Matthew 20:1-16 (Pentecost 17)
“The Unfairness of God”
St. John, Galveston 9/20/26
Rev. Alan Taylor
+ In Nomine Jesu +
Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Most things in life have to be learned in one way or another. For instance, we don’t enter life knowing how to do Algebra, or how to read, or how to write, or even how to ride a bike, or tie our shoes. We learn those things over time. That said, there are a few things we don’t have to learn, like how to cry, as well as a few other things that I won’t mention here. One thing I would like to mention though, since it’s pertinent to this morning’s Gospel reading, is our innate sense of fairness.
Now, please understand, I don’t mean that we don’t have to learn to be fair to others. That is something we are taught. What we don’t have to be taught though is that other people should be fair to us. We just sort of expect life to be fair. In fact, we even demand it. It shows up in a child’s life at a very young age. Every parent, I should think, is familiar with the toddler crossing his or her arms on their chest and puffing out their lower lip and saying, “It’s just not fair.”
Wise parents know there are ways to deal with children when they fight over what’s fair and what isn’t. For instance, if there is one piece of pie leftover, and two children are fighting over it, you can let one of the kids cut the piece of pie, and then let the other child choose the first piece. The cutting of the pie becomes an exercise in extreme precision. It’s an ingenious way to deal with a child's overly keen sense of fairness, sort of Solomonesk, I think.
What about though when children become adults? How do we handle fairness then? Well, most of us, I should think, know the old saying, “life isn’t fair.” In a college course, for instance, students work on a group project, one of the students does most of the work, if not all of it, but everyone in the group gets the same grade. Or, one man works all day in hard labor, his wages are meager. Another does virtually nothing all day, and his wages are almost beyond comprehension.
Life really isn’t fair. We know that’s true, and yet, we still expect it to be fair, because we have this strong sense that fairness is the way the world should work. It’s sort of akin to the golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In this morning’s Gospel reading, Jesus told a parable that deals with the subject of fairness. I would venture to say that, in listening to the parable about the workers in the vineyard, you sympathized with the workers who were hired early in the day, but who received the same wage as those who were hired in the last hour of the day. They were upset because the people who only worked one hour were paid a denarius, the same amount they were paid. Doing business in this way is an offense to us. Common sense tells us that someone who works an 11 hour day, doing equal work, should be paid more than someone who works only a 1 hour day.
We can’t help it, can we? This parable, at least humanly speaking, is just plain wrong. The way the master of the house pays the workers at the end of the day is unjust and unfair. But, that’s actually the point of the parable. You see, the master of the house, the vineyard, and the hired workers, aren’t part of an ordinary vineyard. Rather, this is Kingdom parable. Therefore, the master of the house is God. The Vineyard is His Kingdom and the workers are His people. The parable is about how things work in the Kingdom of God.
Now, at this point, you might think that that explanation doesn’t really make things any better. In fact, it might seem to make things worse. I mean, in a world that isn’t fair, a world that rewards some people more for less work, can’t we at least count on God being fair in His Kingdom? God is fair, isn’t He? Well, actually, He isn’t, at least as fairness relates to our place in the Kingdom of God. Ultimately, that’s the whole point of this parable. It’s the reason I’ve titled the message, The Unfairness of God.
In the context of the parable, if we agree that fairness could be defined as the master of the house giving to each worker what they deserve according to their body of work in the vineyard, and we remember that this Vineyard is God’s Kingdom, it makes perfect sense that God isn’t fair. Someone might say, “all I want is for God to give me what I deserve, what I have earned.” Thankfully though, God doesn’t give us what we deserve in life. If He did we would all be in a heap of trouble, because “we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” Consequently, those who go through life hoping that, in the end, God will give them what they believe they deserve, based on their own assessment of their life, will be sadly disappointed. This is what Jesus is talking about when He says, “the first, who will be last.” Those who think they will be first in the Kingdom, who think they deserve more based on their work in the Vineyard, will be last, because they have assumed that God owes them something.
The unfairness of God is really an expression of the Gospel of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for the sins of the world. God is gracious, in that, through the water of baptism, and through the bread and wine of Holy Communion, as well as, through His word, He gives you His Kingdom, not a calculated amount of it, or a little piece of it, but all of it.
Even so, here’s where we can so easily lose sight of the gracious nature of the Unfairness of God. What does it mean that God gives you His kingdom? Well, where else would you go to answer such a question than to the Internet. One Christian site says, “when you are under His lordship, and when He is in control of your life, that is the kingdom of God.” Another Christian site, and very popular one at that, says, “The kingdom of God refers to God's reign on earth and consequently, in our hearts. It is about His kingship and our obedience to His rule.” Our obedience to His rule? We just can’t help it, can we? Somehow, the Kingdom of God has to be about us. It has to be about me. It has to be about you. Our performance has to be in there somewhere as an essential quality of God’s Kingdom, of His Vineyard. Who worked 11 hours in the Vineyard, and who worked one hour?
Now please don’t misunderstand, I’m not suggesting that obedience to God’s word isn’t a part of our Christian faith. It is. But when God gives you His kingdom, it is purely out of His generosity and His graciousness. Consequently, what He gives you is far more than what you could either ask, or even think.
At another place in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus cast a demon out of a man who was possessed. People were amazed, thinking Jesus must be the Son of David. But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub (meaning the devil).” To which Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
My friends, God’s Kingdom has come upon you, because, where Jesus is, there is the Kingdom of God, given freely and unfairly. Forgiveness, life and salvation are poured out and freely given where they are not deserved. As an heir of God’s Kingdom, anything the Father would say of His Son, He now says of you. Indeed, as the Father said of Jesus at His baptism, so He said of you at yours, “You are my beloved Son, my beloved daughter, and in you I am well pleased.” It’s just not fair, is it? Such is God’s grace in His Kingdom.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
+ Soli Deo Gloria +