Room in the Vineyard

I have to admit that I’ve struggled with the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. I have a pretty strong work ethic. I want to get things done. I’m about the principle of things, fairness in the workplace, and honouring those who work hard and have seniority.

In this parable from Matthew 20, the landowner keeps hiring more workers at different times in the day. And then when it’s closing time, the ones who only put in an hour’s work get paid the exact same as the ones who slaved away the entire day “in the scorching sun”. And they get paid first! My mind tells me that this is blatantly unfair. Even my heart can struggle a bit with this.

I read some commentaries on what the parable might mean. Some take it as a metaphor for the different ages and stages people are when they come to faith. Perhaps the longest-working labourers are Jewish while those coming later are Gentiles. Some see it as a comment on not coveting, the 9th commandment, and being content with your lot and your blessings rather than envying others.

The suggestion that appealed the most to me, though, was the comment that in Jesus’ time lots of farmers had their land stripped from them because they couldn’t afford the obscene taxes owed to Rome. The land helped to cover their debt. These men who had worked the fields and fed people suddenly had nowhere to begin, no capital and no dignity. And so they would stand in the town square, hoping against hope to be hired by someone to make some cash. Of course, the later in the day that this happened, the less money they earned and the less likely that they could feed their family.

The generous landowner in this scenario is compassionate, returning several times to that town square and hiring these men whose confidence and value had been stomped on. The landowner was right - it was completely up to him how he spent his money and how he paid his workers. They had agreed to the daily wage and so that is what they got. And they weren’t seeing the whole picture. They didn’t know the back stories of these men who were out of work and likely desperate. They perhaps knew the ridicule and shame felt because they had waited to be hired too, so their lack of compassion is disappointing.

But then I think, are we really that different? Who are we happy to not include or welcome because they show up later than we did? Who do we leave on display in the town squares where we live who are down on their luck, not knowing where their next meal is coming from, and who have handed out resume after resume with no bites (that’s if they have the means to even produce one and to find out about job openings, which, in Covid time, well, good luck)? But, as long as it’s not us in that predicament, we can think they should fend for themselves. As long as we’re taken care of, it’s survival of the fittest.

Speaking of the pandemic, now the conversation seems to be about wanting to know people’s vaccination status. Will un-vaccinated teachers be allowed to teach? un-vaccinated singers to sing, nurses or doctors still allowed to help? Because we might, even if we are fully vaccinated, be put at a slight risk. Forget that there may be legitimate reasons people don’t vaccinate that are none of our business, there can be a creeping entitlement that does not accept difference. We want to be safe in the vineyard, allowed to work while keeping out those who we feel aren’t as deserving who might upset our apple cart.

Somehow, I don’t think the landowner would go around the town square checking that every worker desperate to be hired has had both shots. Somehow, I don’t think the landowner would choose workers based on skin colour, sexual orientation, religion or heritage. Somehow, I think the landowner would just want as many workers as possible to have their dignity restored, and to be given purpose and the chance to help to bring in the largest harvest possible.

As we inch towards greater re-opening in society and relaxed guidelines, and as we consider the ramifications for our worshiping communities and programs, may we be as gracious as the landowner. May we have the goal in mind of a bountiful harvest as well as restoring the dignity of people and enabling them to flourish, regardless if they are like us or not.

May our prayer be that the last truly are first, and the first last, to the glory of God.