God's Generosity: Fair or Unfair?

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Exodus 16, 2-15 | Philippians 1, 21-30 | Matthew 20, 1-16.

This homily for September 24, 2023, is adapted from the original version written by Sr. Rosemarie Greco, DW, for an Episcopal Church.

Have you ever participated on a sports team? Do you recall what it was like standing in a line waiting to be chosen for a team? It may look like the best players were chosen first. If you were among those who stood there waiting and waiting, you know what it feels like not to be wanted.

Perhaps that gives some insight into the experience of the laborers in this Sunday's Gospel.

We are all well aware of the search for meaningful employment today. Jobs and a living wage are constantly before us – and the many strikes call for laborers' justice. Being ignored takes a toll on a person and a person's morale.

Today, we may not be as blatant in rejecting people as were the Help Wanted ads in the past centuries.   In newspapers from 1890 through 1918, you could find "Help Wanted "ads that took no shame in saying the following:  No Polish need apply; no Irish, no Italians, no people of color, no Catholics, and no Jews need apply. Protestants preferred; German Protestants preferred." *  Truly, these shock us today.

Why was this so important to being hired and receiving one denarius of pay? In those days, one denarius was enough to provide for a family. Hunger and hunger insecurity, as we call it today, was not a new issue. In our first reading today from Exodus, the Israelites, too, had a genuine need for food. They were originally a group of forced laborers from Egypt. They depended on God and strong faith in God, who freed them from bondage. But now, they were starving again. They craved what they previously had in Egypt even though they didn't want to return.   They wanted meat and bread and clamored to God for this. God's response was to give them Manna. (The original meaning of this word, Man Hu, was "What is this"? ) Manna is not what the Israelites expected. Still, it was food that appeared naturally. God uses natural means to feed people. We need to be awakened to see how God is providing.

So, in both readings, we have a situation of hungry laborers who eventually are relieved of their suffering by God, who has compassion for the people.

The Gospel, however, raises another question for us. Our immediate judgment is that the householder was unfair in his labor practices. He gave the same pay to those who labored all day and those who started to labor at the later hour. Our instinct is to say, "This is unfair." "We have a labor dispute here."

Jesus is not talking about payroll management in this parable. He is teaching us about the amazing generosity of God, who sees the needs of all of us and is compassionate. In this parable, God is the landowner, the householder.   

Think of the parable again and the first ones brought into the vineyard. Who were the first to be brought into faith and relationship with God?   Our Bible says the Israelites, the Hebrew people, were the first to embrace faith in God. All others came later into the vineyard, including most of us. God offers us the same generosity of spirit and grace offered to those who first accepted faith in God. Like the laborers hired last, we should be grateful for God's generosity.

Bishop Michael Curry, presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the U.S., has given us an insight into this parable. He said that Jesus is not speaking about good labor practices or upholding the landowner as an example of justice given to all people. Instead, the key to understanding this parable comes at the end - when the landowner asks, "Do you begrudge my generosity?" Paying one denarius to all provided the money needed to eat for one day. That's what the householder's generosity provided for all the workers.

We don't know the details of the days that followed, but we can be sure that the generosity of the householder did not end there.

It is all too natural for us to judge what is fair and unfair from our perspectives. Generosity, however, goes beyond that kind of thinking. God's generosity challenges so many of our ways of thinking and acting.   Are we up to the challenge to act in the likeness of God and embrace the practice of generosity? Our faith and God's grace will support a generosity of spirit, thought, and action. Let us be grateful that we have been called to work in the vineyard. The world needs all of us.

*Buffalo Courier, 1893-1918 and N.Y. Times, 1855.