The message of Jesus is about field hands who work different hours but they are all paid the minimum daily wage. If you have ever needed a job, the words of this parable should be part of your comfort. It is God’s will that everyone have enough to live on every day. Eating a hot meal, having a cup of water, and finding a safe place for your family to sleep tonight is a human right.
On Roosevelt Avenue east of the Victor Moore terminal are day laborers. Every day the out-of-work men gather there and they wait for someone to hire them. If you drive by in a pick-up truck they all stand up and look at you intently, hopefully: are you the one? The men are all different sizes and ages, and some of them look strong, and some of them look tired, and all of them look hungry, hungry to work. You can see some of the same faces every day. As the morning turns to afternoon, there are fewer of them. There were still two or three yesterday that I saw from the bus at 5pm. I’m not sure what time they give up and leave; maybe it depends on the heat, or the mood of the group, or the man himself, and how he interprets these events: Today, I wasn’t chosen. Maybe tomorrow will be different. By evening, all are gone.
The message for employers is an unusual one – always pay the daily minimum needed. Pay $40 whether you hire someone at 7am or 4pm. It might be noted that what kept the rich man out of fellowship with Christ was not anything evil, but, we might call it, "his goodness" -- the keeping of the commandments and the assumption of (divine) blessings of his wealth. Or as Dr. Long puts it: "Being rich, therefore, simply intensifies the basic human desire for self-justification". Similarly, those who begrudge the landowners generosity were those who felt that they had earned what they received, rather than see their work and wages as gifts from God.
Today, Morgan Stanley is at risk with all their wealth and famous name. If you have $100,000 in the bank, you probably feel that it is far too little to place at risk with unwise giving or hiring of poor people. And I speak to myself as well as you, our wealth is a gift from God, like manna. Manna was the wonderful bread in the desert which spoiled if kept overnight. One of the effects of my ministry at Community Church is that the group of people who tithe continues to grow. Its one area of the Christian life where I have had victory for myself and I hope I have encouraged you. God says that money is one of the few good things that can keep people out of eternal life.
The pain of this parable is for those who have worked hard today when someone else didn’t have a job until 4pm. You may feel that the story doesn’t honor anyone who tried to be self sufficient by working all day. Don't these stories send a message that you can do whatever you please, do as little as you like (or nothing at all), and God will still reward you in the end?
The dig of this story is that at the end of the day, the last were paid first. If the all day workers had been paid and left, they would never have seen what amount the hour laborers were paid after. It was when they had to accept that the pay would be equal that trouble ignited. The public point is that they work for an owner with generosity and mercy. It’s the same spirit which parallels that of a father who waits for his prodigal son, and a king who invites guests from the streets for the wedding banquet. Through the parable, Jesus enjoins those who were called first to comprehend the world into which they have been invited, and to join him in inviting the last ones -- the sick, the poor, the women, the latecomers, the unimportant -- instead of comparing and complaining.
What does it mean to live this text out? A stranger stops in here periodically. The last time was this week. They left a gift this time of $800 in 20s. For most people, the act of giving seems foolish. Without a name, we can’t give tax credit. In light of this parable, it sounds like they know that their own protection and blessings are a gift from God.
If you are not tithing, I urge you to consider this blessed spiritual practice. It is meant to push you to the point where you feel the need for God to be generous with you.
But I suppose that the keep teaching of this parable is our attitudes. Most of us see the road to heaven like a ladder. If you are smart, don’t do anything wrong, and work hard, you will be rewarded with higher steps. The bottom step is for Christmas and Easter. Second step for tithing. One more step for small group training today. If you are a richer member of the congregation, take an additional rung. Graduate from college? Another step. Male instead of female? Take a step. I hope I’m not offending, but I’m seriously trying to describe ladders people try to climb.
There is no ladder. That’s today’s parable. Like the message of the last couple of weeks, grace has come to us as a free gift. The grace of eternal life, but also many other graces. Those graces are not equally distributed. Some of us got extra cash as a gift. Who knows why? Some of us got better health. Some of us got a nice co-op at a cheap price. Some of us got into Columbia or NYU. Grace drips and pours all over the place with God. God wants you to work hard, because work is part of the image of God. We join God even as the Lord labored six days to create the world. But your wages and graces – those are all gifts of God. There is no ladder. All you have to do is say I believe, and maybe thank you.
