So in what universe does this make sense? We know that if you agree to work for eight hours at $20 per hour, the equation looks like this: $20 x 8 = $160. $20 x 4 = $160? But what if $20 x 1 = $160! That’s not right, but in God’s universe that’s the kind of math we encounter. It just doesn’t make sense and even strikes as flat out wrong.
Jesus was always trying to get the people to see things from a completely different perspective—to see life from God’s perspective. The people of His day were no different that we are today in terms of how we calculate what is fair and how things should work. There is right and there is wrong. And it is just wrong for someone to get the same wage for one hour’s work as it is for someone who works a full day. Yet Jesus says, that’s what the kingdom of heaven is like.
Matthew 20:1-16:
"The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a man who went out early in the morning to hire some men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them the regular wage, a silver coin a day, and sent them to work in his vineyard. He went out again to the marketplace at nine o'clock and saw some men standing there doing nothing, so he told them, 'You also go and work in the vineyard, and I will pay you a fair wage.' So they went.
Then at twelve o'clock and again at three o'clock he did the same thing. It was nearly five o'clock when he went to the marketplace and saw some other men still standing there. 'Why are you wasting the whole day here doing nothing?' he asked them. 'No one hired us,' they answered. 'Well, then, you go and work in the vineyard,' he told them.
"When evening came, the owner told his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.' The men who had begun to work at five o'clock were paid a silver coin each. So when the men who were the first to be hired came to be paid, they thought they would get more; but they too were given a silver coin each. They took their money and started grumbling against the employer. 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'while we put up with a whole day's work in the hot sun—yet you paid them the same as you paid us!'
'Listen, friend,' the owner answered one of them, 'I have not cheated you. After all, you agreed to do a day's work for one silver coin. Now take your pay and go home. I want to give this man who was hired last as much as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?' " And Jesus concluded, "So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last."
I don’t like God’s math until I’m the one needing grace not law. The law is 20 x 8 = 160. Grace is 20 x 1 = 160. It’s crazy, but God is all about love, and love plays by different rules. Until we get that, we’ll never get what Jesus was and is all about. We’ll find ourselves on the outside looking in on a party which is filled with joy and gratitude because God isn’t fair. We’ll think we deserve God’s favor instead of seeing ourselves as sinners completely at the mercy of God’s love, not our goodness. When we trust God’s math, an entire new world opens up we didn’t know existed. That’s the kingdom of heaven and it starts now and extends for eternity. Wow. It doesn’t get better than that.
So why I did lose my temper at the SFO airport when the van picking us up let people on board who had just arrived instead of accommodating those of us who had been standing there in the cold for twenty-five minutes? Because it wasn’t fair and I want fair, not grace.
Now for what’s on my desk…
The Shepherds have been attending St. Andrew for a while now and wanted to share this story with us about their experience with the AIDS memorial in Golden Gate Park. Follow this link: Harry and Ellen Shepherd .
Faith in Action is our congregational opportunity to serve our community all together. It is a BIG deal and it happens Sunday, October 9th. My hope and prayer is you’ll be a part of it. Contact the church office andrewpres@sbcglobal.net or email me at rgantenbein@sbcglobal.net if you need more information or want to sign up to participate.
Now you know what I know.
Comments