Unfair Wages
Notes
Transcript
Jesus teaches that the Father will be surprisingly and unexpectedly generous with treasures in heaven. We can allow comparison to be the thief of joy, or celebrate and worship a generous and gracious God who gives beyond what we deserve. The only time you should look in your neighbor’s bowl is to see if they have enough, never to see if they have more than you. The last will be first and the first last.
Ultimatum Game
Ultimatum Game
Let’s play a game. Pairs of two and I’m going to give each pair of two $100.
Okay, let’s call it a thought experiment so I don’t actually have to give you any cash.
One of you gets to choose how to split the money. Partner A. Maybe whoever is taller. You choose how to split the money: 50/50, 60/40, and they then offer that choice to their partner.
Then, Partner B, you have a different choice. You can choose to accept the money your partner is offering you and then you both get that money. 50/50, 60/40, whatever you were offered.
OR you can reject the offer and then neither of you get anything. Everyone goes home broke.
This is an actual experiment in Behavioral Economics that has been run 100s of times, across thousands of different cultures and ages. And classic economics, and rational, logical thought, would expect that everyone would accept the offer.
Even if Partner A kept $90, that is $10 free that you would not have had elsewhere. It ONLY costs you to say “no”.
But, once the offered split goes below 30%, humans across cultures VERY often say no. The unfairness of it stinks, ticks them off, and they would rather see everyone lose than allow someone else to get an unfair portion.
This speaks to a profound sense we have as human beings. Fairness. At a very deep level, we want the rules to be the same for everyone, we want the portions to be the same, we want to make sure our brother doesn’t get more fries than I get, we want things to be Fair… and when that sense is offended, we get upset.
We get furious!
This sense of fairness, sometimes called the Fallacy of Fairness is a twisted and broken sense of Justice… and it is likely to get you in trouble.
Get Poor, Die Rich
Get Poor, Die Rich
It is HARD for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Like a camel going through the eye of a literal needle, impossible for man, only possible with God.
Riches are deceitful, wealth is dangerous. It is not that every rich person is evil, that is like saying the Ocean is dangerous therefore all Surfers are dead. There is even a spiritual gift of giving and helps, and folks who used that to fund Jesus’ early ministry and the early church...
But, make no mistake, wealth is dangerous to your soul, and Jesus teaches us the antidote. Whenever and wherever it has a hold of your soul, whenever and wherever God directs you, give it away. It is ALL His, you are a steward.
And when you do, there are treasures in heaven. A hundredfold!
29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Laborers in the Vineyard
Laborers in the Vineyard
And then he launches into kind of a crazy story. I’ll read it entire:
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
A “denarius” is defined to be a laborer’s daily wage. So this is absolutely expected. To keep the math easy, let’s say $20/hour, they are about to work a 12 hour day, so $240.
I am probably on the high side compared to our $$, but this was THE standard expectation for a worker for the day.
3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’
5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.
6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’
9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
So the original guys are thinking, WOW, if he is THAT generous with the one-hour guys, we are about to get SO much money. They got $240 for one hour! Maybe that’s our hourly rate so we might get a couple thousand. Payday!
10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.
11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house,
12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
Israel in August. That’s real. Real hot. The “scorching” heat may have reference to the East Wind, the “scorching wind”, what we would have called the “Santa Ana” winds in Southern California.
Friend. “Buddy”.
13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?
14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.
15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’
More literally “Is your eye bad (or envious) because I am good?”
15 ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’
Is your eye bad because He is good?
Reminds me of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:23
23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
And he wraps up with the verse that he started with:
16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
In this way, the last will be first, and the first last.
That’s kind of an odd construction, though. It isn’t what I think of when I think about first and last. If anything the story seems to be about the first and last being equal. We all get to the same place at the same time, we all get the same wages.
Sometimes we talk about heaven this way, I just want to get in, if I’m in, I don’t care, it’s all good. Like people fighting to be on the first car of the train.
Maybe it is simply that the last workers got paid wages first, and the first got paid wages last, but I don’t think that’s it. Remember where this all started. The rich man went away sad, for he had “Great posessions.”
And then Peter asked:
27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”
And Jesus answers with outr first two verses. You will have rewards, twelve thrones, judging Israel, a hundredfold reward, inherit eternal life...
30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Why the “But”?
The literal answer to Peter’s question is answered in full. What then will we have? Lots. So much. Hundredfold. All the things. Treasures in heaven. Love it.
But there’s an implication, a comparison behind the question. What will we have as compared to that rich young man? As compared to others who maybe gave up less than we gave up. Or as compared to people who followed later.
Be careful, Peter. Be careful, disciples. Your instinct for what’s “Fair”, your instinct for what is “Just” is going to be wrong. Often. Don’t let it lead you astray, don’t let it lead you to grumbling and murmuring, don’t let it rob you of joy.
The Fallacy of Fairness
The Fallacy of Fairness
Is your eye bad because God is good?
This sense of fairness, the Fallacy of Fairness is a twisted and broken sense of Justice… and it is likely to get you in trouble.
Is your eye ever envious at the blessings of others? The talents of others? The favor of others? The riches, literal or spiritual, of others?
The answered prayers of others?
Is your eye bad because God is good?
The answer is “yes.” My answer is “yes.”
It isn’t “fair” when God blesses someone else, they got something you didn’t. But it isn’t about “fairness”.
It is about “Justice.” Justice, rarely in the Bible is that about punishment, mostly it is restorative justice, mishpat, and that is about making sure everyone has enough. That is why it is so concerned with widows and orphans and immigrants.
It isn’t about “fairness” it is about Justice. And it is about goodness.
And if you let your “eye be bad” it will lead you into sin. Here it is just sin and grumbling, but this calls to mind one of the oldest stories of humanity:
The Sin of Cain
The Sin of Cain
3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground,
4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,
5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
The text doesn’t say why God found favor in Abel and not in Cain. Maybe Abel gave God the best, it does say firstborn” and “fat portions” where Cain’s is just “an offering” not “firstfruits.” Maybe it was the heart with which it was offered.
But NOWHERE does it say God had to choose one to favor, like only the best brother gets favored. There is a difference between their outcomes, but nothing sets it up as adversarial or a zero-sum game.
… Except the heart of Cain. Cain’s heart says “Oh, I see, it’s him or me.”
8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Why?
We don’t even think to question it, we understand the envy of a brother so innately… but it doesn’t make ANY kind of sense. God’s going to like Cain more now?
Or perhaps Cain assumes that God’s favor, his grace, is a finite resource. If Abel gets it Cain can’t. God is out of favor, only one can get it, and so if Abel is dead and gone then there’s more for Cain.
It’s all made up, though, it’s just in Cain’s head, Cain’s heart, and it is sin “crouched at the door”, a liar and a deceiver, and it robs BOTH Cain and Abel of life and joy and favor.
It is artificial scarcity. There is infinite favor of God to go around. God has infinite resources, infinite wages, infinite grace to give, infinite goodness to bestow. Nobody is at risk for running out, there is only what He deems good and perfect to give!
The Fallacy of Fairness
The Fallacy of Fairness
Is your eye bad because God is good?
Pickleball
Pickleball
I played pickleball with Jono yesterday. He kicked my tail up and down the court, I was breathing so hard, I didn’t know which way was up. Dude is 6’2” with Go-Go-Gadget arms, he is reaching everything while I am sprinting my heart out coming just short of the ball.
He got the height. What a blessing for him.
All I got was the looks and the brains and the charm! ;)
I could grumble and murmur and be upset about something, but that’s dumb.
I could kill him. Would that make me taller? No! How stupid… and yet that is the lie of “fairness” and that is where it would lead our sinful hearts.
Shall my “eye” be bad because God is good? Let us refuse.
I can be thankful for the Blessings God has given, is giving, will give… and thankful for the Blessings God has given, is giving, will give my brother.
And it’s all joy.
The other stuff, it’s wasted, it can only hurt us, it is sin crouched out the door and we tell it to go away.
I love this, I call it the rule of ice cream.
Quote from Louis C.K. to his daughter while they’re eating ice cream. His daughter is loving hers, gushing over it, but then looks at another kid getting theirs and their scoop is bigger.
The only time you look in your neighbor's bowl is to make sure that they have enough. You don't look in your neighbor's bowl to see if you have as much as them.
I can get all mad that they have two scoops and I have one, or that their scoop is bigger than my scoop… and I can allow that to rob me of the joy of my beautiful scoop of ice cream.
Comparison is the Thief of Joy
Comparison is the Thief of Joy
Theodore Roosevelt
Jesus is the Author of Joy
Jesus is the Author of Joy
John 15:11 “11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
I think that’s true of our treasures in heaven… but Jesus isn’t just talking about treasures in heaven.
We do that now, we are new creations now, heaven is in the presence of God, the Kingdom of Heaven is here and now, at hand, as well as fulfilled and fully revealed in New Creation.
And we play the comparison game here and now with the gifts and blessings of God.
He has the gift of wisdom and knowledge, and all I have is helps.
She has the fruit of love and joy, here am I with a handful of gentleness and self-control!
Look at the talents and opportunities, look at the answered prayers they are getting, they got a miracle and I’m still waiting!
And it IS unfair! Jesus’ answer is NOT that everything works out even in the end. We could get there in this story, with everyone getting a denarius at the end of the day, but the attention is on the fairness of distribution, and it’s unfair. And it isn’t “everyone gets there at the same time” but “many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Does the Bible ever say that God is fair?
He is “just”. He is “good”. He is “righteous.” And, praise God, He is full of grace.
And it is out of His grace that we receive every good thing, not because we earned it (we didn’t), not because we deserve it (we don’t), but because He gives it.
Let us abandon our grumbling. Our murmuring.
Let us abandon comparison.
Let envy not get a hold of our hearts, let our eye be good as God is good.
When the blessings of God, the miracles of God, the gifts of God fall on us, let us sing Hallelujah. Rejoice! For He is Just and Good.
When the blessings of God, the miracles of God, the gifts of God fall on our brother or sister, Rejoice! Hallelujah! For He is Just and Good.
Trust the Master. Trust the timing, even when it is slow. Trust the process, even when it is long. Trust the Story, even when it seems hopeless.
We know how it ends:
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
On that day you will receive know the greatest gift, the greatest mercy of all time. The wages all of us deserve are sin and death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
That alone is beyond all riches, beyond all expectations.
And then, he heaps on top of it MORE, and our imagination fails to comprehend the measure of it, the magnitude, the beauty, the “worthiness” of the treasures in heaven. But the one who has been there, who dwells forever in the presence of the Father, full forever of the Spirit, the only Begotten Son of God… he says it is worth it.
And who cares if I am first or last among us… He is Alpha and the Omega, the first AND the last, and I am in the Greatest of Company.
Let us sing Halleluah and Rejoice!
