In Matthew 20 Jesus tells the story of a land owner who hires workers for his vineyard, presumably at harvest time. Needing many, the owner checks back frequently at the place where day laborers gather, and hires whoever he can find. The ones that he hires first, he agrees to pay the standard amount for a day's wage. As he continues to hire people later in the day, the man promises to pay a fair amount for the work, the assumption being that some kind of hourly wage would be used.
At the end of the day, the owner has his paymaster call all of the men forward to be payed, starting with the ones who were hired last. These men, who were hired only an hour ago, receive a full day's wage, as do those who worked three hours, and five hours, and the whole day. Human nature being what it is, the grumbling begins. The men who were hired first complain to the owner that they worked harder than everyone else, and yet received no more, a blatant case of unfair labor practice if ever there was one. The land owner listens, but remains unmoved, pointing out that those who worked the full day got everything they were promised, indeed what seemed perfectly fair just this morning.
The parable has always stood as a beautiful testimony to the loving grace of God through Christ, that through Him it doesn't matter whether we find salvation early in life or in our last moment. The salvation is just as secure, just as eternal. We are placed in the Father's hand, where no one can snatch us, because no one is powerful to separate us from the the love of God through Christ. When we breathe our last on earth, our home in heaven will be waiting.While the main purpose of the parable was to describe God's kingdom, however, there is no reason to ignore the other lessons that can be learned, and heed the warnings while we may.
I think most of us have identified with the grumbling workers from time to time. A certain flavor of "buyer's remorse" might be a common example. We pick up a new item that we are really thrilled with until we find out that a friend got the same item, or perhaps a better one, at a lower price. Or maybe you were the kid who couldn't wait to show off the really great ten-speed bike that you got for Christmas until you ran into your best friend who was showing off his new twenty-speed?
A simple fact of the human condition is that not only do we want more than we have, we want more than the other person has. And if we can't get more, we feel entitled to at least as much. These aren't particularly nice feelings, and they describe a not particularly nice mindset. In the past, it might have been called envy, greed, or jealousy.
Christ, I believe would have called it sin. As in "You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor's."
It goes by a different name today: Discrimination. And the really odd thing, the label isn't applied to the person doing the griping, it's applied to the person causing the fuss. In an age of entitlement, it's no longer good enough to pay a person a wage that they agreed to. Employers are now scrutinized to see if they paid the same wage to the last male, or the last white male, or the last white male who could be traced back three centuries to a slave trade, or whatever the disfavored oppressor of the month happens to be, as they now pay to the minority holding the job. If not, mutual consent seems to be no defense. Discrimination is the assumption of the day. No evidence is required.
Not that it makes much difference now, but I believe that this is exactly the kind of situation that the tenth commandment was given to warn about. While looking into the business of others may distract us from our troubles, it will solve none of our own, and getting angry at the wealth of our neighbor will not add a penny to our savings. And it will not give us peace, or prosperity, or anything else that we so desperately need as a nation right now. The only thing it will do is give us a reason to continue to resent each other, and if you haven't been exhausted by all the resentment by now, you have more stamina than I do.
In a fantasy world, it would be great if everyone made a million dollars a day. In a real world, if everyone made a million dollars a day it would take three million a day to live. That's the way of the world. When we got thrown out of paradise, God told us it would be by the sweat of our brow from then on. That isn't going to change because some fast-talking politicians have a good line of bull. There hasn't been a phone or pen yet that could override the law of supply and demand. If you really want a better life for yourself and your family, it's time to start looking to yourself, your family, and God, and get to work building it.
It seems to me there are two concepts here.
ReplyDeleteThe first concept is represented by the parable of the workers in the vineyard; that the employer (God in this case, but also any employer in my opinion) can do as he wishes; that the employer is sovereign in the workplace. Kindness to one worker does not mean unkindness to another. Humans, however, have tried to tack on this concept of "fairness" and it always fails. Whether the results are "fair" or not is immaterial. The employer gets to make the choice, not the employee.
The second concept is represented by the tenth commandment. In my view, the human concept of "fairness" results from a violation of the tenth commandment. "Fairness" is a concept straight from Hell. It is always based on a comparison: he has more than me; he was paid more than me; he had a better chance than me. It never ends. It destroys any contentment that a person might have. Contentment based on a comparison always leads to dissatisfaction. Humans have refined the concept so much that the comparison goes the other direction. It is intended to make anyone with "more" (whatever that means) feel guilty.
When you look at the working of both concepts together you might notice that "fairness" always works to destroy kindness.