I've heard from quite a few religious people that one thing they don't want is to hear politics preached from the pulpit. I don't blame them. Especially when one considers the kind of super-charged, divisive rhetoric that comes out of the mouths of politicians these days. Or perhaps they are thinking of the kinds of half-truths and flat out false statements that politicians make in order to push their own narrow agenda, and they are worried that preaching politics from the pulpit would mean that their pastor has some other agenda to push other than the gospel. Or maybe they don't want to hear politics preached from the pulpit simply because quite frankly, they hear it everywhere else. Turning on the news at any time of the day or night we hear about politics. Families and friends discuss it over meals-- sometimes leading to conflict and anger. We hear it on the radio as we drive to work in the morning. Politics is everywhere. And so perhaps some people just want a place where they don't have to hear about politics. All of the reasons listed above are understandable, and are actually great reasons for any pastor not to touch politics with a 10 foot pole.
And yet, listening to the current candidates for president talk about everything from how we care for the sick to how we treat people from other countries, it strikes me that so much of the political debate is touching on issues that are deeply moral, and deeply connected to the question of what it means to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. And truly, the last thing I want to do is preach politics. But I do want to preach the gospel, and as it turns out, things like caring for the sick, how we care for the least in our society, how we take care of our children, and how we treat people from outside our borders-- well, those are all political as well as moral issues. They are all topics that are addressed in not only Christians scriptures, but Jewish and Muslim scriptures as well. Our command to love God and love neighbor means that we must engage on these social issues. The challenge then, is to engage in a way that does not fall into partisan bickering or political rhetoric, but rather, to engage in such a way that is faithful to scripture and faithful to Christ's commandment that we love one another as he first loved us.
It's not an easy thing to do, because morality and politics have become so intertwined. But to get started thinking about these things, I will be writing a series of blog posts about God, politics, and moral issues. Included will be posts on the economy and taxes, health care, immigration, and social concerns. Each topic will include a reflection of what it would look like to love our neighbor as our self on that particular issue. Comments and further discussion are welcome! Stay tuned!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Fairness Factor: A Sermon on Matthew 20:1-16
I suspect it’s happened to all of us at one time or another— we are going about our lives, diligently and thoughtfully, working hard to care for our families, making sacrifices for those whom we love-- and we see someone else— perhaps it’s a less than hard-working co-worker, or maybe it’s a sibling or family member who doesn’t always pull their weight, or a friend that tends to shirk responsibility-- we see them receive something that we don’t think they deserve. The lazy co-worker gets a raise. The flaky family member receives an extra large inheritance. The irresponsible friend is promoted at their job. I would imagine that something like this has happened to all of us at some point in our lives. And at one time or another, we’ve all had the opportunity to utter those three little words--
It’s not fair!
This morning’s parable from the Gospel of Matthew is one of those stories which causes us to stop in our tracks. It causes that little fairness barometer to go off in our heads as we detect that something is not quite right. Many of us— I suspect-- can easily sympathize with the workers who cry out to the landowner,“these last ones worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the day’s burden and heat.” It just doesn’t seem fair, does it?
One particular preacher has nicknamed this story the “Why Bother?” parable— for if all are going to be paid the same wage regardless of how long or how hard they worked, well then, why bother? It’s a particularly vexing parable for us, I think, because we live in a society where fairness is a value that is deeply ingrained in who we are as a culture and as a country. We have built this country around notions of justice and fairness, of concepts like equal pay for equal work. Taken at face value then, this parable would seem not only to be unfair, but would also seem to fly in the face of everything we value. And what are we supposed to do with that?
Fortunately, parables are not meant to be taken at face value. Parables play on themes of ordinary life-- such as workers in a field, wayward sons, or seeds planted in the ground— and introduce some element of the extra-ordinary— some element of the unusual or unexpected-- in order to reveal something about the nature of God. And so while our natural reaction to this story might be to feel outraged over the injustice of the situation, it’s important to pause for a moment and consider what else might be going on in this story.
When it comes right down to it, many of us in the church have probably heard enough sermons on this parable to know that what Jesus is really talking about here has nothing to do with labor rights or fair wages. The parable of the workers in the vineyard is really a tale about the abundant nature of God’s grace and the generosity with which it is extended to any and all who wish to receive it. Whether they come to the table early, or whether they arrive at the very last minute, it is available to all.
Now when it came to Jesus’ original audience, this was a particularly radical claim to make because for a number of 1st century Jews, theirs was a religious system in which those who obeyed God were rewarded with health and material prosperity, and those who strayed from God ‘s law were punished with illness or misfortune. It was a merit-based system— you either earned God’s favor or you incurred God’s wrath. It’s the kind of thinking that prompts Jesus to tell this parable in the first place. The passage leading up to this parable in the gospel of Matthew is the famous story of the rich man who asks Jesus what he must do in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. When Jesus replies that he must sell everything he owns and give the money to the poor, the man walks away dismayed, and Jesus’ disciples are astounded— “who then can be saved?” they ask. But the disciples also take a certain amount of pride In just how much they have sacrificed to follow Jesus.
“Hey Jesus,” Peter says, “we’ve left everything to follow you-- aren’t we so much better than that guy? What will we get for being great disciples? How much better is it going to be for us when we get to heaven?”
In response to this line of questioning, Jesus tells this parable. Ostensibly saying to his disciples, yes-- God will pour out blessings for you in the kingdom. You will receive God’s abundant grace. But guess what— so will that other guy— so will all those people out there to whom you have been comparing yourselves. It’s not so different from this morning’s reading from the Hebrew Scriptures-- the story of Jonah’s journey to Nineveh, and his anger at God’s generous act of forgiveness.
“Is it right for you to be angry?” God asks Jonah.
It’s a question that is mirrored in the parable when the landowner asks the workers, “are you angry because I am generous?”
These stories do reveal something about the nature of God. But they also reveal something about ourselves. To Jonah, God revealed his sins of jealousy and self-righteousness. To the disciples, Jesus revealed a flaw in their merit-based system of religion. And so the question for us then becomes, what does this parable reveal about us, about the world we live in, and about who God is calling us to be?
As 21st century Christians, we may no longer adhere to a merit-based religion. We may very well agree with Jesus that God’s grace is generous, unconditional, and available to all. But we do still live in a merit-based culture. One that encourages us to establish our worth based on how we measure up-- how we compare with co-workers, friends, family members, or siblings. And no matter what we believe about God’s unconditional grace, it can be difficult to completely isolate ourselves from the culture around us. We may hold the belief that all are equal in the sight of God— but that doesn’t stop us from thinking to ourselves every now and then-- well at least I’m a better worker than so and so… a better daughter, a better son, a better American, a better Christian.
The truth is, it can be exhausting, living in such a competitive environment. It can be exhausting, always comparing ourselves with others. Maybe there are times when it puffs us up and makes us feel good about ourselves. But the flip side of that is there will always be people who are smarter, more attractive, more charitable, more deserving than us. And the more we seek validation by comparing ourselves with those around us, the more we will tend to put ourselves above others in order to maintain our sense of worth.
So what does Jesus’ parable have to say in the midst of our competitive world? Where is the good news in all of this? Well the good news is this: we can stop the endless comparisons-- because our worth lies not in how we compare to others, but in the fact that we are created by God—wonderfully, and fearfully, and uniquely made. And whether we deserve it or not, whether we earn it or not, we were created to receive God’s grace. And that’s good news for all those times when we aren’t the ones working from dawn till dusk. All those times when we mess up, slack off, or act selfishly. It is in those moments when we can be thankful that God’s ways are not like our ways, that God is perhaps not always fair, but God is always generous.
Now of course, this line of reasoning always brings us back around to the question asked at the outset— “Why bother?” If God is going to pour out love, grace, and forgiveness to anyone— regardless of what we DO— then why does it even matter how we live? Why bother going to church? Why bother worrying about the poor? Why don’t we just live our lives the way we please? Then we can come before God at the end and ask for forgiveness, and all will be well. Right?
Well, not quite. And here’s why: at the end of the day, parables are not just riddles meant to be decoded. Parables aren’t just about knowing. They are also about doing. Jesus confronts us in the parables with a new way of perceiving reality, a new way of thinking about God, and then challenges us to do something about it. In the case of the parable of the workers in the vineyard, we are called not only to recognize the truth about our generous and gracious God, but to be imitators of that truth. Just like the parable takes elements of ordinary life and turns them around in order to teach us something about God’s extravagant love, so too are we called to look at ordinary life going on around us and turn it upside down-- infusing the status quo with extra-ordinary grace, compassion, forgiveness, and love.
In other words, in a world that so often says that there may not be enough to go around— we are called to be generous, extravagant, perhaps even a little reckless, in the way we share our time, our resources, and indeed our very selves.
In a world that so often says that certain people are less than worthy of our time and attention, we are called to welcome those people. To give them not only a place at the table, but to give them places of honor.
In a world where we so often compete against one another to determine who is most worthy-- in a world where we have to strive so hard in order to earn the attention and respect of others-- we are called to recognize that all are equal in the eyes of God.
Stepping through the doors of the church, it doesn’t matter if you are the CEO or if you are struggling with unemployment. It doesn’t matter if you are the most respected member of your community or if you feel like you’ve screwed up one too many times to be worthy of anyone’s love or forgiveness. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a church member all your life or if this is the first time you’ve been to church in 20 years. In this place— we all have a place.
I think this is so important to remember in the midst of a culture that often separates and divides us based on how we measure up. As the church, we have something important to offer to all those who seek an alternative to the endless power struggles of secular culture. The church has a message for those who are weary of the competition, weary of constantly trying to climb the ladder, weary of always needing to define their worth in comparison with others. It’s a message that says that even though we live in a competitive world, we do not have to compete for God’s love. Indeed, we cannot compete for God’s love. And what’s more-- in this place-- nor should anyone have to compete for ours.
The apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians that through Christ, we have been transformed. We are no longer to see the world through our limited human point of view. We are to be ambassadors of Christ in this competitive world. Therefore, the work of extravagant grace and gratuitous mercy is not just God’s work. It is our work as well. And one of the biggest challenges about that is that oftentimes, it has nothing to do with what’s fair. At least not by worldly standards. It’s not about what’s fair. It’s about grace. Undeserved, and unconditional.
It’s not fair!
This morning’s parable from the Gospel of Matthew is one of those stories which causes us to stop in our tracks. It causes that little fairness barometer to go off in our heads as we detect that something is not quite right. Many of us— I suspect-- can easily sympathize with the workers who cry out to the landowner,“these last ones worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the day’s burden and heat.” It just doesn’t seem fair, does it?
One particular preacher has nicknamed this story the “Why Bother?” parable— for if all are going to be paid the same wage regardless of how long or how hard they worked, well then, why bother? It’s a particularly vexing parable for us, I think, because we live in a society where fairness is a value that is deeply ingrained in who we are as a culture and as a country. We have built this country around notions of justice and fairness, of concepts like equal pay for equal work. Taken at face value then, this parable would seem not only to be unfair, but would also seem to fly in the face of everything we value. And what are we supposed to do with that?
Fortunately, parables are not meant to be taken at face value. Parables play on themes of ordinary life-- such as workers in a field, wayward sons, or seeds planted in the ground— and introduce some element of the extra-ordinary— some element of the unusual or unexpected-- in order to reveal something about the nature of God. And so while our natural reaction to this story might be to feel outraged over the injustice of the situation, it’s important to pause for a moment and consider what else might be going on in this story.
When it comes right down to it, many of us in the church have probably heard enough sermons on this parable to know that what Jesus is really talking about here has nothing to do with labor rights or fair wages. The parable of the workers in the vineyard is really a tale about the abundant nature of God’s grace and the generosity with which it is extended to any and all who wish to receive it. Whether they come to the table early, or whether they arrive at the very last minute, it is available to all.
Now when it came to Jesus’ original audience, this was a particularly radical claim to make because for a number of 1st century Jews, theirs was a religious system in which those who obeyed God were rewarded with health and material prosperity, and those who strayed from God ‘s law were punished with illness or misfortune. It was a merit-based system— you either earned God’s favor or you incurred God’s wrath. It’s the kind of thinking that prompts Jesus to tell this parable in the first place. The passage leading up to this parable in the gospel of Matthew is the famous story of the rich man who asks Jesus what he must do in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. When Jesus replies that he must sell everything he owns and give the money to the poor, the man walks away dismayed, and Jesus’ disciples are astounded— “who then can be saved?” they ask. But the disciples also take a certain amount of pride In just how much they have sacrificed to follow Jesus.
“Hey Jesus,” Peter says, “we’ve left everything to follow you-- aren’t we so much better than that guy? What will we get for being great disciples? How much better is it going to be for us when we get to heaven?”
In response to this line of questioning, Jesus tells this parable. Ostensibly saying to his disciples, yes-- God will pour out blessings for you in the kingdom. You will receive God’s abundant grace. But guess what— so will that other guy— so will all those people out there to whom you have been comparing yourselves. It’s not so different from this morning’s reading from the Hebrew Scriptures-- the story of Jonah’s journey to Nineveh, and his anger at God’s generous act of forgiveness.
“Is it right for you to be angry?” God asks Jonah.
It’s a question that is mirrored in the parable when the landowner asks the workers, “are you angry because I am generous?”
These stories do reveal something about the nature of God. But they also reveal something about ourselves. To Jonah, God revealed his sins of jealousy and self-righteousness. To the disciples, Jesus revealed a flaw in their merit-based system of religion. And so the question for us then becomes, what does this parable reveal about us, about the world we live in, and about who God is calling us to be?
As 21st century Christians, we may no longer adhere to a merit-based religion. We may very well agree with Jesus that God’s grace is generous, unconditional, and available to all. But we do still live in a merit-based culture. One that encourages us to establish our worth based on how we measure up-- how we compare with co-workers, friends, family members, or siblings. And no matter what we believe about God’s unconditional grace, it can be difficult to completely isolate ourselves from the culture around us. We may hold the belief that all are equal in the sight of God— but that doesn’t stop us from thinking to ourselves every now and then-- well at least I’m a better worker than so and so… a better daughter, a better son, a better American, a better Christian.
The truth is, it can be exhausting, living in such a competitive environment. It can be exhausting, always comparing ourselves with others. Maybe there are times when it puffs us up and makes us feel good about ourselves. But the flip side of that is there will always be people who are smarter, more attractive, more charitable, more deserving than us. And the more we seek validation by comparing ourselves with those around us, the more we will tend to put ourselves above others in order to maintain our sense of worth.
So what does Jesus’ parable have to say in the midst of our competitive world? Where is the good news in all of this? Well the good news is this: we can stop the endless comparisons-- because our worth lies not in how we compare to others, but in the fact that we are created by God—wonderfully, and fearfully, and uniquely made. And whether we deserve it or not, whether we earn it or not, we were created to receive God’s grace. And that’s good news for all those times when we aren’t the ones working from dawn till dusk. All those times when we mess up, slack off, or act selfishly. It is in those moments when we can be thankful that God’s ways are not like our ways, that God is perhaps not always fair, but God is always generous.
Now of course, this line of reasoning always brings us back around to the question asked at the outset— “Why bother?” If God is going to pour out love, grace, and forgiveness to anyone— regardless of what we DO— then why does it even matter how we live? Why bother going to church? Why bother worrying about the poor? Why don’t we just live our lives the way we please? Then we can come before God at the end and ask for forgiveness, and all will be well. Right?
Well, not quite. And here’s why: at the end of the day, parables are not just riddles meant to be decoded. Parables aren’t just about knowing. They are also about doing. Jesus confronts us in the parables with a new way of perceiving reality, a new way of thinking about God, and then challenges us to do something about it. In the case of the parable of the workers in the vineyard, we are called not only to recognize the truth about our generous and gracious God, but to be imitators of that truth. Just like the parable takes elements of ordinary life and turns them around in order to teach us something about God’s extravagant love, so too are we called to look at ordinary life going on around us and turn it upside down-- infusing the status quo with extra-ordinary grace, compassion, forgiveness, and love.
In other words, in a world that so often says that there may not be enough to go around— we are called to be generous, extravagant, perhaps even a little reckless, in the way we share our time, our resources, and indeed our very selves.
In a world that so often says that certain people are less than worthy of our time and attention, we are called to welcome those people. To give them not only a place at the table, but to give them places of honor.
In a world where we so often compete against one another to determine who is most worthy-- in a world where we have to strive so hard in order to earn the attention and respect of others-- we are called to recognize that all are equal in the eyes of God.
Stepping through the doors of the church, it doesn’t matter if you are the CEO or if you are struggling with unemployment. It doesn’t matter if you are the most respected member of your community or if you feel like you’ve screwed up one too many times to be worthy of anyone’s love or forgiveness. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a church member all your life or if this is the first time you’ve been to church in 20 years. In this place— we all have a place.
I think this is so important to remember in the midst of a culture that often separates and divides us based on how we measure up. As the church, we have something important to offer to all those who seek an alternative to the endless power struggles of secular culture. The church has a message for those who are weary of the competition, weary of constantly trying to climb the ladder, weary of always needing to define their worth in comparison with others. It’s a message that says that even though we live in a competitive world, we do not have to compete for God’s love. Indeed, we cannot compete for God’s love. And what’s more-- in this place-- nor should anyone have to compete for ours.
The apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians that through Christ, we have been transformed. We are no longer to see the world through our limited human point of view. We are to be ambassadors of Christ in this competitive world. Therefore, the work of extravagant grace and gratuitous mercy is not just God’s work. It is our work as well. And one of the biggest challenges about that is that oftentimes, it has nothing to do with what’s fair. At least not by worldly standards. It’s not about what’s fair. It’s about grace. Undeserved, and unconditional.
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