The Overly Just Landowner

Summary

Do you ever get upset when you read the Bible?  I mean, when you read of something that happened, or perhaps what a prophet, or king, or even Jesus himself said, or maybe, what the Apostle Paul wrote?

I do, at times, and over the years I have heard many people express anger, or angst, or even make comments such as, “Well, in the real world that doesn’t really work, does it?”

I along with many others express anger over the way that people are so indiscriminately killed throughout the Old Testament.  Sometimes it seems that there is neither rhyme, nor reason for why someone, or a thousand someones are killed.

Also, within the New Testament Epistles, I hear of individuals upset over certain teachings that seem to discriminate, and show preference for one group of people over another.  Why was it okay to own slaves, or not eat with gentiles, women, or…slaves?

Then, there’s Jesus of course.  Jesus draws much angst, and I say angst because people don’t want to express anger towards Jesus, and so we say things like, “What he says here makes me uncomfortable.”

In reality, many of Jesus’ actions and words make people uncomfortable.  Most won’t express anger towards Jesus, but it is there.

I’ve heard negative opinions in regards to his multiplying of the wine at the wedding in Cana, I mean haven’t they had enough to drink after three days of partying, to Jesus command to ‘turn the other cheek’ when struck, to great concern regarding his teachings on wealth, the pursuit of wealth, and the rich.  Yet, perhaps the greatest amount of complaining in regards to Jesus that I have heard has everything to do with his examples grace, forgiveness and the sharing of God’s love.

Yep, God’s gracious ways seem to be the greatest source of anger, I mean angst, in regards to Jesus.

Think of the parable of the Prodigal Son, or as I have re-named it, the ever-loving Father.  Too many people think of the Father in that tale as a stooge who is being led along by his manipulative son.  They figure that the kid will turn around and do the same thing again, and you know what, they’re probably right…and so they ask, will God, I mean the father will he repeat his performance again too?  Is he that dumb to be tricked again by his spoiled son?

Well, that thought and those questions bring us to today’s parable, for it deals with the same sort of situation.

In the story that Jesus tells us today, we run into a situation that makes us uncomfortable, for in today’s parable there’s just too much grace for us humans to take.  In today’s story God just is way too irrational for us, and it makes us nervous…even though it should make us feel alive.

Do you remember your reaction today as we read through Jesus scenario?

Who did you relate with in the parable?  Were you thinking as one of the workers?  Perhaps one of those who worked the entire day?  Or, one of the last hired. Maybe, it was The foreman?  The landowner?

As they were paid, last hired, to the first who worked all day, and yet they all received the same wage, what were your thoughts?

Seriously…take a moment to think about that, what did you feel as the story was read?

I will admit that I remember the first few times, as an adult, when I read this parable I was upset that those hired last received the same as those hired first.  It frankly, made me mad.  Those last ones hadn’t done the same work, yet they went home to their families with the same day’s wage as those guys who had toiled away in the hot sun.  It just wasn’t fair, that’s what I though at least.

But, as we all know, life isn’t fair.  Yet, life can be more just, and that is what the landowner was achieving in today’s parable.  Justice through mercy.

To show you what I mean let me tell you the parable again, but this time through the eyes of one of the workers.

“Levi had awoken before the first rays of the sun had touched the land.  You need to wake early if your going to find work for the day.  His wife Miriam woke with him, to nurse their youngest child, and to wrap his portion of their last loaf, so that he might eat some and have strength for the day.

Not able to have found a place in someone’s fields the last two days, Levi needed to make a wage today, so that more flour and oil could be purchased, so that the older children could eat, and Miriam would have milk for little Sarah.  The garden was not producing anything edible yet.  Levi prayed, received a kiss from Miriam, gave one to the drowsy Sarah, then looked tiredly at the older children still asleep and left heading for the city gate hoping to be chosen for a field.

When he arrived there were already over a dozen men standing waiting for the first foreman to appear, and by the time the first one did, a couple dozen more workers were waiting, hoping to be chosen.

Foremen and landowners often had their favorite day laborers that were chosen first, and of course, if you weren’t related to one or the other, and had not stood out in some other way, you often weren’t one of the first picked, and, as Levi had neither a relative or a friend amongst the foremen, and definitely not amongst the landowners, he was not picked…right away.  Yet, he knew it might take a little while, and that in between planting and harvest there was not a great demand for workers.  Yet, this slump in demand was what made this middle part of the growing season so hard, and what made it a hungry time of the year.

Levi did not really get worried, until noon, and he had still not been chosen.  Though he was hungry, he kept the wrapped bread in his bag, for if he didn’t work today, it might the only food left for the children.  He did not want to listen to them cry from hunger that night, so he drank again from the well, to fill his empty stomach.

As the middle of the afternoon approached and the heat grew, Levi walked in the shadows over to the Sheep’s Gate, where sometimes sheep owners hired an extra man for the night’s watch.  Yet, when he arrived there, he saw almost a dozen seasoned shepherds sitting in whatever bits of shade they could find waiting to be hired.

Knowing he would never be chosen over these men, he hurried through the hot streets back to the main gate, only to discover that everyone who had been standing there when he left was gone, they had been hired!

His decision to go the Sheep’s Gate made him dizzy with anger at missing the chance for a partial day’s wage.  The only men left were himself and three others whom had been gone at the moment of the landowner’s arrival.  Levi almost left in defeat to go home, where at least he could lie down in the cool of his own walls, but he couldn’t face Miriam and her pitying looks, nor his children’s sad eyes.  So, he stayed, slouched against the wall of the well, waiting without hope.

But then hope materialized as the same landowner who had already hired workers three times previously today, walked in through the gate.  Levi stood up as quickly as he could, standing straight and trying to look tall.  The landowner stopped in front of the four remaining men and asked, “Why are you standing here idle all day?”

Levi replied, “Because no one has hired us.”

The man looked at the four of them and said with a wave of his hand toward the gate, “You also go into the vineyard.”

Levi immediately followed the man out of the gate and down the hill to his vineyard, knowing that at least there would be something in his children’s stomachs tonight.  A few hours work would give him something, as well as hope for tomorrow.

Once in the vineyard, he worked as hard and well as he could, tying vines to posts, trimming dead leaves, and pulling any weeds he could find.  He worked, hoping that he might be noticed so as to be hired again tomorrow.

When it came time for the foreman to pay the wages, Levi thought that perhaps his hard work had been noticed, for he and the four others hired last, were to be paid first. As Levi extended his hand expecting a few small coins, he stopped dumbfounded as a whole denarius was laid in his palm.  He looked up quickly to see if there had been a mistake, but he saw that the man behind him also received a denarius.

Those who had worked longer than him, or the full day, immediately sat up, he could see smiles and grins light up their tired faces.  For they, along with him, assumed that they would for some reason, like him, receive more than they were expecting.

As they passed through the line he expected their smiles to grow wider, and their mood to be more jovial, but as each extended their hand towards the foreman, the smiles left their faces and their moods became belligerent.  Levi heard one speak out, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”

Others grumbled along with him, but went silent as the landowner spoke up, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

Levi was stunned, he was going home to Miriam and the children with all they needed to not only fill their stomachs tonight, but to have enough left over for food tomorrow!

He thanked the landowner for his generosity, and ran home rejoicing.”

At the end of Jesus’ parable, the last sentence in today’s reading says, “The last will be first and the first will be last.”

Though we usually don’t think of this saying in this manner, it is another way of saying, “All are worth the same”, is it not?

I believe that in this instance that is exactly what Jesus is saying, especially when we remember how Jesus introduced the parable, “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like…”

God’s kingdom is where everyone will know the blessing of God’s generous and gracious love. Everyone. You see God’s grace cuts right through all of our earthly barriers and sensibilities to get right to the heart of the matter. Each person, created by God, is thus God’s beloved child. Each person, be them rich or poor is equably beloved in the eyes of God. Each person, no matter who they are, or how they act, be them even the prodigal son or daughter is cherished by God, and so, Jesus came to save them too.

We need to believe this reality. But, we need to not only believe in God and God’s love, we need to then try and live our lives in such a way, that we act in justice towards our fellow humanity, that they may be as surprised by our words and actions, as the workers, as my made up Levi was, at the grace offered by the landowner.

The Kingdom of Heaven lives here [point to my heart] and in your hearts as well, so let us live as God’s beloved children, sharing God’s love, and justice through our lives, into the world.

Amen.

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