Jesus invites us into a just and generous way of life: 16th after pentecost a

El santo evangelio según san Mateo (20:1-16)

Jesus said to the disciples:

¹“The dominion of heaven is like a man, a householder,

      who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

            ²After agreeing with the workers for the denarius of the day,

                  he sent them into his vineyard.

      ³When he went out about nine o’clock,

            he saw others standing in the marketplace without work;

            ⁴and he said to them,

                  ‘You also go into the vineyard,

                        and I will give you whatever is just.’

                              So they went.

⁵When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock,

      he did the same.

⁶And about five o’clock

      he went out and found others standing around;

      and he said to them,

            ‘Why are you standing here all day without work?’

⁷They said to him,

      ‘Because no one has hired us.’

He said to them,

      ‘You also go into the vineyard.’

⁸When evening came,

      the lord of the vineyard said to his steward,

            ‘Call the workers and give them their wage,

                  beginning with the last and then going to the first.’

      ⁹When those hired about five o’clock came,

            each of them received a denarius.

      ¹⁰Now when the first came,

            they thought they would receive more;

                  but each of them also received a denarius.

                  ¹¹And when they received it,

                        they grumbled against the householder, ¹²saying,

                              ‘These last worked only one hour,

                              and you have made them equal to us

                                    who have borne the burden of the day

                                    and the scorching heat.’

            ¹³But he replied to one of them,

                  ‘Friend, I am not unjust to you;

                        did you not agree with me for a denarius?

                        ¹⁴Take what belongs to you and go;

                              I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.

                                    ¹⁵Am I not allowed to do what I choose

                                          with what belongs to me?

                                    Or are you envious because I am generous?’

                                          ¹⁶So the last will be first,

                                                and the first will be last.”

El evangelio del Señor.

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For my whole life I have worked hard.  In school, I did my homework and completed projects and essays on time.  I always did my work—sometimes the night before it was due—but I did it. 

This carried over from high school to college and into seminary as well.  I would figure out the deadlines for projects and essays and I would meet them—even if it meant staying up way too late the night before something was due.  Even when my work wasn’t as good as my perfectionist self thought it could have been, at the beginning of our classes, our professors would say “no extensions” and so I would turn my imperfect work in on time.

To my dismay (and grumbling), some of my classmates would come to class the week or even the same day that some big essay was due and ask for an extension!  And what was worse: the professors would usually grant them the extension!

Oh the injustice and the grumbling that would follow—just ask some of my seminary classmates who had to listen to me.  It wasn’t fair!  We all got the information at the same time and I was being punished for having done the work—having “borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat,” or long sleepless night!

And then, at the end of my second year of seminary, my grandmother went into hospice care and I took the train from Chicago out to Connecticut to be with her.  Most of my classwork was done, except for one essay for my class on Israel’s Prophets. 

Although I had done the research, the essay wasn’t written and even when I wasn’t in Granny’s hospital room, my mind and my heart were there.  I couldn’t focus on the essay.  I just couldn’t write it.

So I did the unthinkable.  I emailed Dr. Klein, explained my situation, and asked for an extension.

Dr. Klein quickly responded, telling me to take the time that I needed, letting me know when grades were supposed to be turned in to the school, assuring me that I was doing what was needed, and holding me and my family in prayer.  All my life I had been the one who went to work first and grumbled about the “slackers,” but if my classmates hadn’t received extensions before me, I might not have either, and my last weeks with my grandmother would have been marred with the extra stress of schoolwork.

It was easy to complain about the ways that school wasn’t fair, until I couldn’t complain anymore.

In today’s parable we encounter the lord of the vineyard, who cares more for what is just than what is fair.  We don’t know why the workers hired later in the day didn’t find work earlier, except that at 5 o’clock the householder asks, “Why are you standing here all day without work?” and the workers respond with “Because no one has hired us.”

Maybe the workers have to care for children or elderly family before looking for work.  Maybe they walked from the next town over, where they had been passed over for work.  Maybe they can’t walk well and so didn’t get hired by others. 

All we know is that no one has hired them and as day laborers, they need to work every day to provide for themselves and their family.  If they don’t, people will go hungry.  And the lord of the vineyard hires them.  They do the work they are able to do and instead of his profit margin, the householder pays attention to the needs of the workers and the community.  He knows that every worker needs a denarius—the daily wage—to make ends meet, and so he gives them a denarius for their wage—the deal he made with the first workers hired.

The workers work as they are able and the lord of the vineyard pays them according to need.  He is genuinely concerned for their well-being.  And when the early workers grumble, he says, “Friend, I am not unjust to you.”

Jewish New Testament theologian, Amy-Jill Levine, points out that in the gospel of Matthew, “friend” is used three times, and each time it holds a dual meaning.  Here in this parable, in the parable of the Wedding Banquet which we’ll hear in a couple of weeks, and in Gethsemane when Jesus says to Judas, “Friend, do what you are here to do.”

When the lord of the vineyard says, “Friend, I am not unjust to you,” it is both an ironic jab, poking at the ways the assumptions about who “deserves” a livable wage and what counts as “fair” isn’t always what is just.  And, friend also reinforces that the lord of the vineyard and the worker are in relationship with each other.  They are connected, just as the workers are connected to each other.

The well-being of each of person involved matters.  The ability to earn a denarius each day, negotiated by the first workers for the benefit of all the workers, is important because of the relationship and interdependence they experience.

The Lord of the Vineyard grants the extensions we need, provides the collective wage that is needed, and holds us in relationship together.  This relationship of care and concern for each other allows us to be challenged as God says, “I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. ¹⁵Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”  

God is just and generous and as Jesus calls us to follow him, he invites us into this just and generous way of life as well.

Thanks be to God.