Good Shepherd Lutheran Church(elca)

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It’s Not Fair

Pastor: 
Pr. John Gerike
Sermon audio: 
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Sermon: “It’s Not Fair”
September 17 and 18, 2011
 
 
Did you see the title for the sermon today?
            “It’s Not Fair!”
 
I went back and looked at my files of old sermons.
            I preached on this same Bible passage a few years ago.
                        Do you know what I titled the sermon then?
            “It’s Not Fair!”
 
And do you know how I started the sermon then?
            I talked about how the time before that
                        when I preached on this text,
                                    I titled the sermon:
                                                “It’s Not Fair!”
 
It seems I have an issue with fairness.
            The say that’s not unusual for second-born children.
 They want to make sure
                        that they aren’t left out.
            They want to make sure
                                    that things are fair.
 
 
 
But have you ever noticed
            when it is that we cry out
                        “It’s Not Fair”?
 
When there are two children in the house.
            And ice cream is dished up.
                        And one bowl has more than the other.
            Which of the children will cry out
                        “It’s Not Fair!”
            The one with the larger bowl of ice cream?
                        It’s just as unfair for that one.
                                    But in all my years of growing up
                                                and all my years of parenting,
                                                            I don’t ever remember the one with more ice cream
                                                                        saying: “It’s not fair.”
            It’s always the one who thinks he got less.
                        Even is he has to take out the most precise measuring tools
                                    to determine that one bowl is smaller.
 
Or, if two employees get raises,
            but they’re different amounts.
 If they compare
                        (which I know they’re not supposed to do),
            which is the one who cries out (or at least feels)
                        “It’s Not Fair!”?
            The one who got more money?
                        I doubt it.
 
 
Or, if one worker works in the field all day long.
            And another starts at 5:00,
                        and works about an hour.
            And they get the same pay,
                        which one cries out,
                                    “It’s Not Fair!”?
 
 
Not hard to figure out.
            Someone suggested that the landowner
                        could have saved himself a lot of trouble
                                    if he would have paid the workers
                                                in the reverse order.
            Then the ones who worked all day
                        would never have known
                                    that the others got the same pay
                                                for only an hour’s work.
 
 
But the story wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.
            It wouldn’t have made the same point.
 Which, by the way,
                        raises the question:
           
            What is the point of this story?
 
 
 
At our Monday Bible Study,
                        and again with our staff,
            I asked the group to complete the statement,
                        “This story is about ____________.”
 
And the answers were all over the place.
            Which is the joy of a story.
 
Here are some thoughts I’ve had.
            I’ve wondered sometimes
                        if the point is that God,
                                    as the landowner,
            is generous.
 
The landowner gave a full day’s wage
            to workers who had only worked an hour.
 That sounds generous.
                        And I believe that God is amazingly generous.
 
 
But on the other hand,
            if the point of the story
                        is to tell us that God is generous,
            why didn’t he give more to the workers
                        who worked all day?
 They didn’t seem to think he was generous.
            Their pay was 1 denarius—
                        --the usual pay for a laborer in those days.
                                                Nothing special.
 
So, I truly believe that God is generous.
            But there seems to be more here.
 
 
 
So, is the point of the story
            to give us an example of how to do things
                        in our daily lives?
 If we hire some folks,
            does God want us to pay them all the same,
                        no matter how much they work?
 
 
I read about a teacher
            who tried something like that one time.
   He gave all the students A’s—
                        --no matter how much work they had done
                                    during the semester,
                                                or how well they’d scored on tests.
 
 
 
 
Everybody got an A.
            Was everybody happy?
                        Hardly.
            The students who had worked hard were upset.
                        The parents were upset.
                                    The principal called the teacher in to set him straight.
 
            He didn’t try it again.
 
 
This is not a pattern
            for everyday life.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Well, then—what?
            What is Jesus doing with this story?
 
(And this is what a lot of the folks said
            on Monday night and among the staff…)
 
I think Jesus is giving us a picture.
            A picture of God’s grace.
                        And a picture of our response to God’s grace.
 
 
It doesn’t tell us everything about God’s grace and our response.
            When you take a picture,
                        it only gets a part of reality.
            When you give a picture with a story,
                        it only shows a part of reality.
 
But there’s quite a bit in this story—
                        --in this picure.
            Let me share a few thoughts.
                        What I see in the story about God’s grace.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
One thing I noticed—
            --Where is the landowner’s focus?
 
What would you expect a landowner
            to be focused on?
                        The land.
            The crop.
                        The work to be done.
                                    Sales.
                                                Profit.
 
What is this landowner’s focus?
            The workers.
                        The laborers.
 
 
Thomas Long’s commentary on Matthew
            helped me to see this.
                        He writes:
 
Ordinarily,
            one would expect the story to say
                        that the landowner hired some harvesters early in the day,
            but, when he found out there was more crop
                        than these first workers could handle,
                                    he went to secure extra help.
 
But no,
            the story says that the owner hired more workers
                        because he found them standing around,
                                    out of work.
            In other words,
                        the landowner is motivated by their need for work,
                                    not his need for workers.
 
 
 
Interesting, isn’t it?
            God’s focus is on us.
 
So often,
            I find myself focusing on the task to be done.
                        Focusing on the goal to be accomplished.
            And I don’t even think that’s bad.
 
 
But it is good news
            to realize that God’s focus
                        is on us.
            On you.
                        On me.
 
 
 
What a gift.
            God cares for us that much.
 And God has made us in such a way
                        that the work,
                                    the service,
                                                following Christ,
                                                            is part of the great joy of life.
            The workers who worked all day
                        didn’t see the work as part of the gift.
 We miss that a lot, too.
                        But God has made us for service.
                                    It’s not our purpose in life
                                                to get by with as little work as possible.
 
 
 
 
At our Monday Bible Study,
            I said that I didn’t think the Cardinals
                        would make the playoffs this year—
            --and some were disappointed
                        that I’d given up hope.
 
And then I said,
            “Have you ever thought about
                        why the baseball teams work so hard all season long.
                                    It’s so they can work some more.
                        If they get in the playoffs,
                                    they have to work longer.
                                                Play another series.
                        And if they win that,
                                    they have to work more.
                        They work so hard
                                    just to work more.”
 
 
 
 
Okay,
            I know there’s more to it than that.
                        The Monday group reminded me of that.
            But still—
                        --isn’t it interesting.
            Part of the joy of life
                        is in the work,
                                    in the journey.
 
 
Whatever work God gives us in our lives—
                        --do we look at it that way?
            That there is joy in the journey.
                        That it is a big part of the reward,
                                    to be able to continue to work,
                                                to do what God has created us to do.
 
 
 
(God gives us amazing gifts.
            God says to Peter:
                        “Whoever follows me
                                    will receive a hundredfold,
                                                and will inherit eternal life.”
 
            But the work doesn’t earn us eternal life.
                        All those things are gifts.
                                    And the work is part of the gift.
                        I think the workers who worked all day missed that.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And God gives us everything we need for daily life.
            That’s what a denarius represents—
                        --it’s what you need for the day.
            And it’s a gift from God.
 
But sometimes that grace of God,
            that gift from God,
                        isn’t something we particularly like.
 
            Especially if it’s for someone else.
 
 
God was gracious to the workers who only worked an hour.
            And what was the response
                        of the all-day workers?
 
 
The first reading assigned for today
            is from Jonah.
 As you may recall,
            God told Jonah to go to Nineveh,
                        and tell them to repent.
            And what did Jonah do?
                        He went the other way.
            Got on a ship.
                        And a storm blew up.
                                    And Jonah told the sailors
                                                that he was running from God—
                                                            --he was the one causing the storm.
                                    And so they threw him overboard.
                                                Where he was gobbled up
                                                            by a big fish.
                                                And then 3 days later,
                                                            spit up on shore.
 
Then he went to Nineveh.
            But do you know why he didn’t want to go to Nineveh?
 He said:
            “I didn’t want to go to Nineveh,
                        because I know, God,
                                    that you are gracious and merciful,
                                                slow to anger,
                                                            abounding in steadfast love.”
 
 
 
He complaining about that.
            That’s bad news.
 
 
Well, it is for him.
            Because his enemies,
                        the Assyrians of Nineveh,
                                    who really weren’t nice people at all—
            --repented.
                        And God spared them.
 
 
God’s grace is wonderful.
            But we want to control it.
 And we’re not in control of God’s grace.
            God is.
 
 
 
And sometimes we don’t like that.
            Because we want to be the ones in control.
                        We want to be in charge.
            We want to take the place of God.
 
            Fortunately, that’s not the way it works.
 
 
God’s way of doing things
            is to turn everything upside down.
 
And you know what we say:
            “It’s not fair.”
 Is that any way to run the world?
            And God says to us—
                        “Yes it is.”
            It’s my way of running the world.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And when we are filled with our sinful desire to be in control,
            we fight against it.
 But---when we are in our deepest need.
            When we see clearly that we can’t do it on our own.
                        When we realize that God is in charge—
                                    --and it’s a good thing that God is in charge
                                                instead of us.
            Then we realize that grace is amazing.
            Then we realize that God’s love surrounding us
                        is so much better
                                    than what we might think is fair.
            Then we realize that God’s way is the best way.
 
 
If I was running things,
            I really don’t think that I would have my son die for you.
                        Especially when it’s clear you don’t deserve it.
                        And neither would I.
 
            But God’s grace is so amazing,
                        that God doesn’t give us what we’re worth.
                                    God gives us what we need.
           
            Jesus—a Savior—on the cross.
                        A life of work for God.
                                    And life forever with God.
 
 
 
It really isn’t fair.
            It’s so much better than fair.
                                    It’s so much more.
            It’s grace.
                        Amazing grace.
                                                God’s grace.
 
 
In Jesus’ name,
            Amen
 
(Sections adjusted for different services,
            including addition of illustration from R.C. Sproul.)