Meditation for 23 June 2010
From The Rev. Peter A. Munson
Matthew 20:1-16
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ 7They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, ‘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.’ 13But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
What Is Your Perspective?
I love this story about the laborers in the vineyard. I love it so much that I would be totally fine with it being read at my funeral. A lot of folks don’t like this story. In my experience, those are the folks who tend to identify with the laborers who were hired at 6 a.m. and who worked for twelve hours, and were paid what they were told they would be paid – a denarius (the normal daily wage at that time). The folks who don’t like this story see it as unfair. “Why should those who worked the last hour of the day be paid the same as those who worked all day long?” But the story is not a newspaper article about the typical state of management-labor relations in Israel 2,000 years ago. No. It is a story that Jesus told about the kingdom of God. And it is a story about grace; it is a story about God’s generosity. (See verse 15.)
And whether you identify with or like the story or not has everything to do with your perspective.
Do you see yourself as being blessed by God? Do you see yourself as generally getting more than you deserve, when it comes to the spiritual life and your experience of God? If so, you will identify more with those who got hired later in the day.
Do you see yourself as having to earn everything that you get from God? Do you generally see yourself as trudging through a difficult world – a world where you don’t get many breaks, a world where you “have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat” (verse12), and generally don’t get the reward or the recognition that you deserve? If so, you will tend to identify yourself with those hired at the beginning of the day.
And, I suppose, if your perspective is somewhere in the middle – if you feel blessed by God some days, and other times you think that you have to work really hard for whatever you get – you will identify more with those who were hired in the middle of the day.
I tend to have more of a hired-late-in-the-day perspective. I have been privileged to grow up and still live in the United States of America. I’ve received a great education and grew up in a family where – for the most part – my parents were really there for me. They loved my sisters and me, taught us their values, took us to church, took us on great (not expensive) family vacations – camping as we drove out to Colorado every summer, then doing a lot of hiking once we got here. I am blessed to have a healthy body that gets me to the top of mountains and to the finish line of the Bolder Boulder every year. I’ve had the privilege of serving my country in the Peace Corps, and learning about other cultures. I’ve been married to Julia for almost 23 years, and – as I always say – besides new life in Christ, she has been the biggest blessing I’ve ever received from God. I have been blessed to be the father of Zach and Hannah, and to co-parent with Julia these two wonderful children. I am blessed to be able to be a priest and pastor in the church, and I have learned so much from being able to serve in this way, as you – my fellow pilgrims on the way – teach me so much about walking with the Lord. And, even more than that, when I seek God on a daily basis, I have been blessed – daily – because the Lord keeps showing up, keeps teaching me things, keeps challenging me when I need to be challenged and comforting me when I need to be comforted. You might say he gives me my daily “spiritual” bread, as well as my daily bread.
This is my perspective – that I have gotten way more than I have deserved. And my life experience has therefore reinforced to me what I read in the Bible, that the Gospel is really about God’s love and grace, which – by definition – is nothing that you and I can earn.
Another thing I am starting to appreciate is how much our perspective colors everything, and how a change in perspective can cause a huge shift in our lives. For example, if you have traditionally seen yourself as a victim, and you make a shift and say, “I don’t want to be a victim anymore”, just watch and see how much this will change your life! Or, if you have fallen into the trap of mainly being a villain in life – criticizing and blaming those around you (or the government, or the other political party, or your boss, or _____________), and you decide to make a shift and say, “I don’t want to play the villain anymore”, just watch and see how much this will change your life! Or, if your favorite role in life is to be the hero, to over-function and to take more than 100% responsibility in the world and think that it is somehow up to you to make everyone else feel better by jumping in and “fixing” everything, and you decide to make a shift and say, “I don’t want to play the hero anymore”, just watch and see how much this will change your life!
Interestingly enough, if you most identify in Jesus’ story with the laborers who were hired at dawn, it’s quite possible that you may find yourself in all three roles at one moment or another. As the hero: Look how hard I worked! As the villain: Those people don’t deserve to be paid so much and they are wrong to even take the money! As the victim: I am being paid too little, and it’s not fair!
It all depends on your perspective. We can all learn a tremendous amount when we decide to shift our perspective. We can also dramatically change our lives. So if you want to change your life, perhaps you should take some time to think about what your perspective has been, and whether or not you want to change it – or whether or not God wants you to change it.
My sense is that Jesus often spoke in parables to shake people up – to help them step back and see their perspective. After our world view is shaken up a bit, then we can decide if it is a world view that we want to keep holding on to.