“A Challenge!”

Karen Sloan 24/09/2023

Readings - Matthew 20:1-16.

Matthew 20:1-16.

20‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage,* he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; 4and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” 7They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.* 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.* 11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” 13But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?* 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”* 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’*

Jesus knew the power of a good story, a power that could be used to evoke a response and change a person, in the deepest possible way.  He knew there is a spirit filled power in a story.

Bernard Brandon Scott, a founding member of the Jesus seminar, and a scholar of the parables, writes “the parables give us access to the way Jesus re-imagined the possibility of living, of being in the world.  They are not just religious, not just about God, although they are that too… they are multifaceted reimagining’s of life, of the possibilities of life”.  But parables are by their very nature also designed to disturb, they afflict the comfortable while comforting the afflicted, or are verbal hand grenades! A great description.  Because they also speak to us, you and me.

We are to respond to them with our hearts and minds, for we have to place ourselves in the story for it to become real.

With that in mind, that they speak to us in any age, let’s look at todays.

Firstly the context, both culturally and socially,  in which it was written and spoken, as most parables were given orally.  Without that the surprise and the challenge goes missing. 

A lot of the parables in the NT are about money and the economic system under which people are forced to live. For Jesus wasted no time in the New Testament declaring himself on the side of the poor.  There are numerous places where it is very clear, what is at stake. Siding with the poor was the mark of being one of his disciples in a time when the Roman Empire ruled and when the poor suffered at the hands of landowners, bankers, creditors and even priests. 

So in today’s parable,

–      Jesus’s audience was under the occupation of the Romans

–      Landowners had a few choices

–      They could oppose the Romans and lose their land, and become day labourers themselves

–      Or they could collaborate with the Romans and participate in the abuse of their countrymen

–      In the meantime those without land suffered

As an occupied people, the Jews were waiting for a savour other than Caesar to bring about change.

They cried out, when would the oppression would cease, when would the occupation cease.

They were wanting a savour to rescue them, but savours were seen to be pointing to some far off time and place.  Jesus says things can and are changing, right here and now!!!

So let’s try to bring this parable into the 21st century. And I thank Amy Jill Levine and Dawn Hutchinson for unpacking some of this.….

The current minimum wage is roughly $800 a week in Australia, much less in other countries, like Pakistan and Bangladesh and living cost are rising crazily.  There is a rise of the working poor, here and elsewhere.

So let’s place ourselves in the story…

·      we are the landowners

·      we want to pay less

·      we want to pay the labourers less

·      we are the landowners

mmm

·      we want to pay less taxes

·      we want to pay less for our groceries

·      we want to pay less for our stuff

·      my Ipad, my phone, I want to pay less, so Apple pays less, they find an oppressive system and so they make their Ipads in China, or in third world countries with poor worker protection

·      and it’s not just Apple, it’s the whole economic system, its retail, its clothing, its tv and other electronics, its shoes and bags, it’s the oil and gas industry.

·      What else?

·      We want to pay less

·      But we also want more

·      We want our investments to provide us with bigger dividends

·      We want our land to increase in value

·      We want more

·      We want more for less

·      We want to play less taxes

·      The system is frankly unjust, and it abuses workers and we benefit directly from that system by paying less

mmm

·      Are you disturbed yet!!!

·      God isn’t going to save us from the system

·      God is going to work in, with and through us to change the system.

·      We, after all are the landowners

·      We are the beneficiaries of the system

·      When is God going to intervene and get rid of the injustice of it all?

·      God is already intervening, right now.

·      The system changes when landowners like you and me pay more than what is fair!

·      The landowner in the parable does something extraordinary and very courageous.

·      He doesn’t pay what is fair but what is needed to change the status quo

·      He pays what his workers need, all of them.

The system of injustice ends when you and I pay more and get less.

The good news is that there is more than enough to go around. Much more.

According to Jesus, the kingdom of God is already here.  The kingdom of God happens in, with and through you and me.

Are you ready to pay more and receive less?

Are you bothered now.

·      Are you disturbed yet..

·      Are you challenged yet..

·      Even at any age

 This is how a parable should work!!!

This is the re-imagined world of the parables Jesus was giving his listeners and us..

…..

Maybe we could apply this to our current debate on the Voice, but that is for next week! But let me just say, it’s not just about money or wages but power, and recognition as well. Can we take less of all of that, so that others, our first nations people can grow.

Amen