Life might not be fair but God is generous and gives us what we need to live happy and holy lives

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A

Isaiah 55:6-9

Philippians 1:20-24,27

Matthew 20:1-16

Anyone who was raised in a large family probably heard the phrase “but that’s not fair” more than a few times. “He got more French fries than I did. That’s not fair.” “I have to walk to school but she gets to ride the bus. That’s not fair.” If my sister and I were fighting over the last piece of pie, my mother, to head off any arguments, would say “one of you cut it in half and the other choose the piece they want.” I assure you, someone with a micrometer could not have measured the two halves more closely. Alas, once we grow up we find out that it’s true – life is not fair. It’s not fair that bad things happen to good people. It’s not fair that someone I love has cancer. It’s not fair that people are judged by the color of their skin not the content of their character. On the other hand, it’s also not fair that we have enough to eat when more than 700 million people are facing starvation in the world today. It’s not fair that billions of people don’t have the health care we take for granted. It’s not fair that, for all its faults, we live in a country where we feel safe and secure when most live in constant dread. Google life isn’t fair. Hundreds of quotes hit reinforcing that basic truth.  God created a world where many things are not fair.

However, God did create a world that was made for justice. Sometimes being fair is not the same as being just. We name this as the difference between equality and equity. Equality is woven into our national psyche. “All men are created equal” according to the 250-year-old Declaration of Independence. But if we treat everyone equally we can actually be acting unjustly. Think of child who has a learning disability. If we give them the same lessons, the same tests, the same attention we give all the children they are being treated equally. But justice at times demands not equality but equity – making the accommodation for the disability so that they will have the same opportunity to learn as others. We are all created equal in dignity but not in ability. Justice demands that we provide everyone with opportunities given our differing abilities. It’s not fair that this child has a hearing loss or poor vision so justice demands that we don’t treat them equally but equitably. More time at tests, more tutoring, more experiences level the playing field in a way which is more than fair.

All of which is a long introduction to the parable to the workers in the vineyard. Those who had worked a full day were absolutely correct when they said, “It’s not fair.” The owner in the parable doesn’t disagree. It isn’t fair. He gave all the workers what they needed for the day, not what they deserved. Instead of the workers being happy to see that their fellows would have enough to care for their families they felt put upon, like someone cut in line in front of them. If this person is a winner than I am a loser. The owner insists no one is a loser, all got what they needed. The owner describes himself as “generous.” That is perhaps the key to understanding what Jesus is driving at. Life might not be fair but, as the Old Testament lesson puts it, “My ways are not your ways.” God is generous and gives us what we need to live happy and holy lives even when we don’t deserve it. Let’s imagine some examples of divine generosity.

First of all creation itself. The reason there is something rather than nothing is God has generously poured forth divine creativity to produce this wonderful, startling, beautiful universe which we call home. And when God creates God goes big.  Astronomers estimate that there are approximately 200 sextillion stars in the observable universe, which is written as 2 with twenty-three zeroes after it: 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Or, closer to home, a single female oyster can produce up to 115 million eggs during a spawning event and since there are hundreds of billions of oysters in the world we’d up to our knees in oysters if they all matured. God creates generously, making all that the variety and diversity we could possibly imagine to produce in us a sense of awe and wonder.

God is also generous in the incarnation, in sharing a human life within creation. When Jesus was born as one of us the calculus of human life shifted dramatically. Now, each and every one, every human being, has a family resemblance and a relationship with the Son of God. We all have an infinite value because of our connection with God-with-us, Emmanuel, Jesus. We are part of creation, yes, but since Jesus is part of creation we also through him participate in the life of the divine. The coming of Jesus transformed human life from the limitations of this world into the realm of glory. The Catechism of the Catholic Church expresses this truth in a startling manner, “The Son of God became man so that we might become God” (CCC 460).

Which leads to the other way that God is generous – in salvation. Try as we will we cannot live up to our identity as made in the image and likeness of God. We continue to mess up, to make mistakes, to live chaos, to sin. Despite our constant tendency toward greed, selfishness, pride, violence, hatred God sent Jesus to restore the right relationships we are meant to have, relationships of love.  Jesus lived and died to win for us our proper place in the divine economy. We are saved from our worse tendencies by Christ’s giving of himself so that we might in turn give ourselves in love.

We see God’s generosity in creation, in incarnation, and in salvation. This life might not be fair but, for believers, life is glorious.