Pastor Slaughter
September 24, 2023
Pentecost 17
God’s Not Fair. You’re Absolutely Right!
Text: Matthew 20: 1-16
It’s not fair! Is a cry that echoes throughout the centuries. It’s like we are hardwired with this sense of what is fair and just and when we think we are getting the raw end of the deal, we say “It’s not Fair!” We see something getting something that they don’t deserve, “That’s not fair!”
Children recognize this. Just give a little girl two pieces of candy and only give her little brother one and watch what happens! “It’s not fair” The injustice! Could you do such a thing. Parents who have multiple children hear this a lot. “Why can Jonny do such and such a thing and I can’t. It’s not fair!”
The Assyrians where a ruthless nation. They conquered people and transplanted them to other areas and moved other people to their land. They ruled with fear and intimidation placing the heads of those they conquered on spikes. And at the end of Jonah’s preaching calling the people of Nineveh to repentance, they repented, and God forgave them. “God that’s not fair! Look at all the evil they did!”
God’s not fair is a temptation we are faced with when we lose focus and start comparing ourselves to others. So Jesus tells us a parable which teaches us something about God. Often in parables things don’t always work the way we think they should. Often it is the opposite. So we today we hear a parable about God’s perplexing generosity.
You have a landowner who goes out early in the to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius which was a fair price for days work of work. And he goes out again midmorning, noon, and afternoon and tells them to go work in his vineyard. Then he goes just around 5 when the workday is almost done and finds more people not working, and he sends them out to his vineyard to work. Then he sends his foreman to gather the workers and to pay starting with the last group and ending with the first.
Do you remember how much he gave them? He gave each one a denarius. Can you imagine being one of the first ones hired and watching everyone else thinking “If they got paid a denarius I wonder how much I will get paid?” Then sticking their hand out and only receiving a Denarius. “That’s Not fair!” We worked during the heat of the day and are getting the same pay as someone who only worked for 1 hourr! They are getting something that they don’t deserve! “That’s not fair!” We deserve something more, that’s not fair!
That’s not fair. I don’t deserve this. I deserve something better. Have you seen yourself saying those words? Have you thought that before? We do have a strong sense of what is just and fair, the temptation is to lash out if it seems like it isn’t.
I know I struggle with this when I look at other pastors and compare myself to them “God its not fair that you have given them more gifts then me.” Believers who faithfully serve God’s church, who have the best intensions do this as well. We look at others and compare ourselves to them. Comparison really becomes the thief of joy. Have you heard of the 80/20 principal in a church before? Where 20% of the people do all the work in the church. When that 20% starts comparing themselves to the 80. The work gets done but then we lose the joy behind the work. Where we begin to think we deserve recognition or something else and begin to look down on others who aren’t doing what we do. It’s not fair that we do the majority of the work and only get a denarius.
This can even ruin our relationships with other people when we focus on fairness and justice. We end up looking at and keeping track of the slights done and the wrongs committed. We can find ourselves like Jonah and despising the grace and forgiveness God has given to someone else because our sense of justice our sense of fairness says they shouldn’t get the same Denarius that we get.
Let’s be real with ourselves. What is just? And what is fair? When we hear our lesson for today, we hear that everyone got the same wage no matter how long they worked. We think that’s not fair! This is a parable of what the kingdom of heaven is like. But if we want God to operate with our sense of what is fair and just where does that lead to? What does that place us under? God’s Law. If we are honest with ourselves. What is the fair thing for us to receive? Hell. Because if God was simply a just God, a fair God and he was keeping track of all the slights done and wrongs committed, who here could stand? Not you and me.
Have you ever thought about who you identify yourself with in this text? Are you the worker who was hired early in the morning? Midday? Afternoon? The 11th hour worker only who worked for 1 hour? This is the beautify of this passage! When we look at our sin and realize the fair thing for God to do is punish us, we are the 11th hour workers stuck on the unfairness of God in a different way. Stuck on how good God’s grace that is lavished on us! Stuck on how unfair it was in punishing Jesus for our Sin in order to fulfill his justice. Stuck on how unfair it was for all those sins to count against Jesus. Stuck on how we become the righteousness of God through Jesus. God’s Not fair! And you are absolutely right. Instead, he is generous with his grace.
Brothers and sisters, when we look at God’s grace we can’t help but marvel at the denarius of his grace that he has given to us. Whether it his a Moses, an Abraham, the apostle Peter or Paul, or the thief on the cross. We each receive a denarius of his grace. His undeserved love. What does that mean for us? Forgiveness. Heaven.
From a worldly standpoint, this doesn’t make much sense right? It is a terrible business practice, paying someone who only worked one hour the same wage as someone who has worked all day. But that’s point Jesus is trying to tell us today. That God is SUPER generous with his grace.
Think about what it means when we keep our eyes focused on God perplexing generosity instead of comparing ourselves to others. We rejoice in the gifts God has given us according to grace. We can find joy in our work and service done here at Trinity for God’s kingdom. Think about what it means for our relationships with other people when we see how much grace is generously poured out on us each and every day, we can pour out that grace and forgives to others.
Think about what that means for telling others about Jesus when we look at the perplexing grace poured out on us. Instead of being like Jonah who was angry at God’s grace when the people of Nineveh repented, we can share that grace with others. Sharing God’s grace with people, not making judgments about whether or not they will repent or deserve forgiveness but having a heart that rejoices over the lost sinner and the grace. A hear for God that cares for people.
My family in Christ, God’s not fair and you’re absolutely right! Thanks be to God his generosity of grace knows no limits. That where the kingdom of heaven is concerned, he will give to us each a denarius! His Grace. Let’s rejoice in the grace he has given to us! Amen.