“Where’s The Fair?” Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jonah 3:10-4:11 and Matthew 20:1-16
Several years ago, there was an ad campaign on t.v. where this unassuming, little, old lady goes into a fast food place, and orders a hamburger. When she gets her hamburger, she opens the bun and exclaims, “Where’s the beef???” For a lot of people, today’s scripture readings might evoke a similar sentiment: “Where’s the fair???” Especially for the Matthew passage. It’s very easy to relate to the disgruntled workers, isn’t it? A lot of us have experienced what feels like similar situations at our own places of work. We get passed over for a raise, while someone who has been there for a much shorter time, gets the big promotion. Or, even closer to today’s passage, we’ve worked hard for our company for 15 or 20 years and have finally gotten a “decent” salary. Then suddenly, our employers decide to raise newcomer’s starting salary and now people who are just starting out in our department are making what we’ve worked years to achieve. Not a very happy situation from our perspective, yet in today’s parable, Jesus is comparing the kingdom of heaven to a similar experience. It’s a little harder for us to empathize with poor old Jonah in his anger, though . . . or is it? You see, besides being this very wicked city that miraculously repented when Jonah came through, declaring God’s judgment, Nineveh was the capital of Israel’s vilest enemies, the Assyrians. In essence, it would be as if God spoke to one of us, or rather, to one of the people who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, and told them that the wickedness of Osama bin Laden and his followers had become unbearable and so in 40 days God was going to destroy them. . . . Oh, and by the way, God had chosen this person to go and personally deliver the message to Al Qaeda. Now, supposing that this person actually followed through and did their part, and to a person the members of Al Qaeda repented of the evil they had done. Osama bin Laden himself, declared a three day fast, and God looked down . . . and forgave them. NOW, I wonder how many of us would be up there in that ringside seat with Jonah, waiting to see the promised and hoped for fireworks??? So, if being part of the kingdom of God doesn’t always mean we get what’s “fair” in our eyes, and even being a prophet of God doesn’t automatically mean that a person is guaranteed to get what they want, why would we want to be part of this kingdom? I mean why follow a God who seems unfair? Do we really want to be in relationship with someone who doesn’t seem to care about what we want? If we take a closer look at the scripture passages for today, I think the answer to both questions is YES! In the Matthew passage, the landowner goes out early in the morning and hires day laborers to work in his field. They agree on the wage of a denarius, which was the going rate for a day’s work, and the guys who were chosen go off, secure in the knowledge that their family will be provided for that day. Now imagine that we are some of the laborers who didn’t get picked. We are standing there expectantly as person after person is picked for various jobs throughout the morning. The sun beats down on us as noon approaches and we take out our meager lunches. Every once in a while someone else gets picked, but as the day wears on, it is becoming alarmingly clear that we are going to have to return home tonight empty handed to families who were depending on us. It’s a stubborn few that the landowner finds standing around at the hiring location at 5pm. And then, to our amazement we suddenly find ourselves being led to the landowner’s field with a promise of whatever is fair. Hey, by this point, we are just happy to get anything, so we gladly set to work alongside those we haven’t seen since dawn. After an hour’s labor we are led to the person in charge of paying us our wages. "Wait a minute, there must be some mistake. Did you get what I just got? . . . A denarius? . . . You too? . . . Yes!" Relief floods our hearts as we rush away to take this unexpected treasure back to our families. We will survive another day. God does not give us what we want. God doesn’t give us what we expect. And thank goodness, God doesn’t give us what other people think we deserve. Instead, God looks beyond appearances, and seeing our hearts, and knowing us better than we know ourselves, lovingly gives us what we need. We may not like it, in fact, we may try to avoid it, but God knows what is best for each of us. Think about it. ALL the day laborers needed that denarius to support their families for the day. Without it children would have gone to bed hungry, necessities could not be bought, and worse, spirits would have been crushed. The landowner saw this and acted generously. The day laborers who had been working all day should have understood, since without the grace of the landowner choosing them early in the day, they would have been in the same situation. Everyone got what they NEEDED. Everyone won. It was only the attitudes of the disgruntled workers that marred this occasion, they wanted more than they needed and so even though their needs were provided for, it felt hollow. Not that we could EVER relate to that situation. Everyone got what they needed in the story of Jonah as well. The Ninevites were confronted with God’s displeasure at their wickedness and were truly remorseful. What they needed was forgiveness. God provided that. Jonah was so caught up in the need for revenge that he couldn’t see the Ninevites’ need for ANYTHING other than a well placed lightening bolt. So God lovingly gave Jonah what he needed as well, a bit of tough love. Has God ever given you what you needed, even when it may not have been what you wanted? I’ll never forget when I was 17 and my mother had been taken to the hospital, and we knew that she wasn’t going to get better. All I wanted was for my pastor or my youth minister to come down and make everything better. I knew my mother needed forgiveness for all the things she felt guilty for before she could truly find release and I knew that it had to be my pastor to do it. That’s what I wanted. Imagine my pain and anguish when I learned that Pastor Russ was busy recovering from his own surgery and that my youth pastor was unavailable. I went into the hospital chapel, there wasn’t even a chaplain there, and poured my heart out to God. I made sure God knew what I wanted. But better than that, God knew what I needed. In less than a week, I was going to embark on a whole new fork in the road and more than anything I NEEDED to know that God would be there to provide for me. So as I was coming out of the chapel, I overheard someone at the nurse’s station asking for my mother’s room. I had no clue who this guy was, but I went up to him and lo and behold I find out that a friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in a long, long time had found out that mom was in the hospital, and had sent her pastor to visit us. He came with me and gave my mother the relief that she so desperately needed, and that day I came to know that no matter what happened, or no matter how alone I felt, God would be there to provide what I needed, even when those whom I thought I could depend on, failed me. God does not give us what we want. God doesn’t give us what we expect. And thank goodness, God doesn’t give us what other people think we deserve. Instead, God looks beyond appearances, and seeing our hearts, and knowing us better than we know ourselves, lovingly gives us what we need. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.