Proper 20A | St. Michael’s, Wall, NJ

Exodus 16:2-15; Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45; Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16

Whenever a preacher sits down with the lectionary lessons of the week, we read through them, and we often look for a theme that runs through them all. In both the Old Testament and Gospel readings this morning, I find a common theme: whining. Ok, now sometimes it feels good to whine. I saw a sign in a shop once, “Wine a bit, you’ll feel better.” But when whining gets out of hand, how often have we heard a parental voice saying, “Don’t make me pull this car over!” or “I’ll give you something to whine about!”

Before we go much further into the reading from Exodus, we need to recall the immediate context of this story: God has miraculously delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, first with the 10 plagues, and just before this reading God parted the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to escape and destroying the whole Egyptian army. Despite all of these miracles, it doesn’t take long before they are whining. No doubt…because they are hungry.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I get grumpy when I am hungry. We all do. People have started to call it being “hangry”. The issue here is not really that they are hungry, but it is that already they don’t trust God. This same God who delivered them from Egypt, this same God who promised to never forsake them – does God care that we are hungry? Does God even hear us? And more importantly can he do anything about it? The cry goes up – “Hey Moses, things were better in Egypt!”

So, here comes another miracle: God sends them quail, and God sends them Manna, a bready substance which is the Hebrew word for “what is it?” The people are satisfied. But guess what – soon enough the cry is, “We’re tired of just quails and manna. We want fresh water too!” Oof!

We here this morning can all sit back and say, “Ungrateful people! You’ll eat your quails and manna and you’ll like it!” “Don’t make me pull this car over!”

But then we come to this parable of the workers in the vineyard in our Gospel lesson this morning. Go on, admit it, you might just agree with the workers hired in the morning. These slackers who showed up at the end of the day get the same wage as the faithful laborers who worked all day. You can say it. You know you want to, “But Jesus…that’s not fair!”

Who hasn’t seen a child complain that his little brother got a bigger piece of pie? Or who hasn’t heard a child utter that magical phrase that can bring a playground full of children to a dead stop: “That’s not fair!”

Before we go any further, let me share with you how I read a parable like this.

One of the biggest mistakes we make as 21^st Century American Christians is to assume that Jesus is talking directly to us. If we read every story and every line of scripture through our own lens, we are bound to misunderstand what Jesus and the other writers of scripture are saying. Guess what, Jesus isn’t speaking to us, not primarily at least. Jesus speaking first and foremost to the people gathered to hear him, there – 1^st Century Palestine.

Next, whenever you’ve got these characters in a parable – the landowner or master, and the tenants, or workers, or servants, I believe that Jesus is primarily addressing the religious establishment of his own time, namely the Jewish leadership, Pharisees, Sadducees, and the others. In this reading, God is the landowner; members of the religious establishment are the tenants, or here laborers.

Jesus often seems to be pointing out trouble between the landowner and his workers. The relationship between God and these Israelites is in trouble.

So in this morning’s parable, the original workers have a strong sense of entitlement. They were hired in the morning and have been working all day. Anyone new hired later by the landlord needs to know their place. We were here first! New workers should be paid less and should be treated as less-than-us. That’s fair, isn’t it? Can you hear the whining?

Jesus, is at it again – turning tables. Jesus often says shocking and upsetting things. Here he is suggesting something remarkable – the landlord pays all of the workers the same wage, no matter how long they have worked. Some call the landlord generous, others call him horribly unfair.

And in response, there is grumbling, whining – somebody feels ill-used.

Now recall the audience to whom Jesus is primarily addressing this parable are the ancestors of the very same Hebrews who grumbled and complained in the wilderness that they didn’t have any food. God provided for them then, and God had provided for them in countless other ways ever since. God has been faithful time and time again.

I don’t believe Jesus is condemning them for being ungrateful, but forgetful. When the landlord, the very same person who hired them long ago, goes to pay all the workers the same wage, the longtime workers pitch a fit. The landlord simply asks them this profound question, “Are you envious because I am generous?”

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had established a pecking order, a caste system that kept “good” Jews in a higher status than the not-so-good Jews. For as many people were on the inside, there were scores more who were on the outside, further down the ladder.

But don’t begin to think this parable is directed at the Jewish leaders alone. Jesus’ disciples need to hear it too. Remember they always seem to be jockeying for position – who is Jesus’ favorite? They tried to keep children away from Jesus, and those annoying sick people. They whine about a woman who won’t leave them alone just because she has a sick daughter. Don’t bother Jesus! He’s important and you’re not!

Matthew includes this parable in his Gospel for a reason as well. The church community who first heard these stories needed a reminder – don’t forget how much grace has been shown to you!

Very quickly the earliest Christians practiced discrimination. The first Christians were all Jewish, and some of them kept Gentile converts at arms’ length. “Because we are Jews”, some thought, we are higher in the ranks than you. We are better Christians than you. Remember that many of the Gentile converts were uncircumcised former pagans. But the leaders of the church and the writers of the Gospels were treating them as if they belonged just as much as the most faithful long-timer. This angered many of the first Christians. How dare they! It’s just…not…fair!

As with many of Jesus’ parables, I believe this one is meant to remind us that God is not always predictable, and sometimes what God does may seem unfair. The early Church was founded with no pecking-order in place, no hierarchy of those who got more grace. No one got nicer bread or wine because of who they were. Instead the church, like God’s kingdom, was meant to be a place of equality. Everyone receives all of God’s grace, despite their background, despite their reputation, despite how recently they had converted.

In the church of today, we still see these struggles. While some are striving for racial reconciliation, others prefer their Sunday mornings to be more monochromatic. Some Christians still refuse to allow women to serve at the altar, but others welcome women to be bishops. The challenges are many. How do we treat gay people, trans people, immigrants, addicts, the homeless, democrats, republicans, independents? The list goes on.

In Paul’s epistle to the Philippians this morning we hear Paul, writing from prison. Paul’s not concerned about his life at the point. He knows that he has accomplished most of what he will likely be able to accomplish, and he’s concentrating on what is to come. But those in the church need to keep working as Paul puts it, “standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.” This is the ideal, but it has always been a challenge for the church – working together with one mind, striving for unity, so that our work is that much better. We allow things to divide us but we know how desperately the world around us needs to hear good news!

People will still whine, “It’s not fair that you treat those people (fill in the blank) as equals,” but this is who God is, and this is who God has called us to be. We must strive for unity, for equality, and for an end to all this whining. Amen.