I can remember as a boy riding with my Dad into the downtown area, in my hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, and seeing a crowd of men standing on a certain street. There were so many of them that there did not seem to be any room left to walk on the sidewalk. I asked my father what they were doing, and he explained that they were waiting to be hired by the city for sweeping the streets. Others might be waiting to be hired by construction companies for day labor jobs. Still others might be hired by a farmer needing temporary help in the fields. They were all paid at the end of the day, because either they might not be back tomorrow, or the jobs might be temporary. Some things don’t change, even over a couple thousand years.
Jesus’ parable is telling a similar story of men standing around the city marketplace waiting to be hired for a day’s work. The story begins with a landowner going out around six in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard at the usual day’s wage. It must have been a large vineyard, because he returns at nine in the morning to hire more workers. He returns at noon, three and five o’clock to hire more. The typical work day was ten to twelve hours.
The surprise that Jesus introduces into the story, as he typically does, is that at the end of the day all men are paid the same wage — both those who worked twelve hours and those who had worked only one. Try that today and see what happens. The government and all kinds of human rights groups would come down on you in full force. But it was not much different in Jesus’ day. There was an angry outburst from the workers who had worked longer. The Bible says, “When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men 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.’” But the landowner said to one of them, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”
The point of the parable is not the hard work of the laborers, but the generosity of the landowner. In the parable, God is the Landowner, for he owns the earth and everything in it. It is totally unfair according to human standards, but God does not work according to the world’s standards. God operates on the principle of grace and generosity. It is a surprising and disconcerting turn of events, and it is disturbing to even us. But Jesus wants to introduce to them a man unlike any man they have known. Jesus was trying to say that the kingdom of God operates differently from the kingdom of this world and the way things normally work here.
The parable immediately follows Jesus’ teaching where he said, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24). And Peter’s response to Jesus’ statement was, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Peter and many of the other disciples had followed him from the very beginning, and they had made great sacrifices. Peter wondered what their reward would be; it should be more than anyone else, since like the workers who labored at the beginning of the day and had borne the burden of the work and the heat of day, they had been with Jesus from the beginning and borne the heat of the controversy surrounding him — some of the controversy even coming from their own families. Surely they would receive more than others in the kingdom. And even among the disciples they were always quibbling about who was first and who was last. Jesus had assured them that there would be rewards for following him. They would share thrones in his kingdom. The sacrifices they had made for his sake would be returned to them a hundredfold. They were not just making sacrifices — they were making investments. But not all rewards would be received in this life, and they were not to work merely for the sake of being rewarded.
And Jesus was saying that we should serve the Landowner from the heart. There is always the danger of becoming angry at God because you think he is not treating you right. You think you should be rewarded for being a Christian and working for him. You think you should not have life so hard, and that he should be giving you more blessings. You don’t understand why things are always going wrong for you and why life is so hard. You complain to the Landowner that others have so much easier than you do. Life does not seem fair, and you grumble and become bitter. You have had to bear so many difficult things and others seem to have it so easy — even those who do not live for God. Others who have not done nearly as much as you have so much and you have so little. Shouldn’t you have some kind of special treatment? (See Psalm 73)
I have known many people who have turned from God because they felt God did not operate they way they thought he should. I have known people who lost their love for God because they lost their job, their spouse, or their health. Some grew cold toward God and others became outright bitter. Others demanded answers for questions about the world and God, and when they couldn’t come up with a good answer they came to the conclusion there weren’t any answers, and even decided that perhaps God did not exist after all. Some were offended by the presence of evil in the world and turned against God.
By contrast, I was contacted a couple of weeks ago about a good friend of ours. Her name is Kim. She now lives in another state, but her husband contacted me because they desperately needed prayer. Kim has pancreatic cancer. She is young, and also has two young sons. She and her husband have every reason to turn on God for this disastrous turn of events in their lives. She is totally exhausted from the constant pain that racks her body. She has not been able to eat. They still have no idea what will happen. But rather than it all making them bitter toward God, they are leaning on him and being assured of his love as they go through this experience.
We don’t understand why things like this happens. Certainly the prosperity gospel has nothing to say to my friends. We don’t have all the answers. We don’t understand why some abusive parent lives, and lives well, and Kim may not, but God asks us: “Don't I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me, or are you envious because I am generous?” It rankles us that Jesus said that his Father, “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). He sends his blessings on all, no matter how they treat him — something that seems to us ultimately unfair. But God is a God of grace. He acts with generosity, even when it seems to us unfair. Sometimes those who live away from God seem to have life so much better than us. But that is the point — God operates from grace and is generous to all. We serve God from the heart, no matter what life brings us. It is not a matter of quid pro quo. We do not demand to be paid what we think is fair. He has promised to give us “whatever is right.” And in the day we stand before him, all things will be made right.
This is why the prosperity “gospel” is so dangerous. It promises things that
God himself has not promised. Sometimes things happen to us. We are not always saved from every evil, every time. Sometimes blessings don’t come, even when we feel we need them most — and some who have been influenced by this teaching give up on God since they believe he is not living up to his promises. Yes, I believe God will bless us. And it is okay to pray for blessings. And yes, I believe that generally things go better for those who live for God. But, as we well know, that is not the case in every situation every time. As hard as life might be for some Christians, life would be even worse without Jesus in their lives. We are not to work for wages, we are to work for the Landowner, and believe that he will ultimately give us whatever is right.
One time I had a man in a church I served say to me: “I don’t understand why someone who has been living in sin, like a drug addict, can be converted and he is held in great esteem and celebrated in the church, when I have been in the church all my life and no one seems to notice. Why is that person seen as a good Christian or even a Christian on the same level as me?” I suppose a lot of Church members feel the same way.
I could even feel that way. For instance, I have been a Christian since I was fourteen years of age. But a man like Chuck Colson, who was converted late in life, and now has a world-wide ministry. He is held in high esteem all over the world and I am relatively unknown, even though I have been in the ministry since I was in my early twenties. I have never been in prison for a criminal offense like Colson. I am sure he has never read one of my books, but many thousands have read his books, including me. I am learning from him. I would love to have a ministry that reached around the world, but that is not for me to decide. I work for the love of the Landowner, whatever that work may be and for whatever he decides to give. He will do what is right. The truth is that all the “wages” that are given by the Landowner are actually gifts, not what is earned or what, in our minds, is deserved. His gifts are distributed as he sees fit.
What is interesting in the parable that the workers hired at the beginning of the day have a contract. They and the landowner agree on a definite wage for a day’s work. The second group of workers are work on an informal agreement, and only told that their pay will be “what is right”. With the last group who only work one hour, and there is no mention of any kind of wage. They are only told that they can work in the vineyard. And the only group that complains is the group who had agreed on a certain wage. They had originally agreed on what they felt was a good wage, but now it was not good enough. They want to renegotiate. They grumble and accuse the landowner of unfair treatment. The point seems to be that these men, although they worked longer and harder than the rest, worked all that time with a bad attitude. They did not love the landowner, they only wanted what was due them, and then leave. In the end, they charge him with wrong. They castigate his character. Still the landowner calls them “friend” and gives them their wage. But he says to them, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go.”
There are many Christians today who have been doing what is right and following God for many years, but they have been doing so with a bad attitude. They grumble against God and expect some kind of special reward. They want their work acknowledged and think they should have special blessings — not realizing that God does not give wages, he gives gifts, according to his grace and generosity. We cannot work our way into heaven. We do not deserve anything, but by his grace we have all received more than we deserve. And in the end we will receive eternal life in his everlasting kingdom of joy. So we should live and work with joy, knowing that our heavenly Father loves us and will do what he knows is best.
I recently read this story, “On November 19, 1991, Cathe Chermesino was running down South Street, trying to make it to Calvary Baptist School before the late bell rang. On the surface she had it all. She was a beautiful, talented thirteen-year-old who possessed YMCA swimming medals, not to mention a beautiful singing voice. When she ran across the street, she was hit by a fast-moving car and thrown into the air. Immediately Cathe became totally paralyzed. Cathe now goes to school sitting rigid and upright in a bulky wheelchair. She breathes through a ventilator and has to carefully mouth her words so others can lip-read. On the first anniversary of her accident, she gave her testimony at her church. ‘I’m like the potter’s clay,’ she said. ‘I’m being reshaped into something that I believe will be far better. What looks harmful for me will actually turn out to be good. Before the accident I was an awful snob, but now God has given me an inner peace. I’m giving my voice a rest until I get to heaven.’ Her mother looked lovingly at her daughter and added, ‘Cathe needs just two things to make it through. A lot of prayer and a little bit of oxygen.’ Recently [a friend] wrote Cathe and gave her a verse from Deuteronomy 31:8, ‘The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.’ He said, ‘Lord, if You can help Cathe to rise above her circumstances, I know that with Your grace I will rise above mine.’”
What happened to Cathe is unfair. Why should she have to live her life as a paralytic? But she continues to love God and serve him in her wheelchair. She even sees God’s grace at work in her disabilities. And, like her, we should continue to love and serve God wherever he has placed us, and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. We should raise our hands in joyful praise and thanksgiving. Swiss theologian Karl Barth wrote: “To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”
The Old Testament prophet Malachai dealt with a group of grumbling believers. He wrote, “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape’” (Malachi 3:14-15). But Malachi continues the story: “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. ‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.’” (Malachi 3:16-18).
The final chapter has not yet been written. But, in the end, if our hearts are right, we will become his “treasured possession”. He will have compassion on us, and we will finally see the distinction “between those who serve God and those who do not.”
Rodney J. Buchanan
September 18, 2011
Amity United Methodist Church
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
