I love that Jesus includes whining people in this story!  Can you hear it?  It’s not fairrrrrr….how come he got more than me?   Whoever has or had kids can hear this loud and clear right?  My mom tells a story of a time when my sisters and I were young and we were shopping in a small store like a CVS.  We were old enough to be an aisle or 2 away from my mom.  She heard it…”I saw it first”!  From the next aisle she hollers over “stop that whining”.  And right afterward hears a fellow mama say- “thanks, they don’t listen to me!”  My mom thought the whining children were us- I guess the whining sounds the same!

Jesus says- so there’s these men who gather in the center of town every morning, hoping to be hired for the day.  They don’t have a regularly scheduled job- they get up early, pack their lunch and head off with all the other common workers in hopes of being hired for a day’s wage- a denarius- just about enough to cover the day’s food and expenses.  That’s even what a Roman soldier was paid for a day’s work.  They knew if they didn’t work, their families- their wives and children would likely not eat.  The crowd of workers is large at 6am and a landowner comes and hires a bunch of them- agreeing to pay them a denarius for their work.  It likely goes unspoken, but they expect to work the entire 12 hour work day in exchange for that wage.  Off they go to work in the vineyard!

3 hours go by and the landowner goes back to town and offers a bunch of others work for a fair wage.  Off they go to work in the vineyard!  He goes back at noon, 3pm and 5pm- each time hiring more people who were waiting for work and sending them off the vineyard with the agreement for a fair wage.

It’s quitting time and the workers line up for their pay!  The landowner says- line up in this order- those hired at 5pm, those hired at 3pm, those hired at noon, those hired at 9am and then those hired at 6am.  He tells his payroll person- give everyone a denarius for the work they have done today.  Those in the back of the line, the ones who worked the longest day must have heard what those in the front were being paid.  They must have been pretty excited as they anticipated getting more than those who only worked an hour.  But when they got to the payment table- CUE the whining!  The same as them!  That’s not fair!  We were here first!  And longer!  More time in the hot sun!

The landowner puts his hands on his hips- says “friend”- not a term of endearment- a term filled with sarcasm…”didn’t I pay you what we agreed to?”  I am thinking he got that “deer in the headlights” look from the workers, what do you think?  “Take your pay and move on!  Is it any of your business what I do with my own money?  Are you jealous because I am generous?  That doesn’t make much sense”

 

We have spent the last several weeks digging into these parables of Jesus.  We have tried to see them with new eyes, with new lenses…we have tried to challenge our longstanding interpretation and expand our imaginations about what Jesus was getting at when he told these sometimes strange stories…

As we have examined them here in worship and studied and discussed them in Bible Study sessions each week, I have had my own epiphany- my own new understanding of something I thought I knew!

We know that parables are Jesus’s mode of teaching and I have this new awareness that the purpose of Jesus’s teaching is to show us how to live out the 2 greatest commandments- Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

One way to seek to understand Jesus is by looking for the answers to these 2 commandments.  What does Jesus tell us about loving God and loving our neighbor?

Might not sound like rocket science or high scholarly theology, but it has literally changed how I read the words of Jesus and appreciate his time here on earth.

So let’s start with loving God…what is in and around this story that shows us God’s love and in turn helps us to love God more?  If we see the actions of the landowner as mirroring the actions of God, we see how the landowner continues to go back to the town to see if anyone has been left behind who still needs work. God’s love doesn’t leave anyone behind- doesn’t leave anyone out- God doesn’t play favorites- God’s love searches for us, finds us and gives us what we need.

We see what true generosity looks like- giving extravagantly, without the expectation of repayment.  God gives the gift of grace out of God’s love for us, all of us, and out of God’s deep desire for a relationship with us. We read it in our key verse today- Ephesians 2:8- 9- “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  God gives us the grace that saves us, because God loves us!  As we recognize that love for us, we naturally love God even more and are drawn into a closer relationship..

For me, this parable really drove home the love your neighbor commandment in a new way.  Imagine this- the men of the town all gathering together hoping for a job for the day- they likely all know each other- they might even have walked into town together- maybe their kids play together, maybe they are physically neighbors- they know the daily struggles of each other- they know who has sick kids or who hasn’t worked in the last several days- they know the pressure they all feel to provide for their families.  They are neighbors in all the ways we define neighbors!  In Dr. Levine’s book she asks if those who were hired first thought about those not hired at that time.  Did anyone say, “Hey, Bob has 4 kids at home and he didn’t work yesterday, let him have my spot?”  Did anyone say, “Can you use some other workers, cause my friends need work too and they are really hard workers and super reliable”?  Where we see the landowner himself seeming to go back to see if anyone was left, the neighbors, the friends, didn’t seem to pay mind to leaving others without work.  And if that wasn’t disrespectful enough, at the end of the day, they complained, well whined, about how they should have gotten more.  They couldn’t even be grateful or excited for their friends that they could pay for the food for their families that day- that they too had the ability to meet their needs…

Loving our neighbor means caring for their well-being, it means advocating for them, it means speaking up on their behalf, and it means celebrating when everyone’s needs are met. Loving our neighbor means wanting them to flourish!

Dr. Levine also challenges us to see the offer of work from the landowner as an act of dignity.  None of those men who woke up that morning and walked into town, were planning on begging or asking for charity. No, they each wanted to work- they wanted to contribute to the ability to provide for themselves and their families.  Perhaps as the day went on, some people pitied them for still waiting for work and offered them money- but let’s be clear- they were not lazy- the Bible might say they were idle- meaning not working- but they persevered through the hot day, just waiting for a chance to work.  The landowner, although generous, was also compassionate and kind- allowing the men to maintain their dignity by working for a wage. What does this remind you of?  Our partnership with Zoe Empowers, right?  The goal is to restore the dignity of these young people by empowering them and preparing them and educating them so they can work, run a business, support their siblings and regain the respect within the community.

 

We will work with each other, we will work side by side

We will work with each other, we will work side by side

And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

Yeah, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

 

Loving God and loving our neighbor should challenge us to a life of justice seeking.  Justice is not the same as fairness.  Fairness relies on comparison.  Fairness assumes that if there is a right then there must be a wrong.  Fairness pits one against another. Fairness contributes to whining and jealousy.  Justice restores wholeness.  Justice produces dignity.  Justice is life giving.  Justice builds community.  Justice ispawns joy!

Jesus’s disciples asked him to teach them how to pray.  Essentially, how do we talk to God, what is important to say, what is so important that we ask for it each time we pray?

 

Thy Kingdom come—we want to see your way, God

Thy Will be done—we want to acknowledge that your way, God, is not our way.  Our understanding is not your understanding

On earth, as it is in heaven— we can and should expect to see glimpses of the Kingdom of heaven here on earth as we continue to love God and our neighbor. The kingdom of God is wherever God’s will is being done

Give us this day our daily bread–give us what we need for today- one day’s provision at a time–like the workers who were asking for 1 day of work and wage.

Forgive us and we forgive others- Help us to treat others how you treat us, God- as you are gracious, can we treat others with that same grace.  As you are merciful, can we show mercy, as you are compassionate can we show compassion.  As you delight over us, can we celebrate over the good fortune of our friends and neighbors.

 

This Lenten season we have been trying to slow down for loving union with God.  May we slow down enough to look around and be grateful for what God has given us and what God has given others.  May we give thanks for our blessings and the blessings of others.  May we see those who are left behind and not given a chance or those denied dignity and respect.  May our vision foster action.  May we recognize God’s desire for justice in God’s beloved community.  And may our gratitude and compassion keep us from whining  to God when God does what God does- loves us perfectly and offers us all the gift of grace!

 

To God Be the Glory,  Amen.