Jonah 3: 10 – 4:11
NPMC
Psalm 145 19
Pentecost
Philippians 1: 21-30
September 21, 2008
Matthew 20: 1-16
Anita Retzlaff
Is God Fair?
Grace and peace to you from God the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the
Christ. In our moment of silent prayer this morning let us pray for those who
must make prudent decisions in the wake of the financial crisis that exploded
this last week south of the border. The world needs a more balanced financial
system that attends to the needs of the poor as well as rewarding in just
proportion those who do the hard work of managing the wealth of the people. Let
us pray…. Lord, you have always sided with the poor. Give us a similar mind so
that we work in your world to share the bounty of your creation. AMEN
I wonder if any of you recognized yourselves in the stories from scripture that
we just heard. I saw myself in the Jonah story and in the parable of the workers
in the vineyard. Just exactly what I discovered, I will leave for a bit. If we
are paying attention at all there are moments in many good stories when we
suddenly recognize that our lives are being mirrored in the actions of the tale
as it unfolds.
The story of Jonah and the parable of the workers in the vineyard are stories of
grace. In fact there is so much grace in the air that everyone is saturated with
it: Jonah is given a second chance to attend to the hearts of the people of
Nineveh and the people turn from their faithless ways. There is grace in
abundance and for all. In this particular episode in the saga of Jonah, God has
come around to an unexpected decision. God’s mind has changed. When the
Ninevites recognize their sin they turn away from it and toward God and God
changes the game plan. Just as earlier God forgives Jonah his reluctance to do
God’s work, so, now, God forgives the people of Nineveh their sin and restores
them to full relationship. Grace in abundance and for everyone!
Matthew’s parable of the workers in the vineyard may be another glimpse at the
mind of God and a divine will, gracious beyond our understanding that cannot be
manipulated by humankind. It is a weird story in a way. Itinerant workers are
hired at various times throughout the day to work in a landowner’s vineyard. In
the end each worker is paid what they were contracted to receive but the twist
is that they all receive the same amount regardless of how long they worked. No
one is cheated but those who work the least receive the best deal. No one
receives anything less than is promised to them.
All is well then! We know this is not to be. Both stories continue to unfold and
in both cases there is profound discontent with the final outcome. Jonah feels
ripped off and so do the vineyard workers who worked the entire day. It is not
that each didn’t receive, for themselves, what they had expected and what they
had been promised. No, the trouble comes when others receive something that they
haven’t earned. The Ninevites who are supposed to be wiped off of the face of
the earth, aren’t, and the workers who put in a very short day receive an entire
day’s wages. Now, that’s not fair and by extrapolation, God is not fair.
This is where I see myself in the two stories. I am the one who thinks that I
have earned my way by working hard and trying to do what is right. These others
don’t deserve the extra grace! Fairness dictates that if they get this extra
dose of good stuff I should get more too. The story of the prodigal son has a
similar theme, for the elder brother resents the father’s lavish expressions of
love to the younger son who returns home after having squandered his
inheritance. It is not fair.
We make a couple of assumptions about God: one, that because God is perfect,
God’s mind cannot change and two, that God is fair. We like to think that the
mind of God is the same as the mind of humanity and in sync with the thought
processes of our daily existence. In other words we think that God should behave
similarly to our legal system. God is little more than a loving, all-knowing
judge of the courts confined to a rule book meting out judgments that do not
deviate from our standards of fairness and stand consistent forever and for
everyone.
It is rather a rude shock to discover that God’s ways are not our ways and that
God exceeds our conventions. When God changes his mind as the story of Jonah
portrays, when God extends grace to those whom we consider as undeserving, we
are livid, most especially, if we imagine that the undeserving receive more than
we do. Don’t tell me that at some time or another most of us haven’t questioned
the fairness of the land settlements that have been negotiated with our First
Nations brothers and sisters. I am going to leave it at that; think about it a
bit.
A lesson in the freedom of God to act as God chooses! Why isn’t it possible for
a perfect God to change “his” mind (in the language of the Jonah story?) If it
is in the heart of the All-Wise God to interact with people to the extent that
the final outcome can change drastically when God’s call is answered, isn’t that
a good and wonderful thing? What’s Jonah’s problem? God is not confined to the
Roughrider playbook and that makes us a little nervous because it means that we
must be prepared for the unexpected; the gracious work of God crops up at times
when we are not prepared.
Jonah gets so bent out of shape that he literally despairs. This is no small
thing. He asks God to take his life. Jonah is beside himself with anger and
resentment. Why do you think that is? If you have ever been on the brink of
despair and have considered what it might be to end your life, you know how
desperate it feels. Jonah was this distraught about God’s dealings. He felt that
betrayed and that insecure in the face of God’s grace to others. He felt
diminished; he felt gypped: that he had not received enough. Jonah was jealous!
That is the sin of jealousy or envy. It can eat away at your soul to the point
of death. This is the self-centered truth about human nature.
And fairness; who ever said that God has to be fair? God is free to be unlike
us. God can do what is needed, not necessarily what we deem to be fair and by
fair I mean that “everybody gets exactly the same thing.” God is gracious, God
is just but God is not necessarily fair. God gives what is needed. When we are
the recipients of grace, all is well and good. Like Jonah we appreciate the bush
that protects us and makes us comfortable. When the comfort is no more we feel
unjustly treated. When grace is extended to others we are not always pleased.
Those who work all day in the vineyard grumble when the Johnny-come-lately crew
is paid the entire daily wage.
We are frequently discontented with God’s grace because it is unpredictable. It
is not based on merit or hard work. It can be doled out to our enemies or to
those whom we think are lazy and have received their just reward by being poor.
God’s grace is not even-handed and not like the work of a competent mediator who
is trained to make things come out evenly. When we begin to compare our lot with
the success or position of others we often feel that God has not compensated us
properly. In the end, we can’t control God’s grace and it doesn’t follow our
rules of fairness.
Where does that leave us? We could be much more aware of the grace that
surrounds us every day. We live in a society that wants to make us believe that
we live with scarcity and must accumulate all manner of things in order to be
secure and therefore happy. This is faithless thinking in the light of God’s
provision and God’s mercy. We would do well to turn that message on its head and
reorient ourselves to a life of abundance and gratitude, not only for the bounty
we receive but the joy and delight we take when others experience God’s grace.
This is often not easy to do. We are so programmed as human beings to harbor
envy and to be greedy, especially when we think no one is watching. We expect
that God keep that bush growing over our heads because we have earned it.
Instead we are free to give thanks for the times when the shade of God’s
provision keeps us comfortable and we are content. We are free to let God be
gracious and we do not need to cling to a child-like expectation of fairness in
all things. We are free to be grateful even in times of struggle and
deprivation. We have enough. God cares for us. Can we live like we believe this?
The kingdom of heaven is here, now. The grace of God meets us every day of our
lives. The goodness of God makes of us a generous people. So as with the
psalmist we can say, daily:
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…
I will extol you, my God and King,
And bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
And praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
His greatness is unsearchable.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always. AMEN