|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Johah 3:10–4:11 |
Psalm 148:1–8 |
Philippians 1:21–30 |
Matthew 20:1–16 |
Most Christian children know the story of Jonah and the whale. However the Book of Jonah it is much more than a children's story. Jonah is one of God's best prophets. That is why God asked him to undertake a very challenging mission and go to the people of Nineveh and plead with them to change their unjust ways. In one sense Jonah was a precursor of United Nations peacemakers. But Jonah saw the assignment as an insult. He reasoned that the people of Nineveh deserved to be punished. They were hopelessly corrupt through and through. So Jonah abandoned the mission and went off to hide. He was found of course, and that is how he ended up in the belly of a whale, isolated and completely disconnected with humanity. Jonah had second thoughts and was coughed up on shore, and then went to Nineveh, and did a credible job. The people repented and instituted reforms.
That is where this morning's passage from Jonah picks up. While Jonah accomplished the mission, he was very resentful that he was so successful. He really wanted the people of Nineveh punished. So he went out by himself into the desert and began to sulk. Note that the author of this ancient book ascribes a wry sense of humor to God. It was hot out in the desert. God causes a tall vine to grow and shade Jonah. Just as Jonah cools off, God sent a worm to cut down the vine and Jonah begins to heat up again. God then calls to Jonah," If you get so worked up about the loss of a vine, can you not understand why I am so concerned about the welfare of all the people of earth, large and small, wise and foolish, moral and those needing morals?" God reaffirms a consistent Biblical theme: shall not the God of the earth do right and seek the welfare of all people?
In his parables, Jesus would remind people of this and amplify on this lesson. As I read today's Gospel I was also reminded of the parable known as the prodigal son. The parable is about two sons, one who is the father's "right hand man" and the other who runs away. The father always hopes the younger son will come to his senses. Then one day when it happens, the father rejoices, but the older son, like Jonah, goes out to sulk. The older son doesn't really seem to understand the mind of his father, despite having the advantage of always being at his father's side. The tantalizing question of course, is who is really the prodigal son, the younger one who returned or the older son who has wasted his relationship with his father?
Today, Jesus tells of a labor contractor who goes out at the beginning of the day. The contractor agrees to pay a fair and living wage to the farm workers. The workers will be able to feed their entire households. None of their families will go hungry. During the day through the late afternoon, the contractor discovers those who have not been able to find work, and he agrees to hire them also, with one important difference. He does not give them a contract. Naturally, the expectation is, because they are not working a full day; they have no right to a living wage and are at the mercy of the contractor to pay whatever he feels like. The only harsh reality is, while they will work, they are caught up in a cycle of desperation, for whatever they earn it will likely not be enough to feed their family and some will go hungry. The trouble started at the end of the day when it came to pay all the workers. The contractor did a remarkable thing by giving all the part time workers a living wage so that they, too, could feed their families. The workers who had a guaranteed contract were promptly paid also, but they began to grumble and feel envious because they had worked longer hence felt that the others should have received less.
Yes, it is natural for many of us to be resentful if not suspicious of those who come late to the vineyard. That is why I suspect clergy don't like to push this parable too deeply. It doesn't seem fair. But the parable of the workers in the vineyard is not a story about labor relations or proper and fair employment practices, any more than the story of Jonah is about the digestive system of whales or plant etymology. Rather it is a story that has been transformed into the larger issue of God's universal concern for humanity. Some commentators suggest Matthew used this story to remind his own very troubled church that God's mission, the specific mission the church was formed to do, involved going out to the very people who in the world's eyes are considered not worthy to be bothered with or beyond hope for any significant and genuine change of behavior.
I mentioned the book Collapse in our recent newsletter, and Bill Moyers alluded to it in his visit to Ithaca College. Part of what the book strongly maintained was that societies never succeed or fail simply because of one factor, but rather because of a multitude of factors. However, when there is increasing disparity between rich and poor or when the rich erect walls and barriers as security to protect them from the others in their society, such societies become unable to respond appropriately or in time to the variables threatening their collapse. Indeed the only security the rich purchase is the guarantee that they will be the last to starve and go under.
In some sense both Jonah and the vineyard workers wanted to keep others out. They expected punishment in one form or another to keep others at bay and themselves protected, privileged and in power. That is not what the God of the earth intends for creation. The long term historical record of societies and nations seem to bear that out,
And
I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
