Several years ago I worked at Louisiana State University. I happened to be visiting a professor’s home on the day when the grades came out. The phone kept ringing the whole time I was there. All of the calls were variations on this theme: Dr. Mauck, I need a higher grade. If I don’t get a higher grade I’ll lose my scholarship. If I don’t get a higher grade I’ll not be able to play sports. If I don’t get a higher grade I’ll get kicked out of school. With each caller Dr. Mauck would patiently get out her grade book and talk about each of the components of the grade – the tests, the papers, the projects – and how the student did. Did the student think that they were graded unfairly? No, you are fair. I got the grade I deserved but I need a higher grade. A similar scenario plays out often in the workplace. You go into your boss and ask for a raise because you need more money to buy a house. The boss would ask, do you deserve a raise? Have you produced more than expected? Have you added value to the company? Have you exceeded expectations? No, but boss, I need the raise. There is often a gap between what we need and what we deserve. And society is pretty harsh – what you need is not often considered. Which explains the jolt that comes in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. Instead of giving the johnny-come-latelies what they deserve, the landowner gives them what they need to survive – the usual daily wage. Jesus tells the parable so that we will understand that God is like that landowner – generous to a fault. God does not give us what we deserve but what we need.
However, if you are anything like me your sense of fair play has been disturbed. When I put myself in the shoes of the poor slob who just put in a twelve hour day paid the same wage that the guy who barely broke a sweat was paid my sense of outrage boils over. That ain’t right. Why do you favor him? I’m filing a discrimination lawsuit with the fair employment practices commission. And maybe you should in the realm of finance. But “God’s thoughts are not your thoughts nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord” according to the Old Testament lesson from the prophet Isaiah. Jesus tells us the parable to help us understand how God operates. Maybe the proper analogy is not in the world of work but in the love of parent for child. From the first moments of their existence parents give children what they need, not what they deserve. A new born child is all need and can do nothing to deserve that milk, that changed diaper, that snuggly blanket. Parents give because that is what parents do. God gives us grace, gives us forgiveness, gives us love because that is what God does. According to Jesus God’s way is not about getting but of giving. “Are you envious because I am generous?” God blesses us not because we are good but because God is good. God welcomes us and accepts us whether we deserve it or not. God does not return tit for tat but gives thirty, sixty, a hundredfold.
What a gracious God we serve! We can rejoice that we don’t have earn our way into God’s love, all we need do is receive it. But that has implications for the way we operate in our daily lives. As people receiving God’s freely given blessings, we must respond to those blessings in turn by becoming givers ourselves. Because if you think of it, imagining that we can create a world which is fair is an illusion. It is not fair that we have to take care of a sick relative who makes demands on our time. It is not fair that we have to be the first ones to extend the hand of forgiveness to someone who really doesn’t deserve it. It is not fair that our loved ones have been taken from us too soon and we are left alone feeling bereft and alone. It is not fair that a patriarchal and racist society stacks the deck against those just trying to take one more step. It is not fair our elders who have so much wisdom are shunted aside. It is not fair that our young people are inheriting a world full of threats and dangers. In the face of all that unfairness our response has to be like that of the landowner in the parable. We must become generous. We give according to the need, not according to what is merited. We give because we love.
That helps us to understand the injunction that St. Paul wrote in the epistle to the Philippians: “conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Let’s think about this word “conduct” or when used as a noun “conduct.” Did your school used to hand out a Good Conduct medal? If you always came to school on time, if the dog never ate your homework so it was handed it when it was due, if you never got into a fight during recess, if you raised your hand quietly instead of blurting out the answer, if you stayed after school to clap the chalk out the erasers the Sisters would give you the Good Conduct Medal. Didn’t you hate the people who won it! If we ordinarily think of conduct as being Miss Goody Two Shoes we can imagine that St. Paul is saying something like: keep all the commandments, say your prayers, go to Church, brush your teeth and make your bed. But in light of the parable Jesus told of the workers in the vineyard Gospel Conduct has a different set of values. It is not so much about what we are doing as it is how we are treating others. Our conduct is worthy of the gospel when we reach out a hand to someone in need. Our conduct is worthy of the gospel when we get over our resentments and grudges. Our conduct is worthy of the gospel when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick. Our conduct is worthy of the gospel when we are generous. Let’s act in a way that makes people wonder: what are they up to?
