The Scripture reading for tomorrow is Matthew 20:1-16, however, it is helpful to read all of Matthew 19 and 20 to get the context for this parable that Jesus tells his disciples.

I remember a Bible lesson on this parable when I was in Cadets. My counselor asked the 3 or 4 of us, “Do you think that’s fair that Jesus taught that the first will be last and the last will go first?” “Not really,” we agreed, and in our heads that is kind of where we left it. We answered other questions from the Bible lesson, trying to give the right ones, but the 3 or 4 of us couldn’t get past the idea that it just wasn’t fair. We lived in an ordered world where it was a privilege to be at the front of the line at school, or the front of the line at snack time. Those at the end of the line were the ones who either took longer to get their work finished or were the slowest to follow the instructions. Why should they go first?

Needless to say, we forgot most of this when it came time for games. We played dodgeball, eagerly looking to the kitchen between each game to see if it was time for snack. When my counselor announced that it was snack time, we had to follow a few instructions (clean up the balls, make sure our kerchief and slide were in our bags and that our uniform was tucked in (I’m sure it’s in the Cadet code somewhere that a Cadet must be always presentable…), and then we lined up. Even though we all got the same snack, it was best to be first. And so we go in line, with the usual straggler or two, slowly following the instructions. On that night, for whatever reason, it seemed to take forever for the last boy to get in line. And then, my counselor announced, “The last will be first, and the first will be last!”

“What!? Not fair!” we grumbled, “He wasn’t even listening! His shirt is still untucked! HE gets to go first?! Not fair!”

I imagine that that is the same kind of reaction the workers who felt cheated would have grumbled to the landowner. “What? I worked 3 (or 6, or 9, or 12) times as long as that guy and you are paying us the same? Seriously!? … That’s not fair.” And, according to the way that we think of fairness (equal pay for equal work), they were right to protest. But the owner was being generous, nor fair.

But we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that this is a parable that Jesus tells to teach his disciples something. The pay – one denarius – is not a fortune rather it is what a day labourer needed to feed his family. It was the “daily bread” that a family needed to survive and not much more. Rather than being fair and paying the workers according to the time they put in, the landowner who represents God, chooses to be generous. To all who work for Him, this parable teaches, God gives enough.

And that is good news for us. Often, we make the assumption that we are those who have been in the vineyard since the wee morning hours, sweating through the heat of the day. But, what if we acknowledge that we might be those who showed up at 9am, noon, 3pm and even at 5pm, rather than assuming that we are the ones to whom God “owes” the most? Even so, if we know that the pay is the same for our Christian work in God’s kingdom no matter how long we work, would we really rather wait around the marketplace all day looking for work when we know that there is meaningful work to do in God’s kingdom? Or, as Jesus shows us through this parable, are we able to see that the work we are given in God’s kingdom is something to be thankful for, as is the reward we receive at the end of the day?

This is a challenging parable, one that especially challenges our perception of how God ought to act. But this is also a parable that shows us that we serve a God who chooses to be generous rather than fair. And I know that for myself, I thank God that he will be generous with me, not “fair,” because of what Jesus has done.