Exodus 16:2-15; Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16
Ordinary 25A; Proper 20
Grumbling in the face of grace. So often that is our human response to God’s generosity.
The Israelites grumble, telling Moses they would be better off back in Egypt given the state of their current circumstances in the wilderness. The workers in the vineyard grumble when those who came to work later get paid the same amount as those who started their labor early in day. (No matter that a wage had been agreed upon from the outset.) The phrase that jumps out from the parable appointed for this week is: “They thought they would receive more.”
Those first laborers, seeing that the last received the amount the master had agreed to pay them, thought they would receive more. Why wouldn’t they? If those who only worked a few hours got a denarius, surely those who worked double, triple, quadruple that amount of time would get paid more. It is, after all, only fair, right? Would we not expect this to be the arrangement? Are these not the terms of capitalism and consumerism? The workers in that vineyard, and maybe the Israelites in the desert, thought in terms of transactions, a contract where the terms of the agreement are spelled out and signed in order to keep the parties accountable. Grace does not factor into such a mindset. The workers see a business arrangement; the master instead cultivates relationship. The bottom line for the owner of the vineyard is not money, it is mercy. Such a calculation remains difficult for us to understand. Hence, we grumble in the face of God’s grace. We thought we would receive more. That’s how the world, our world, works: merit not mercy, grit not grace, contract not covenant, transactions not trust, payment for services not ongoing relationship.
The master upends all our norms and we are left baffled by such generosity and grumbling when we think we should receive more. We do not know what to do when there is not a gradation of value among people, when the comparisons with which we evaluate ourselves and others do not matter, when we cannot calculate what we and others are worth. Grace confuses the system we thought was a given. We want to get what we deserve. We want to see others get what they deserve. But in this parable Jesus tells us that God, in God’s infinite mercy, does not give us what we deserve. Why do we want more of what is utterly incalculable? Why do we begrudge God’s generosity to others when God has been unbelievably generous to us?
Imagine if instead we responded with gratitude for the grace given to us and rejoiced when others joined us in God’s vineyard, no matter what hour they arrive. What if we truly celebrated God’s generosity to us and to others? I recently came across a piece, “Womanist Understanding of Vocation” by emilie m. townes. She writes, “God’s love for us is unconditional, God makes demands, has commands, perhaps the simplest and the hardest of these is that we are called to live our lives out of possibilities not shortcomings.”
The simplest and hardest element of a life of discipleship may be not capitulating to the cultural narrative that we will and we should receive more, and therefore others should receive less. In a world in which we get bombarded with the message that we should receive more, that we always need more, that we deserve more, that strives to make us perpetually on the hunt for more, we struggle to rejoice in God’s grace that cannot be counted and to live out of possibility rather than perpetually see shortcomings.
Our worth, thanks be to God, is not synonymous with our productivity. God seeks us out to participate in the work of the kingdom. God enlists whoever says “yes” when asked to go to the field. So much of what we value and count and measure does not matter to God. This parable comes right after Jesus’ encounter with the rich young man. He, too, operates from a place of transaction. He knows the rules and he follows them. The young man asks Jesus, “What do I lack?” Certainly, he expected Jesus to say: “Nothing. You’re good to go.” But instead Jesus tells this rich young man to sell all he has, give the money to the poor and follow. Jesus invites the young man into relationship — with others, with God. And relationships cannot be calculated; they must be entered into and lived.
This parable of the vineyard challenges so many of our capitalistic and American cultural sensibilities. Productivity is paramount. There is an understood correlation between hours worked and pay received. Our value is inextricably tied to what we contribute to the economy. The last do not get to be first. But Jesus through this story lets us know that God’s calculous is utterly different than our own. God wants everyone in the vineyard, everyone paid a living wage, no one left out on the streets. Why do we grumble at such grace? Why do we forget that we are, in fact, the ones late to the field and granted it?
Perhaps if we pictured ourselves as the workers who came at the end of the day rather than those who arrived first thing in the morning our response to God’s grace would be markedly different. When we recognize the undeserved, unearned grace of God given to us, then we are able to truly rejoice not only at God’s generosity to us, but at God’s goodness and mercy to others. When we stop thinking we will get more and instead recognize the value of what God gives us, then we cease grumbling and respond instead with gratitude. Then we begin to live our lives out of possibility instead of shortcomings, with no thought of last or first, only joy in being called together to work in God’s vineyard.
This week:
- What is your gut reaction to this parable? Where do you place yourself in the story? Why?
- Do you find yourself thinking you will or should get more?
- What makes your grumble?
- Why do we begrudge God’s generosity?
- How do we attempt to live lives that are relational rather than transactional? What is the difference between these two understanding of life?
- What do you make of the phrase that is repeated in the Gospels: “The last shall be first and the first shall be last”?
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