Perspective: Offensive Thoughts About an Offensive Parable

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Offensive Thoughts About an Offensive Parable

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Matthew 20:16 (NRSV)

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'

From "The Times They Are A-Changin'" by Bob Dylan

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells a story about a vineyard owner who hires day laborers to harvest grapes.  Early in the morning, the vineyard owner hires a group of workers, agreeing to pay them a denarius, the standard daily wage at the time.  A few hours later, at nine o'clock in the morning, he goes to the marketplace and hires additional workers, agreeing to pay them "whatever is right."  The vineyard owner goes out three more times that day - at noon, at three o'clock in the afternoon, and finally at five o'clock - hiring more and more workers to harvest grapes.¹

At the end of the workday, the vineyard owner sends his manager to pay the laborers he hired, instructing him to start with those he hired last.  The workers who were hired at five o'clock receive a denarius, as do all of the other workers who were hired throughout the day.  Naturally, the workers who were hired first expect to receive more, since they worked the entire day, but they too receive a denarius, the same amount paid to those who were hired last.²

As one might expect, the laborers who were hired first feel cheated.  They complain to the vineyard owner, saying, "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."³

The vineyard owner replies, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?  Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or are you envious because I am generous?"⁴

What I'm supposed to tell you about the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard is that it teaches us that, whether a person turns to God early in life or late in life, the person will be met with God's abundant grace.  That said, I've wondered if maybe this typical interpretation is actually an over-spiritualization of this parable, and recently I've started to wonder if maybe we over-spiritualize this parable in order to make it less offensive.  A literal reading of the parable is a shock to our system, and the real-world implications of such a reading would be unthinkable to many of us.

When we encounter this parable, everything inside us screams that the laborers who worked all day should be paid a lot more than those who were hired toward the end of the day.  Someone who worked twelve hours should be paid twelve times as much as someone who worked only one hour.  It's only fair, after all.  The idea that someone who worked only one hour should be paid the same amount as someone who worked twelve hours offends our sensibilities.

Notice that, when the vineyard owner hires the first workers early in the morning, he agrees to pay them the standard daily wage but that, when he goes out later in the day to hire workers, he agrees to pay them "whatever is right."  Apparently, in the vineyard owner's eyes, the right thing to do is to pay all of his workers the standard daily wage, regardless of how long they worked for him.  He gives his workers both a living wage and also the dignity of having worked for it, even if they only worked one hour.

Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like this vineyard owner.⁵

What St. Matthew calls the "Kingdom of Heaven," other Gospel writers call the Kingdom of God.  This Kingdom is not Heaven itself but rather the place where God's will is done "on earth as it is in heaven."⁶  It is where God reigns.  It is the world as God intended it to be.

When Jesus begins His public ministry, He proclaims, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."⁷  Repentance is not merely feeling bad about the sins one has committed.  As I've noted countless times on this blog, the Greek word metanoia, which is translated into English as repentance, literally describes a change of mind.  Repentance is a change in the way one thinks that ultimately changes the way one lives.⁸  The world as we know it is not what God intended it to be, so if the Kingdom of God is indeed breaking into this world, then we need to be ready to rethink anything and everything.

Maybe we even need to rethink something as basic as the idea that a person who works twelve hours should be paid twelve times as much as someone who works only one hour.  If the Kingdom of Heaven is indeed like the vineyard owner in Jesus' parable, then maybe God wants us to care about what people need and not what they deserve.

Maybe, dear reader, when you hear Jesus call people to repent in preparation for the coming of the Kingdom of God, you are tempted think that He is talking to everyone besides you.  Surely Jesus doesn't think about things differently than you do!  After all, if your opinions were wrong, you would have changed them by now, right?

Maybe you need to let go of some of your most deeply held beliefs, including your beliefs about politics and economics.  I've heard it said that, though people commonly leave their churches over politics, they rarely ever leave their politics over the Church.  What if Jesus is not the good conservative, progressive, capitalist, or socialist you think He ought to be?  Would you still want to be part of what God is doing in the world through Him?


Notes:

1. Matthew 20:1-7
2. Matthew 20:8-10
3. Matthew 20:11-12 (NRSV)
4. Matthew 20:13-15 (NRSV)
5. Matthew 20:1
6. Matthew 6:10 (NRSV)
7. Matthew 4:17 (NRSV)
8. Wikipedia: "Metanoia (theology)"

Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard was painted by Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich in the 1750s.

Perspective: The Kingdom Is Like...

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

The Kingdom Is Like...

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:3 (NRSV)

It's everything you ever want
It's everything you ever need
And it's here right in front of you
This is where you wanna be

From "The Greatest Show" by Pasek and Paul

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that, when Jesus begins His public ministry, He announces, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."¹  Later on, we read that, when He sends out His disciples to do the things He has been doing in His ministry, He instructs them to announce that "the kingdom of heaven has come near" as they liberate people from their diseases and demons.²

Jesus mentions the Kingdom of Heaven throughout His teachings, but He only seems to come close to defining it in the Sermon on the Mount, when He teaches His followers to pray, saying, "Your kingdom come.  Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."³  The Kingdom of Heaven is not limited to some distant realm beyond this world.  It is a kingdom coming to this world.  It is the place where God's will is done.  Perhaps Jesus and His disciples are announcing that the Kingdom of Heaven is actually invading this world, and perhaps their miraculous healings are signs that this invasion is indeed taking place.

I've come to understand the Bible as the story of how the good world God created was corrupted by evil and how God has been working to set the world right.⁴  That said, I've come to understand the Kingdom of Heaven - or Kingdom of God, as it is called in other Gospels - as the world as God intended it to be.

One day, Jesus tells a series of parables in which He compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a number of different things.  Perhaps these parables teach us something about how God is redeeming this world.

First, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a farmer who scatters seeds on different patches of soil.  Some patches of soil are more suitable for the seeds than others.⁵  This parable teaches us that some people will be more receptive of the announcement that "the kingdom of heaven has come near" than other people.  For example, people who benefit from the injustice in this world might not hear the news that the world is going to be set right as good news, while people who daily suffer from injustice are ready for a change.

Second, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a farmer who sows wheat in his field and allows the stalks of wheat to grow alongside weeds until the harvest.  He will not allow his servants to pull up the weeds because they might uproot the good wheat he planted.⁶  This parable teaches us that God's redemptive work requires patience and that our own ideas for rooting out what we think is wrong in the world can be shortsighted.

Next, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a tiny mustard seed that, when planted, grows into a large plant in which birds find shelter.  He then compares the Kingdom of Heaven to some yeast that is thoroughly mixed into flour.⁷  These parables teach us that doing the redemptive work God gives us might seem inconsequential at first but that it makes a major impact in time.

Next, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a treasure found in a field, which compels the finder to sell everything he owns so that he can buy the field.  He then compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a pearl merchant who sells everything he owns so that he can buy one extremely valuable pearl.⁸  These parables teach us that the world as God intended it to be is worth divesting ourselves of the ways of the world in its present state and that God’s kingdom is made up of people who have done this very work of repentance.

Finally, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a net that catches all kinds of fish.  The good fish are kept and the bad fish are discarded.⁹ This parable, like the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds before it, teach us that God's redemptive work will require judgment and winnowing.  Some things in this world, like greed, hatred, exploitation, and oppression, cannot be allowed to continue if God's will is to be done on earth as in heaven.

The Kingdom of Heaven has been described as both "already" and "not yet."  Though the Kingdom of Heaven has not yet been fully realized in our world, we can already catch glimpses of it if we are paying attention.

Notes:

1. Matthew 4:17 (NRSV)
2. Matthew 10:7-8 (NRSV)
3. Matthew 6:10 (NRSV)
4. See N.T. Wright's article "How Can the Bible Be Authoritative?"
5. Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23
6. Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
7. Matthew 13:31-33
8. Matthew 13:44-46
9. Matthew 13:47-50

The photograph featured above was taken by me in May 2016 in the driveway of my grandmother's house.

Introspection: A Personal Challenge

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

A Personal Challenge

Therefore, don't be afraid of those people because nothing is hidden that won't be revealed, and nothing secret that won't be brought out into the open.  What I say to you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, announce from the rooftops.

Matthew 10:26-27 (CEB)

Say it like it is
Say it like you mean it
Words are strong enough to say you care
Say it like it is
Say it like you mean it
Words are strong enough to make you swear

From "Say" by Nemesea

If you've been following this blog for a while, then you probably know that I am a Lay Speaker in the United Methodist Church.  In other words, I've been certified to fill in at churches in the denomination when their pastors are on vacation or are otherwise unable to be present.  Effectively, I am a "substitute preacher."  Due to various reasons, I haven't had very many opportunities to preach in the last few years.  Until last November, I had not preached in nearly a year and a half.  Recently a pastor who is a friend of mine asked me to fill in for her on two Sundays within the last few weeks.

When I write sermons, I typically follow the Revised Common Lectionary, a three-year cycle of assigned weekly Bible readings used my many churches.  A week's readings typically consist of a reading from one of the Gospels, another reading from the New Testament, a reading from the Psalms, and another reading from the Old Testament.¹  I usually base my sermons on the Gospel readings.  When I started preaching, I made it a practice to preach on readings from the Lectionary, because I wanted to know if I could preach on any given Sunday.  Sometimes, when I'm asked to preach, I find that I've already preached on one of the passages for the week or a similar passage, and I am able to revise a sermon I've delivered previously.

When I was asked to preach on the third Sunday in June, I found that I already had a sermon based on the Epistle reading for the week.  For some reason, I just didn't want to deliver that sermon again.  The previous three times I preached, I revised sermons I had delivered previously, and I think I just wanted to write something new.

It's also worth noting that the reason I had a sermon based on the Epistle reading for the week was that I previously did not want to preach on the Gospel reading.  In that particular passage, Jesus says a number of things that are challenging and even downright frightening.  For example, He seems to threaten His hearers with eternal damnation when He says, "Don't be afraid of those who kill the body but can't kill the soul.  Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell."²  Jesus seems to threaten His hearers yet again when He says, "Everyone who denies me before people, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven."³  Finally, Jesus says, "Don't think that I've come to bring peace to the earth.  I haven't come to bring peace but a sword."⁴  This is a rather strange statement for the One who is called the Prince of Peace to make.

I decided to take a second look at that dreadful passage, and, when I read it within its context, I gained a new appreciation for it.  The passage is part of a larger section of the Gospel of Matthew that is sometimes called the Mission Discourse.⁵  In it, Jesus commissions the Disciples to go out and the same things He has been doing in His ministry, and He warns them that they will face the same hostility He has started to face.⁶  When Jesus makes His frightening and hopefully hyperbolic statements, He is acknowledging the often disruptive nature of His work and challenging the Disciples to be courageous in the face of hostility.

For about three weeks, the Mission Discourse and the sermon I was writing about it occupied my thoughts.  Because I've been confronted with my own cowardice more than once this year, the Gospel passage I once found scary became a personal challenge.  I felt that, like the Disciples, I too was being challenged to be courageous.

As I wrote my sermon bit by bit, I found myself venturing into subject matter that I thought would be controversial at the churches where I would be preaching.  I touched on things that I consider problematic about Christianity in America.  I wondered how my sermon would be received.  I expected that I would be stepping on people's toes, so to speak.  I told some members of my Sunday school class that I thought the sermon I was preparing was "a bit much" and joked that I would probably be burned at the stake for it.

As people who call ourselves disciples of Jesus, we must consider honestly what we are doing.  Are we trying to liberate people, as Jesus did when He freed people from their demons and diseases, or are we trying to keep people in their places?  Are we offering people hope, or are we misusing Jesus' name to instill fear and shame into people?  Are we heralding the heavenly Kingdom that Jesus announced, or are we serving some earthly kingdom instead?  Jesus once used these words from the Book of Isaiah to describe what He was doing: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor..."  Do the poor, the oppressed, the disadvantaged, and other such "lost sheep" hear good news from us, or, in their eyes, have we joined the "wolves" who prey upon them?

Excerpted from my sermon "Sheep Among Wolves"

I thought I was acting courageously by preaching a potentially controversial sermon about a Bible passage I found challenging.  If anyone at either of the two churches where I preached that morning found anything I said offensive, they didn't tell me.  All of the feedback I received was positive.  Maybe the people to whom I preached weren't listening.  Maybe they just heard what they wanted to hear.  Maybe I used such vague language nobody really understood what I was trying to say.  Maybe I didn't actually say anything controversial at all.

At least I can say that I tried to be courageous, I guess.  If nothing else, I can hope that God heard and answered the prayer I prayed before I started preaching that Sunday, that each of us who were present would hear whatever God wanted us to hear.


Notes:

1. Wikipedia: "Revised Common Lectionary"
2. Matthew 10:28 (CEB)
3. Matthew 10:33 (CEB)
4. Matthew 10:34 (CEB)
5. Wikipedia: "Matthew 10"
6. Matthew 10:1-25

The photograph featured in this introspection has been released to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.