Eleventh-Hour Justice
If we are going to trust God and enjoy God and love life, we have to understand how God views justice and relationships.
We
tend to base our relationships on justice and fairness because we feel a
measure of control. We know what to do, we know what to expect, and we
know what we deserve. But Jesus has a habit of messing with our concept
of justice. Matthew chapter 20 gives us a parable told by Jesus that
does just that. I’m going to start with the last verse of chapter 19.
(Matthew 19:30)
But
many who are first will be last, and the last first. For the kingdom of
heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire
laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a
denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about
the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said
to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will
give you.” So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth
hour, and did likewise.
And
about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and
said to them, “Why have you been standing here idle all day?” They said
to him, “Because no one hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into
the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.”
So
when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward,
“Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to
the first.” And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour,
they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed
that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a
denarius.
And
when they had received it, they complained against the landowner,
saying, “These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them
equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.”
But
he answered one of them and said, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did
you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your
way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not
lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil
because I am good?”
So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.
Jesus
starts this parable by saying that this is what His kingdom is like:
the last are first and the first are last. In other words, in the
domain, culture, and community that Jesus is building, our ranking
systems are backward.
Jesus is redefining our idea of justice.
Why
is this important? Because if we try to relate to God based on what
we’ve done, what we deserve, and what we think He should do for us,
we’re going to end up as confused as these vineyard workers.
God’s idea of justice requires a great deal of trust from us. We have to believe He is good and He will take care of us. As
human beings we naturally think along the lines of what we’ve earned
and what we deserve and what is fair. But Jesus says, “Let me tell you
what my kingdom is like” and proceeds to tell a story that is flat-out
frustrating. It’s frustrating unless you’re the eleventh-hour worker,
that is. I
find that often when I’m disturbed or discouraged, it isn’t because my
life is terrible. It’s because something in my life isn’t meeting my
expectations. God isn’t doing what I think he should, and I have a hard
time just letting go and trusting Him.
I’ve noticed that how much I enjoy God and life is directly tied to how much I trust God in my life. Just
like this ancient culture, we have a ranking system. It usually exists
in the secrecy and the crevices of our hearts, but we all classify each
other. We all rank each other.
“Wow, that’s a beautiful person, a real top-shelf kind of beauty.”
“That woman is such an excellent human being.”
“He’s a gifted guy. Amazing talent.”
“Um, him — not so talented. Not so gifted.”
“Whoa... hard to look at.”
You know what I mean? We all have our class system.
Jesus
essentially says, “I understand how you think. I understand you have
first place and second place and eighth place and dead last. You have a
ranking system, but you need to understand My ranking system. Many whom
you think are first are actually going to be last; and many whom you
think are last are actually going to be first.”
“Uh, wait. What?”
Notice
in Jesus’ parable that the only group of workers with a contract with
the landowner is the first group. They agree to work a full day — twelve
hours — for one denarius, which was a standard day’s wage. This is a
fair agreement. They work an honest day and they get paid an honest
day’s wages. Everyone knows what to expect. Everyone is happy with the
terms.
At
the third hour, which would have been around nine o’clock, the
landowner goes back and hires some more workers. These workers, however,
are hired on trust, not on contract. The owner doesn’t tell them how
much he is going to pay them. He just says, “I’ll pay you whatever is
right.”
He
does the same thing at the sixth hour and ninth hour, or noon and three
o’clock. Finally, at the eleventh hour, an hour before quitting time,
he hires one last group. And he tells them the same thing: “Trust me.
I’ll pay you what is right. I’ll pay you fairly.”
Then
the work is done, the whistle blows, and it’s time to get paid. This is
where the friction starts. It’s fascinating to me that the landowner
insists that his paymaster pay first the guys who arrived last. Why
didn’t he pay the first workers first? That would have made sense. Or
maybe pay them in alphabetical order? Or have them line up randomly? The
landowner seems a bit sadistic, like he’s trying to pick a fight here.
Actually Jesus is making a point: grace can be frustrating.
“Okay,
eleventh-hour guys. Where are you?” The paymaster has his bag of coins
in hand. So the workers who showed up an hour before quitting come
forward. They are fresh and energetic and they smell nice. They never
broke a sweat. Their manicures are impeccable. The owner says, “We
agreed that I would pay you what is fair, right? So here’s a denarius
for you, and a denarius for you, and one for you...”
The
guys who have been working for twelve hours are way at the end of the
line, but they are really paying attention. They’ve been wondering how
this was going to go down. Instantly they start doing the math. “They
got a denarius? That’s crazy. Guaranteed we must be getting a lot more
than that. Awesome.”
The paymaster goes through the next three groups of workers. “Denarius, denarius, denarius.” Finally he gets to the guys who were there first, the guys who were under contract. “A denarius for you, and one for you...”
“What? Hey! No fair!”
“I’m sorry. Is there a problem?”
“Yes,
actually, now that you mention it. We bore the heat of the day. It’s
like Phoenix, Arizona, out here. These guys worked at twilight. They
still smell nice.”
The
early group was keeping track, weren’t they? Why weren’t they just busy
working? Instead, they’re like, “They worked one hour. We counted. We
clocked them. One hour. And you’re going to give them the same as us?
Haven’t we earned more? Where’s the justice in all of this?”
What
is Jesus saying? That God doesn’t give us what we think we deserve. He
gives us what He wants to give us, and He asks us to trust Him that it
is right. Some of us read this and think, Actually,
I’d rather have justice. I understand justice. Justice is quantifiable
and predictable and comfortable. I want to deserve what I get, and I
want to get what I deserve.
Really
— we want to come into contract with God? We want to talk about what we
deserve? That’s a dead end. We don’t want to go there. The Bible says
in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. If we’re going to get
technical about it, that’s what we deserve. Anything more is sheer grace and mercy.
So
let’s stop talking in terms of what we deserve, and what we’ve earned,
and what is just. If that really plays out, you and I are doomed.
We are all products of grace. We are all saved by grace.
Let’s remember that and celebrate that.
Excerpted with permission from the Life Is :God's Illogical Love Will Change Your Existence by Judah Smith, copyright Thomas Nelson 2015.
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