“That’s not fair!”
I used to say this to my parents when I
was growing up with my younger sister.
My sister is 4 years younger than me.
So, she should get a smaller portion of dessert, right? At least, that’s what I
used to think. Because I am her big brother, I deserve a bigger dessert portion
than hers. But, she was also getting the same size of dessert. So, I protested
to my parents, screaming, “That’s not fair!”
Of course, my sister and I have had many
collisions when we were growing up. She and I have different expectations.
Given our immaturity, it was rather natural that we get into arguments. And, sibling
disputes between my sister and I were handled by the court of my father.
I understood that my father was the
right person to play the role of the judge in resolving the sibling disputes
between my sister and I, simply because he is the father to my sister and me.
But, I often found that his rulings were “unfair”, as I felt that he ruled in
favor of my sister. Relatively, I felt
that I was not treated “fairly”. And, my father’s reasoning was as simple as
this, “Because you are her big brother”, when I challenged the validity of his
rulings. No more argument or discussion.
Case simply closed with these words of my father.
When I thought a support from my mother,
she simply told me, “If you don’t like the way things are in this house, leave
home and get adopted by someone.”
Neither my father nor mother entertained
my quest for “fairness” for me.
………………….
The Gospel story for the 25th
Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A), Matthew 20:1-16, the parable of the vineyard
worker, brought me back to the above-described my childhood memory. Looking
back now, it is a bit embarrassing to admit that I was such a brat, as my view
of respect and dignity for myself was tainted by typical preadolescent
self-centeredness. So, I was simply
screaming, “That’s not fair!” to my father out of jealousy toward my younger
sister.
The parable in the Gospel narrative is
about how the workers in the vineyard were rewarded by the owner of the
vineyard for the works they did. In the parable, all the vineyard workers
received the same amount of per diem pay, regardless how many hours they worked
on that day. To this, workers, who started working early in the morning, became
very upset that workers who came in the afternoons received the same pay,
because that’s not fair to workers, who put more hours, if workers, who worked
less ours, get the same amount of pay. But, in the parable, Jesus teaches that
the way God cares us is like the way the vineyard owner pays his workers. The punch line of Jesus’ teaching here is: the last will be first, and the first will
be last (Matthew 20:16).
Because this is a parable, there is a
metaphorical allegory. If we tried to interpret a metaphor literally, we will
get lost. The parable would make no
sense at all, if taken literally.
After all, who in the world would pay
the same wage to workers, who worked longer hours, and workers who worked less
hours? The parable literally says that the vineyard wonder pay the same amount
to all of his workers, regardless of their work hours. Those who literally interpret this parable
might feel discouraged to work harder, thinking, “Why in the heck do I have to
work harder, if I am rewarded the same way as those who work less hard
are?!” Some even wonder, if Jesus was
trying to teach communism.
See, how dangerous a literal interpretation of this kind of parable can be? Now you see what a literal interpretation –
fundamentalist approach – can lead to.
Of course, the parable of the vineyard
worker is not about Marxian utopianism, where everyone receives the same pay,
raising the status of the poor at the expenses of the rich. The parable’s fact that the vineyard owner
paid both workers , who worked all day long, and workers, who worked only some
portions of the day, the same wage, does not mean raising the status of the
latter workers at the expenses of the former’s hard work.
Obviously, the vineyard owner in the
parable is a metaphor for God. The
vineyard workers who have been working since the crack of dawn refer to
righteous people. The workers who came
to the vineyard in later hours to work are metaphorically meant for people who
are considered less respected and esteemed, such as the outcast, the infirm,
the sinners, and so forth. Given that
vineyard owner is a metaphor for God, the vineyard in the parable is about the
Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus begins this parable with these
words, “The kingdom of heaven is like a
landowner who went out at down to hire labors for his vineyard” (Matthew
20:1). It suggests that God, the
vineyard owner (landowner) went out to fill his kingdom, the vineyard, with
good people, the vineyard workers. The
Kingdom of Heaven is not a static thing. Rather, it is dynamic, thus requires
constant maintenance and development work, just as any vineyard and a farm
demands constant work of care. The
harvest of the Kingdom can be compared to abundant harvest of grape in the
vineyard.
The fact that God the vineyard owner
need, people, the workers, also evokes the Creation narrative, in which God
needed to fill the earth He created with people, thus, creating the first
humans, Adam and Eve. Though Adam and Eve were not good stewards or tenants of
the land that God provided, through Jesus, we make sincere efforts to be good
stewards of God’s vineyard, which can be a metaphor for the Kingdom of Heaven.
In order for us to be good stewards –
good workers – of God’s vineyard, the Kingdom, we shall not argue who is better
– who should get more pay than others. We have been wasting so much energy and so
many hours arguing over such things. This is a typical human folly. No wonder
that the first reading, Isaiah 55:6-9, that is echoed by this Gospel parable
(Matthew 20:1-16) reminds us of the immeasurable supremacy of the thinking and ways of God. It was like God
telling us, “Don’t you dare to even mess with the way I do things!” Yes, we need to be humble, acknowledging that
the our ways, human ways, and thinking are plagued with problems and potential
problems, often leading to conflicts and divisions.
Thinking and arguing who is better – who
deserves more, etc. is a good example why God needs to remind us of His way’s
supremacy. And, the parable of the vineyard workers (Matthew 20:1-16) further
makes this point from Isaiah 55:6-9 with these words of the vineyard owner –
God -, “My friend, I am not
cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is
yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not
free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?”(Matthew
20:13-15). Basically, God in the image
of the vineyard worker is telling, “Hey, shut up! If you don’t like the way I
manage this vineyard, just take what you get and get out!” to teach those who
complain a critical lesson that who is the boss – whose way is better. Not to
mention, these words are like the aforementioned words of my mother, “If you don’t like the way things are in this house,
leave home and get adopted by someone”, in response to my complaint, “That’s
not fair!”
Well, I chose to stay home and adopt
myself to the way my parents run the house.
I just let my younger sister enjoy the same privilege she got – though
she is younger than me.
Note that what follows this parable is
the story of the mother of James and John, together with her sons, begging
Jesus a favoritism for them, to have their
status be elevated above the other disciples’ (Matthew 20:20-28). Of course,
Jesus did not grant this request at all. Rather than flatly declining the
request, Jesus referred the authority of
deciding who can sit his right and left I to the Father in heaven, as to remind
the teaching of the supremacy of God the Father in Isaiah 55:6-9. Even Jesus,
the Son, is subject to the Father’s authority.
The rest of the disciples responded with
indignation to James and John, for their mother asking Jesus for
favoritism. This is similar to how
workers, who worked all day, complained to the vineyard owner, about the fact
that workers who came late and worked shorter hours received the same pay in
the parable of the vineyard
workers. The rest of the disciples felt,
“That’s not fair!” about the prospect of James and John having their status
elevated above theirs, sitting right and left to Jesus.
To this complaint from the rest of the
disciples, Jesus responded in a similar way to the way he commented on the
complaining vineyard workers. Jesus
said, “Thus, the last will be first, and
the first will be last”(Matthew 20:16), in regard to the vineyard workers
complaints, and stated, “Rather, whoever
wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to first
among you shall be your slave”(Matthew 20:26-27).
So, if we attempt to understand the
parable of the vineyard workers (Matthew 20:1-16) in comparison to the
narrative of James, John, and their mother, asking Jesus favoritism (Matthew
20:20-28), we can conclude that the vineyard owner’s preferential treatment of
the workers who joined in later hours and worked less is not a favoritism,
because Jesus made it clear to James, John, and their mother, that favoritism
has no place in his world, which can be referred to the Kingdom of Heaven and
the discipleship, as well as the Ekklesia. Another conclusion we can draw is that an
argument on fairness, based on the human thinking, is fruitless. To those who
complain, “That’s not fair!”, Jesus simply teaches us, in a way of saying,
“Listen! If you think you have the right to complain as you do, do you really
understand what I mean by ‘the last will be first, the first will be last’ and
‘whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant, whoever wishes to
be first among you shall be your slave’?”
And, this is the end of useless argument of “That’s not fair!”
In God’s supreme thinking (Isaiah
55:8-9), and in the Kingdom of God, which comes with the metaphor of a vineyard
in Matthew 20:1-16, the equity-based human thinking is useless. Perhaps, if you
have followed Martha Nussbaum’s criticism of John Rawl’s equaity-based theory
of justice, you can understand this matter better.
Unlike John Rawl’s theory of justice,
Martha Nussbaum’s concept of justice recognizes significance of affective
factors, including empathy and compassion. In other words, Nussbaum argues that
justice cannot be understood like a mathematical equation. Thus, we can compare Jesus’ view on the wage
payments of the vineyard workers and the complaining workers’ view on wage
distribution to Nussbaum’s view on justice and Rawl’s theory of justice.
For this comparison, we need to explore
the allegorical metaphors in the parable of the vineyard workers.
The workers who joined working in the
vineyard in later hours were just wasting their hours of the day in the market
place (Matthew 20:3-7).
As I mentioned, the vineyard is the
domain of the Lord, can be referred as the Kingdom. There is important work to
do there – represented with the vineyard work. And the owner of the vineyard,
the King of the Kingdom, is the Lord, who provides all of us what we need
generously, as the vineyard owner pays his workers. The market place, on the other hand, can be
understood as a metaphor for a world of sin, outside God’s domain. This is easily understood from how upset Jesus
was when he saw the Temple had turned into a market place (i.e. Matthew
21:12-13). Thus, those who were wasting time, not working, in the market place,
refer to sinners, as well as outcast. Because they did not have means to earn
wages, they can be understood as the poor.
God in an image of the vineyard owner,
goes out to the market place at 9 am (3rd hour), noon (6th
hour), and 3 pm (9th hour), to recruit additional workers out of
those who were just wasting their day out in the world of sin – market place.
Thus, the parable can be understood as a allegory of how God goes out to the
world of sin to bring sinners and outcast into his domain, the God’s vineyard,
the Kingdom. After all, the parable of the vineyard worker is a story of how
God’s salvation works.
In fact, the vineyard owner, who goes
out to the market place, contacting those who are wasting their lives there, is
God in Jesus, who came to this world of sin, recruit his disciples – his
workers, saying, “Come follow me” and who reaches out to those who are outcast,
ignored, sick, sinners – those lest among peoples, to bring into his care – his
vineyard. An image of the vineyard
workers going out to the market place to picking more to invite to work into his
vineyard, giving opportunity to spend their wasted life more productively and
meaningfully, can be also compared to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who goes out to
find and bring back to a lost sheep.
Human thinking only view those who are
wasting their lives all day outside the market place useless, perhaps, deserve
to be ignored. In human thinking, these people are regarded as incapable of
working. But, God in the image of the vineyard worker sees them otherwise. In fact, these people are not losers, as God
sees them as capable of working. That is
why he called them to come into his vineyard and work there. And, they did.
This aspect of the parable of the
vineyard worker touches Martha Nussbaum’s “capabilities approach”, as her
concept of justice is unique enough to include not only empathy and compassion,
which characterize God of mercy – Jesus, but also honoring the capabilities of
people, especially those who tend to be seen incapable, incompetent, less
capable, and less competent.
John Rawl’s equity-based theory of
justice rather fits the typical human thinking, represented by the workers who
complained about the wages in the parable of the vineyard worker. Rawl’s view also reflects how the righteous
older brother of the prodigal son complained and became angry in Luke 15:11-18.
In the world of Jesus, in his teaching,
where the Kingdom is found, where the God’s vineyard is found, and where the
salvation is attained, there is no space for Rawl’s view on justice.
Jesus’ teaching against the Lex Talionis legal principle in Mathew
5:38-42, is another strike against Rawl’s view.
To Rawl’s equity-based theory of
justice, Jesus’ teaching in the parable of the vineyard workers (Matthew
20:1-16) and his teaching against the Lex
Talionis, “That’s not fair!” But, to Nussbaum’s holistic view on justice,
with attention to empathy and compassion, as well as with the capabilities
approach, Jesus truly teaches justice.
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