember, he complained of his father’s generosity too. This parable teaches me that although I grew up being told to be “fair,” sometimes being fair isn’t always the best course of action.
For example, imagine that I had a big project to do in my yard. And then suppose there were three neighborhood youth hanging out at the corner nearby. I knew them and so I called out to them, “Hey, can you come and help me? I need to get this cleared. And I’ve got doughnuts for those who help!”
A couple of kids came over and started to help. One ignored me, busy with his phone. The two kids and I worked and worked but we were barely making a dent. Then I saw a few other kids on another corner. I made the same offer and they came to help too. This went on for the whole afternoon. At the end of the day, even the guy on his phone came to help – for about 15 minutes. But, together, we got the job done.
So how do I give out the doughnuts? Do I parcel out the doughnuts based on the time that each one worked? Do I give 5 doughnuts to the ones who came first? And then a couple to the ones who came after that? And then tear off a quarter of a doughnut for the one who came last? It would be fair, right? But not the best solution. I would likely make the first two sick and shame the last one.
In Jesus’ story, the owner doesn’t seem at all concerned about being “fair” or about paying by the hour. Instead, he chooses to be generous to those who weren’t chosen first.
We don’t know the stories of the workers in the vineyard or why some of them weren’t hired at the beginning of the day. We do know that daily wage workers depended in those days and still today on working every day in order to make ends meet. But it’s possible that some were simply lazy and slept in. But maybe one of them had to take care of his kids before he left for work. Maybe another one of them lived out of town and had to walk to the job center because he didn’t have any bus fare. Maybe some of them looked weak or old or sickly and no one wanted to hire them. We don’t know. All we know is that the vineyard owner simply chooses to give them what they need – and not what they deserve.
Jonah, in our first lesson, gets mad at God for not giving the Ninevites the treatment they deserve – which is the destruction of their city and their lives. Even God had called the Nineva a wicked city. But instead of just crushing them, God decides to send Jonah to proclaim their destruction if they did not repent.
It’s a great story, but often we just focus on the escapades of Jonah running away from God and getting swallowed by a whale. When Jonah finally is convinced to go to Ninevah, he gives the most effective sermon ever – just one sentence warning that the people of Ninevah would be destroyed in 40 days. It worked. The king and all the people listened and repented and then… God changed God’s mind and forgave them. And Jonah got mad.
Jonah yells, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled; …for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” And then he pouts. He grumbles.
And this makes me think about those times when I have been caught grumbling when things don’t seem fair. (And I’m reminded that those who are grumbling are always the ones who are doing the opposite of God’s will and God’s way). So, perhaps instead of asking if something is fair (or complaining when it is not) the question that I need to ask is a different one. Maybe I need to ask: what is the most gracious and generous way that I can respond? Because that’s the way God responds – and the way God wants us to respond to one another too,
For Jonah was right about who God is. God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, loving and… ready to forgive. That’s why God chose to give the Ninevites what they needed – a prophet -- so that they could change their ways – instead of the destruction that they deserved.
This is God’s character. God chooses to forgive the Ninevites and the rest of us sinners – all of us - who fall short of being the people that God made us to be. Instead of giving us what we deserve – God gives us something much, much better. God gives us Jesus – to be our savior who forgives us, restores us, renews us and promises to be with us always. Instead of being fair, God is generous with me – and you –and gives us far more than we can imagine.
And this is why I love this parable. It not only shows God’s grace and generosity but also encourages me – and you -- to be and act like our best selves. In the midst of the challenges of this day, it isn’t easy. But even at times like these, we can pray that the Holy Spirit gives us the grace to show generosity to one another– not only to our friends but also to those we call stranger, those you may disagree with, “those other people” or even those you don’t like… which sometimes includes ourselves. And God, who hears all our prayers, will graciously give you – and me – the courage to show mercy, grace and love too. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Generous God, thank you for giving us mercy, love and grace instead of giving us what we deserve. Help us to show that same love and grace to others. Lord in your mercy….