Today’s author is Prince of Peace member, Carol Swanson.
Imagine yourself as someone in the audience listening to Jesus, a Jewish rabbi who is stirring up interest and crowds. What is he saying about the kingdom of God? Some welcome what he says. Some aren’t so sure. Some take issue with what he says. What do you think when you hear Jesus preach and when he tells the story, the parable, that tradition has titled “The Laborers in the Vineyard”? (Matthew 20:1-16) On February 19, at our Sunday Forum, Steve Sveom led a discussion on parables and asked us to consider similar questions.
I’ve also been reading a fascinating book, Short Stories by Jesus, The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, by Amy-Jill Levine. Parables are not simple children’s stories with an easy moral; rather they “remind, provoke, refine, confront, disturb…” She says, “What makes the parables mysterious, or difficult, is that they challenge us to look into the hidden aspects of our own values, our own lives.” (p 4) They raise questions, make us think.
Levine’s book also helps zero in on what Jesus was most concerned about. The parables “echo themes heard in his teaching and debates.” Economics. Relationships, especially reconciling and restoring relationships. Prioritizing…the way God wants us to live. Celebration. (pp 12-15)
How should we hear the parable about Laborers in the Vineyard? Is it mainly about God’s generosity towards the faithful? Or is it about economics, relationships, prioritizing, even celebration?
The Peoples’ Bible (NRSV), published by Fortress Press, has articles and commentaries by theologians from various ethnic backgrounds. Contributor Miguel A. De La Torre, Iliff School of Theology, Denver, writes the following about Matthew 20:1-16.
“Many interpret the parable of the hired laborers to mean that all who come to Jesus, whether early in life or at one’s deathbed, will receive the same level of grace and blessings in heaven. But what if we take the terms of the parable literally? In a Eurocentric capitalist culture that has normalized the exchange of a worker’s labor for a certain wage, we may hear Jesus suggesting an unfair business practice (though a common one!) that gives greater rewards to the workers who have not put in a full day of work. But today many migrant workers, many of them Latino and Latina, some of them undocumented, read this parable differently. Even when they are ready and able to put in a full day of work, if they are not picked, or are picked to work only a few hours, or are paid low wages, they will not earn enough to feed their family. The lesson Jesus gives workers is to be willing always to give a full day’s work; but to the owners of production, the lesson is that they have a responsibility to their workers to pay each a living wage, regardless of how many hours are actually worked.” –MDLT
The day workers first hired agreed to a denarius, the usual daily wage, gladly, I’m sure. And later workers were told by the landowner that they would be paid a “just” or “fair” wage. The surprise in the story comes when they are all paid the same! When the last hired received a denarius, the first hired expected to be paid more. I imagine Jesus the storyteller made this surprising scene quite memorable…and funny. The first hired were so indignant! The landowner had done nothing unfair and had enough of their grumbling. “Take what belongs to you and go!”
Levine writes, “Their complaint shifts the focus. …The first hired do not want to be treated equally to the last; they want to be treated better. …It is not the householder, but the workers, who have broken their own sense of community. The householder treated them equally; the first-hired resented that treatment.” (pp231, 233) Quoting NT scholar Brad. H. Young, “The laborers should have been happy about the good fortune of their coworkers who, because of the generosity of the landowner, would now have enough provision for their families.” (p233)
Jesus is about relationships. About community benefiting one another. “The householder not only fulfilled his contract with those he first hired; he also paid a full wage to those who might not have expected it. …The only point that the workers could make about him was that he was generous to others. And in making that point the workers learned their own economic lesson: the point is not that those who have ‘get more,’ but that those who have not ‘get enough.’ One does the work—in the labor force, in the kingdom—not for more reward, but for the benefit of all.” (235-236)
Generous God, open our hearts and minds to your generosity that is for all. Show us ways to be generous as well to benefit all. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth…Amen.