How many of you in church this morning happen to be the oldest child in your family? Go ahead and raise your hand, so I can see how many sympathizers I have! As a matter of fact, those of you who are higher up in the birth order might also agree with me. I believe, as a general rule, and I am being completely biased here, that the oldest child has life a little bit harder than the youngest. Why? Our parents were experiencing parenthood for the first time and they wanted to do everything right. Prior to our arrival, many of them read books and listened to experts explain about how to dialogue with baby, how to prepare him or her for a bright future from the instant of birth, and what procedures to put in place so this bundle of joy could be healthy, wealthy, and wise. The truth is, most of our parents learned on the fly and we essentially served as very talkative and often irritating guinea pigs. By the time, our younger siblings came along, they had things somewhat figured out, important things like “don’t sweat the small stuff” “a little dirt is good for you” and “they will be fine.”
I still watch in disbelief at the liberties of my younger siblings. Did you know you can get your driving permit before the age of 17? I can’t imagine having Facebook in grade-school? Or my own room! Or cable TV in the house! Only in my dreams would I have asked about staying out with friends past midnight! Having a cell phone to begin high school wasn’t even an option! The things which would have been grounds for capital punishment in my youth are now tolerated and even approved by my parents! One of the first reactions that comes to my mind often as the oldest is: “That’s not fair! I had to work a lot harder and wait longer for those same privileges!”
But you don’t have to be high in the birth order to feel that life isn’t fair. We humans have a pretty good sense of that. We see good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. We see some labor for hours for a morsel of bread, and others make hundreds of thousands of dollars with a simple phone call. We see some who are physically fit and health conscious who die suddenly while others abuse their health and still live to a ripe old age. We could go on and on with examples, but the simple truth is: “Life is often unfair.”
At first glance, the gospel appears to be one more example of this truth. Jesus describes the kingdom of God with a parable, a story where a landowner hires workers to toil in his vineyard. Some he hires early in the morning, others around noon, and even a group at the end of the day. To all of them he promises to pay them what is just. At the end of the day, when all of the workers are lined up to receive compensation, the master starts with the last to arrive. He gives them a full day’s wage for their hour’s work. When the laborers, who toiled the entire day are paid the same amount, they grumble in disappointment.
I don’t know about you, but I tend to sympathize with the guys who put in a whole day’s work. Something about the whole thing just doesn’t sit right. How can a person who worked an hour receive the same amount as one who worked the whole day? And this is what the kingdom of heaven is supposed to be like?
But if we take a moment to shed our indignation and outrage, if we humbly reflect on the final words words of the master, we see this parable is not about fairness at all. It’s all about generosity! The same Divine generosity that moved Christ to eat with tax collectors, and hang around with prostitutes and known criminals, and heal people on the Sabbath day, and tell sinners that they were forgiven simply because they had faith, because they repented and trusted him. If we choose to see life only in terms of fair or unfair, if we view God’s generous love and forgiveness as something to be earned, we will quickly be upset at how merciful He is and how freely He shares his life with the sinful and imperfect. It won’t be long before this mindset makes us blind to our own need for God’s grace and how imperfect we truly are. This is the attitude that led the Scribes and Pharisees to reject Christ. This is the attitude that blinded them to their own need for salvation. This is the attitude that prevented them from receiving the many good things Jesus desired to give them.
As we reflect on this parable, this story which teaches us so much about the kingdom of God and how He loves us, we should thank God that he doesn’t deal with us according to what we believe is fair and unfair. No, even though we have a God who is infinitely fair and just, he doesn’t deal with us simply in those terms. If he did, we would not be forgiven, we would not have the sacraments, we would not be capable of eternal life. Thankfully, we have a God who always treats us with overwhelming generosity and mercy. All of us, even the best of us, has received immeasurably more than we earned from God, the master of the vineyard. He pays us far more than we have worked in the vineyard.
So let us thank God, right here and now in this Eucharist, for his extravagant generosity. Let us show him our gratitude for the countless ways he enriches our lives, even though we have done nothing to deserve such kindness. Let us be joyful when we see God pouring his love and blessing on others rather than focusing on whether or not it is fair or deserved. We are all his children and we all need his love; we all need his forgiveness. And praise God, that is what we receive when we turn to God, when we receive Christ into our lives and do the work that he has set before us.
My friends - we don't earn God's love; we respond to it. God loves us. End of story. God loves us. Beginning of brand new story. May we live that new story. May we come to God in gratitude for what he has generously done for us, and in thanksgiving for what he does for everyone whether they deserve it or not.
