The day laborers in today’s
parable were the lowest class of workers in Jesus’ day. They lived on the edge,
always “at the mercy of chance employment; always on the brink of want.” And so
unemployment for even one day would mean hardship for a man, his wife and
hungry children. And the setting? It’s probably the grape harvest when the
fruit had to be picked, before a coming storm or over-ripeness would make it
all useless. This explains why the landowner keeps going back looking for help.
He’s desperate to get the crop in. Even at about five o’clock with only an hour
or so of daylight left, he goes back to the town square to hire. He can use the
extra help even for a short time. And so we hear about five sets of hired
day laborers. And our landowner has promised each one whatever is just as
payment; this is probably one denarius, a decent day’s pay at the time.
So it is that
in the final scene when the foreman doles out the pay, that we are witness to
the extravagant compassion of the landowner, (a cipher for the extravagant
mercy of our God.) All the workers, even the last ones who worked for only one
measly hour, receive a whole denarius. Aware of their need and the desperation
of their situation; the landowner knows that less than a denarius will be not
enough for a man and his family for a day. And he wants them all to go home
happy and satisfied. Now that’s not fair; it’s excessive. But if we were
part of that last crowd who had worked for only an hour, we’d be overjoyed at
the landowner’s outlandish generosity.
How often we
murmur because things aren’t fair. And true enough it’s the constant plea of
psalmist and prophet, “Why is it Lord that the way of the wicked prospers? Why
is it that you let the sun and rain and all good things come to the just and
the unjust?” It’s not fair. But the good news is God’s Kingdom is not about
fairness or entitlement; never about “confidence” in our own accomplishments or
sacrifices. It’s not ever about rewards but grace - not something earned but a
gift freely given in love. God is not fair. He is abundantly,
incomprehensibly merciful, way beyond our imagining. He knows we don’t always
do enough, don’t always pull our weight or labor long and hard enough, that
sometimes we loaf and dawdle and wait too long and make bad decisions. He sees
it all, and he is merciful. It doesn’t mean that everything’s always OK, not at
all. No, we mess up, and God is merciful. We may sometimes be unkind,
impatient, stingy, and God is merciful and gives us another chance.
Just imagine
if God were only fair. Imagine if he gave us only what we really deserve. We’d
be in big trouble. Certainly God looks into our hearts and notices
the good we do, but the kingdom is all about his mercy, never about
payback for a job well done. It is, on the contrary, completely, utterly,
totally gift; gratuitous, absolutely surprising, way beyond what we are
“entitled to.” Simple gratitude is the only response. For what gift or blessing
do we have that we deserve? No, God is not fair, but all loving, all giving,
all forgiving. The truth is we’re all latecomers, and God is always
switching things around. It’s called mercy.
Insights from The Gospel of Matthew, II, William Barclay, and from Matthew: A Commentary, Robert Gundry.
