Have It Your Way At Burger King: Jonah 3:10-4:5; Matt. 20: 1-16
A few weeks ago, I got an email that really just set my teeth on edge. You probably know the kind I’m talking about. It’s an email that is condescending, snarky, and intended to make you feel two inches tall. Normally, I don’t have a temper, but there are times (like that) where I can go from smooth as silk to full on eruption if pushed enough, and this did it.
I furiously started typing this response email filled with all manner of sarcasm and snarky responses. I rounded it out with, “I guess you can just call me Burger King from now on because you always have to have it your way.” And then, just as I had vented and calmed down and started to delete the email, I absent-mindedly clicked send instead of delete. Thankfully I did not end the day actually having to apply at Burger King and anywhere else for work. Our scriptures for today contain a lot of anger and concerns over fairness. So, let’s look at ideas of fairness in life as well as fairness in God’s kingdom.
All throughout my life, I’ve heard the saying, “Life isn’t fair.” I have a feeling the vineyard workers in our gospel parable would agree. In the parable Jesus told, a landowner goes out in the morning and hires workers for his vineyard to work the full day for a full day’s wages. They agree to these terms. The landowner then goes back out at nine in the morning, noon, three in the afternoon and at 5 PM, one hour before quitting time. Each of these workers he encountered he hired at the daily rate and sent to work in the fields. It’s important to note they were all willing to work, but they could not find any employment that day.
At the end of the day, he sends for the workers, and beginning with the last hired, pays them all the same wages for the day. Now, note here, in ancient times you were not paid hourly. It was one, flat daily wage paid at the end of the day. The owner’s actions infuriated the workers who began work early in the morning. They thought that they should be paid more than the regular wages for a day because they worked longer. And I would say that most of us would agree with that. After all, it only seems fair, right?
But Jesus was painting the idea of fairness in broad strokes. Instead of the fairness of work to wages for the day, he was making a point about how we value people, and how we work for fairness. His exact words in verse 16 are, “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.” Think of it in these terms. The workers hired at early morning knew they would have a day’s wage. They knew they would be able to feed their family on what they were paid. They were secure and set, not fearing what would happen. The ones hired late in the day had spent the entire day looking for work, and they were likely panicked about paying bills, feeding their families, and making some kind of living.
The owner asks, “Should you be jealous because I’m kind to others?” We live in a similar societal mindset. If you are a blue-collar worker, of average wealth to less wealth, live in rural areas, speak with a country twang, are a different race, speak a different language, or might have a tattoo or piercing, society will often judge you. You’re labeled as the last, and life or the society you live in will tell you that this ain’t Burger King and you cannot have it your way. I know the truth of this. I see it when I tell people that, despite being a lawyer and minister here in Georgia, I grew up in a small, single-wide trailer in Eastern Kentucky, relatively poor. There’s always a passing look of shock when that truth is told.
Jonah also struggled with ideas of fairness. He hated Nineveh, and wanted it destroyed. He felt the only fair thing was for him to go elsewhere and refuse to preach God’s message to them. If he didn’t go to preach, they would surely all die, and to him, that was fair. But God made him go and preach to them that they should turn to God or risk destruction. They heard the message and indeed turned to God. Jonah was mad. He is furious that God is merciful, compassionate, and filled with unfailing love. His words. And because he’s so mad about God being merciful, compassionate, and filled with unfailing love to Nineveh, he says, “Just kill me now!” To Jonah, sparing Nineveh was not fair. They deserved destruction. But God says, “You cannot have it your way, when God’s way is the right way.”
To us, this gospel parable and God’s mercy in Jonah seem wrong at best, and perhaps even downright unfair. But remember the words that Jesus says at the end of the parable: “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.” To those who have been looked down upon, considered not good enough, judged, unloved, unworthy by society’s standards, these are the very people Jesus came and loved. He dined with tax collectors, protected the condemned, healed Gentiles, and loved the unloved.
But maybe for us, this parable would make more sense if we moved it from the world of labor and salaries to the deeper meaning of how this parable explains God’s kingdom. For those of you who thought the salaries were unfair in this parable, I ask you this. How many times did you celebrate at the conversion and salvation of the thief on the cross on Good Friday? Every time we get close to Easter, we hold up this guy as an important symbol of how Jesus can bring hope and salvation to anyone at any time. At the very last moments of life, on the cross, this man believed, and Jesus said that that very day he would join Jesus in paradise. I have never heard someone say afterword from the congregation, “Yeah, but he should get the tiny house over the hilltop instead of the mansion because the disciples followed Jesus longer.”
When we apply this parable to the Kingdom of God, we seem to find a way to rejoice at the life of faith and heavenly reward someone receives whether they were dedicated to faith for 50 years, or find Christ on the deathbed… at the evening hour, as the parable says. We all labor for the same everlasting hope in God’s kingdom. It’s not a question of status, for the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Why? Because Jesus came to love and care for those who were suffering, hurting, and most in need of good news.
We often hear that life just is not fair. I fear that in our world that can be very true sometimes. But just because life isn’t fair does not mean we should ever stop working to make life fair. Part of our mission on life is to teach God’s love and grace to others. But also, Jesus healed the sick. Jesus spent time with the suffering and outcast. Jesus did a lot of things that went far beyond just salvation. Our mission in this life is bold and expansive. We are to live like Jesus, as if we are his ambassadors and representatives in this world. As the hymn says, “Let others see Jesus in you.”
A friend of mine was complaining about his mother and his sister. His mother had repeatedly given money to and helped his sister when she got into financial trouble. It had been about three or four times, and the sister’s issues had cost a significant amount of money to fix the debts. Yet my friend complained that his mother had never given him such money. Life had been hard. He’d had to struggle, and not once had he been given money for it.
He asked his mother before the resentment really built up and interfered with their relationship. His mom said, “You’re right.” But then she went on to say that she knew how capable and resourceful he was. She knew he could get himself out of any situation and be strong in life. She said, “Your sister cannot do that. I love her, but she just can’t do those same things, and she needs help in life. But I promise, that if ever you are trapped or in trouble, I will be there for you.”
Sometimes in life we want to have it our way, but in the end, God will give us what is right and just. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. In God’s kingdom, we are all followers of Christ, who seek grace, who seek hope, and who share in God’s powerful and life-changing love. May we remember that God is there when we are in need, and God’s love and grace stay with us in this life, always.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/689875916034373