The parable we are considering today is difficult. It stands in sharp conflict with the way that we normally operate. It is similar in this way to another of Jesus’s parables—the parable of the unjust steward. In that parable there is a manager of his master’s business who was accused of mismanaging funds. The boss tells him that he is done. He needs to turn in the books. But before he turns in the books he writes down the debts that are owed to his master so that he can become friends with these debtors. Then when he is put out by his master, he has a shot at being taken in by the debtors whom he helped out. This, frankly, is fraud. He should go to prison for it. But his master does not call the police. He praises his manager for being shrewd. This is an extremely odd way of doing business.
We have a very odd way of doing business in our parable today too. The owner of the vineyard goes out to hire workers at 6:00 in the morning. He tells them that he will pay them a fair day’s wage—a denarius. This must have been fair enough, for the workers willingly come to work. Then he goes out at about 9:00. He sees others who have nothing to do. He tells them to go to his vineyard and he will pay them what is right. He goes out at noon and at 3:00 and does the same thing. Then, at 5:00 in the afternoon, one hour before quitting time, he goes out again and finds more people who have nothing to do. He sends them into the vineyard as well.
When it’s quitting time the owner tells his foreman to pay the workers beginning with the last and up to the first. Those hired at 5:00 got a denarius. So does everybody else. It doesn’t matter if they worked 1, 3, 6, 9, or 12 hours. They are all paid the same. They all get what the workers agreed to at 6:00 in the morning. What gives?
Jesus’s parable will not work very well as a business model. What do you suppose would happen at the marketplace the next day? I don’t think the owner of the vineyard would find very many workers at 6:00 in the morning. I bet there’d be a whole bunch of people one hour before quitting time. If a man can get paid the same for doing one hour of work versus 12 hours of work, then which do you think he would pick?
Self-interest—the looking out for one’s self—is baked into the way that we naturally and normally think. This way of thinking is frustrated by these two parables. The boss of the unjust steward should look out for himself and therefore call the police rather than giving compliments. The owner of the vineyard should look out for himself and pay his workers with as little wages as he is able to get away with. His generosity irritates the workers who worked all day long, sweating in the heat. Their looking out for themselves tells them that they should have the stuff that was given to those who did not work as much as they did.
So what is the alternative to looking out for one’s self? The alternative is to be free. What does it mean to be free? Being free means that whether you are compensated or recognized or rewarded is not important. It is neither here nor there. You are not working for the reward, but for the sake of the work itself—whether there is a reward or not.
Let’s apply this to the parable at hand. A worker who is free would be satisfied with the work that he was doing in the vineyard without regard to how he was being compensated. The worker works because the work is good. End of story. Being rewarded or compensated is good and enjoyable, but this worker is willing to forgo that pleasure. That means that the worker is free. The worker who is not free is going to count out every penny and will not be satisfied with anything that is not according to his standards. The one worker is free. He is not looking out for himself. The other is not free. He is a slave to his own advancement. The worker who is free from the need of promoting himself is able to look on with happiness at the goodness of the owner that came to that worker who only worked one hour. He can recognize the generosity that is in it. The worker who is not free can’t help but be envious. He wants that money for himself, and even has a pretty convincing argument for why it should be his rather than going to that lazy fellow who only worked an hour.
Another way of saying that a person can be free from seeking after his own good is to say that he is free with regard to justice. Justice means that a person gets what he or she deserves. Everybody has a right to justice—an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But if we want, we can give up our claims to justice. We can say, “No, that’s okay. I don’t need compensation.” If someone has done wrong to you, then you have the right to have that injustice corrected one way or another. But you don’t have to exercise that right. You can forgive instead of demanding justice.
Consider these words of Jesus from his sermon on the mount: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evildoer. If someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone wants to sue you to take away your shirt, give him your coat too. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven.”
What we learn from Jesus’s words here is very different from the way that we naturally or normally think. Instead of looking out for ourselves, we are urged to look out for the other person. But there’s more. We are not only to look out for the other person who is good and nice to us, we are to look out for the good of the one who has been harmful to us. We are to relinquish our claims for justice and give and for-give instead.
Let’s apply this to another scenario. Husbands and wives can’t help but wrong one another. If we weren’t sinners, then we wouldn’t do this, but since we are sinners, we can’t help it. Your spouse is going to do things that you don’t like. This might very well entitle you to some justice. The rationale might go something like this, “Since he spent money on something that he wanted, then I’m entitled to spend money on something I want, even though I know that he will not like it.” Or, “She didn’t do this nice thing for me, so I will not do this nice thing for her.” These claims for just compensation for the wrongs of the other are extremely dangerous. Beware! Vicious circles are bound to develop where the punishment gets punished by the other person in turn. Lists of grievances start to take shape in the minds of husband and wife. These grievances have the power to end the marriage—if not by divorce, then by estrangement from one another while living in the same house.
What is the alternative? The alternative is to relinquish your claims for justice. Give and forgive. If your spouse does something that you do not like, do not hold it against them. Do not punish them for it. Do not create mental lists of their wrong-doings. Do not gossip with your friends about it. If you need to talk to somebody about it, then talk to God about it. Ask him for the grace to love this person who has hurt you—to do good to them, rather than requiring an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
Now what do you call someone who does nice things for you even though you have not done nice things to them? Do you not call someone like that “good”? Do you not all want to have someone who would love you in such a way? You have the opportunity to be that good person for your spouse, or your parent, or your boss, or your friend. You have been set free to love as God loves. God does not give out his goodness according to whether the recipient is worthy. If he did that, then nobody would have anything but his wrath and punishment. Instead he gives freely and generously even to those who despise him. That is how we, as Christians, should be too.
But we need a lot of help in this regard. Nobody has to teach us to look out for ourselves and our own interests. We’ve done that naturally from the time that we were born. Loving those who have not deserved our love—that is not natural, but rather supernatural. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit to become God’s children, and therefore, as his children, to be somewhat like a chip off the old block in the way that we deal with people. We need help and encouragement to put away our flesh’s objections to this way of living. Whenever we sacrifice for somebody else or relinquish our right for justice, then we will hear a nagging in our heads that says this is a very unwise thing to do. The nagging will say that if we sacrifice like this, then we will become a doormat. If we give up our rights to justice, then nothing will be left to us. If we don’t fight for our wages, then we’ll end up working for free. If I allow my spouse to go on doing things that annoy me, then they will only do more and more annoying stuff. I won’t be able to take all this sacrificing and serving!
These are reasonable fears. Worldly shrewdness predicts that we will be miserable, and, indeed, something of this misery might come with it. We are not yet perfectly sanctified and our sinful flesh will noisily protest. But we have not been left without help. We have a God above. When we are out of resources, who can replenish them? Or do you believe that your goodness and blessing come from you and your works and your shrewdness? No, all that we have comes from God. If we get worn out and run down and at the end of our rope, then we can turn to the Father of Lights, the Giver of all good things. We can ask him for our daily bread and believe that he will provide it day by day.
Our faith is exercised when we give and forgive and do not have much for ourselves. We have to rely on God to replenish our love, our energy, our patience, our generosity. But God is trustworthy. Try him out. Give and serve and sacrifice. See if he doesn’t fill you up. Jesus says that Christians become like ever-flowing springs. Nobody knows where the water comes from. It just keeps bubbling up out of nowhere. So also, with the gift of love given by the Holy Spirit, Christians are set free from their slavery to themselves to love others. When it seems like it is impossible to keep loving and serving and sacrificing, the ability to do so is given by God. Christians do not just believe the miracles that are recorded in the bible. Christians believe that miracles of faith and sanctification happen every day to them and their fellow Christians.
Jesus concludes our parable today by saying, “The last will be first and the first will be last.” Those who give and who relinquish their right to justice and do not look out for themselves look like they are last. They look like they are the losers in this game of life. But the truth is that they are first. When they are living by faith in God’s promises, they come to learn the goodness of God. There is nothing higher or better than love. Love never ends. The stuff and the riches and the memories of this world will cease. God, who is love, is eternal. God gives this gift of love to his Christians so that they are set free to love others instead of just themselves. “The last will be first.”
On the other hand, “the first will be last.” Those who cut a good figure for themselves, those who fight for every last penny, those who demand justice for themselves, those who look down on others who are not as good as them—these are the successful people in a worldly sense. They know how to run a business. They know how not to be short changed. But they know nothing about taking up their cross and following Jesus. In fact, they are enemies of this way of life. They teach that this will not lead to blessedness and success. For that, they say, you need to look out for yourself. They act as though this is some great wisdom, but this is the philosophy that even a hog understands and lives by.
Therefore, pluck up your courage to love, to serve, to sacrifice, to relinquish your right to justice. You will not be disappointed.
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