The Message, September 20, 2026: "It's Not Fair!" Matthew 20:1-16
Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
September 30, 2026
“It’s Not Fair!”
A Message by Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
Matthew 20:1-16
How many times did you say it as a child? “That’s not
fair!” “How come HE gets to do that and I don’t?!”
Are there any other oldest children here this morning?
How many of you watched your younger siblings get privileges that you never
got? Or get spoiled rotten and you had to work for everything?!! That’s not
fair!
Do you still say? Or feel it?
How about when you are in a line for the checkout at the
supermarket? You have been waiting and waiting in a line that seems to stretch
to the back of the store, and then when they open another register someone from
the back of the line runs up and starts unloading their cart as if the rest of
you do not exist!
That’s not fair!
Do you not appreciate when the front-end manager opens
the new register but then points to the next person in line? Yes! Thank you!
Get back at the end of the line!
Last week, I got to enjoy a trying experience as part of
our repaving of Beach Street project. I was sitting on Old Orchard Road and
there was a sign crew up at the front with a STOP sign. I watched people come
down Beach Street. And then a group came up Ferry Road. Great … our turn now.
Nope. Another group came down Beach Street. Then another group up Ferry Road.
Okay … our turn now? Nope! People in front of me started turning around and
going back through “Half-Way.” Another group down Beach Street. You probably
know where this is going.
I sat for TWENTY MINUTES waiting for our turn to go. TWENTY MINUTES!! What makes them so
special?!?! That’s not fair!!
It is the same visceral reaction that people get when
they hear this parable this morning. That’s not fair! We said it at Bible Study
the other night.
The framers of the lectionary have really been
challenging us the last couple of weeks. Just to recap … two weeks ago we
focused upon Paul’s Letter to the Romans and his instructions about how we are
to live together in Christian community and also how we are to interact with an
often hostile world. Paul told us to hate what is evil and love what is good.
He also told us that we should not repay evil with evil, so if someone sins against
us we should respond with goodness and kindness. His point was that responding
with kindness may help the one who hurt us travel a path toward repentance.
Last Sunday, we heard Jesus tell us that if someone in
our community sins against us we should forgive seventy-seven times. He did say
that we should hold others and ourselves accountable, but also that we should
always try to pursue a path toward reconciliation and restoration.
We acknowledged that both of these lessons are difficult.
Both of them challenge us to practice a way of love and gentleness and
humility. A friend and colleague of mine says that forgiveness is the highest
and the hardest Christian calling.
And then this morning we are challenged with this lesson.
What is Jesus teaching us today?
Jesus began by doing what he typically did in his
parables; he started with something familiar. He began in the everyday life of
his listeners. Going to the marketplace to hire day laborers was a common
practice in first century Palestine. (It is still common practice in many parts
of the world.) Some laborers had to hustle every day to find work to support
their families. They would go to the marketplace at sun-up … 6:00 AM … hoping
to find work. Jesus’ listeners would feel right at home as the lesson began.
They may have shifted in their seats a bit when Jesus
said that the vineyard owner went to the marketplace to hire the laborers. That
job was typically done by one of the managers, not the landowner.
Going back to the marketplace repeatedly was also not
unheard of. There were times, during the grape harvest for example, when there
was a small window in which to accomplish a large task. (The grapes would rot
on the vice if they were not harvested before the rainy season started.) So,
the manager, or in this case, the landowner would go back and hire more and
more workers in order to get the job done. Having said that, it was peculiar to
go and hire more at the eleventh hour (5:00 PM). But even still, that detail in
the story would not have been too alarming to the listeners.
As you may have guessed, the issue came when the vineyard
owner told the manager to go and pay the workers, and everyone received the
same wage no matter how many hours they worked. “Wait! He did what?! That’s not
fair!! The ones who worked all day should have received more!!”
There is a key detail in the way that Jesus told this
story. If Jesus had said that the manager in the parable had paid the first
group of workers first, and the second group second and so on, there would not
have been any problem. The first group, and second group, and the third would
not have ever known what the last group got paid. But Jesus reversed the order
when he told the story. He wanted his listeners to hear the first group of
laborers complain and grumble.
Why?
So that Jesus could share about the incredible compassion
and generosity of God? Of course.
So
that Jesus could remind them of something that he said during the Sermon on the
Mount? “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He
causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the
righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43-45)
Of
course. Jesus revels in the compassion and generosity of God.
But
let us go back a few verses. Once again, the framers of the lectionary dropped
us into the middle of the conversation. What was the context for the parable?
After
Jesus was approached by the rich young man who had asked what he must do to
inherit eternal life, and Jesus answered him by telling him that he had to keep
the commandments AND sell all of his possessions and give to the poor, Peter
asked a question. “We have left everything to follow you! What then will
there be for us?” (Matthew 19:27)
Jesus’
reply was that the disciples would indeed receive their reward. “Truly I
tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his
glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” And then he went on to say that other
people who follow Jesus would receive God’s blessings as well … one hundred
fold! (Matthew 19:28-29)
So,
this parable IS intended to reinforce the teaching that God is Good, and God is
Great, and God’s Glory is beyond our comprehension. It DOES tell us that God’s
grace is amazing, and it is freely given. It reminds us that our relationship
with God is not transactional. It reminds us that we do not earn God’s grace or
God’s favor by doing good deeds. “Look at me, God! Two more marks in the ‘good’
column, please!”
The
parable reminds us that God’s grace and compassion extends to ALL people, even
to those whom the world may call ‘undesirable.’
In
the 11th Century, priest and scholar Ibn al-Tayyib said, “In the
Gospel, salvation through Jesus Christ is open to Simeon, who held the baby
Jesus at the beginning of his life, and to the thief who believed at its end.
He [Jesus] opens it up to the believer who dies today [even] as he opened it to
Abraham, the friend of God.”
But
the parable is also a lesson for the disciples and to all of those who followed
them. The parable was for all of those building the community of God here on
earth. The parable was instruction for those who wish to live in that beloved
community.
The
parable addresses the resentment that some members of that community feel
toward others who have received God’s grace. “We like the idea of grace, God …
but not when THAT ONE gets it.” The workers who worked in the vineyard all day,
toiling under the hot sun did not necessarily reject the grace that the others
got, but they did feel that they deserved MORE. The parable challenges the
sense of entitlement that some members of God’s beloved community have when it
comes to their understanding of grace and the blessings of God.
Jesus
is telling us that God is in the marketplace and God is in the vineyard. God is
in our bright days and in our struggles. God is offering grace and welcome and
acceptance to those who need a place and to those who deserve love.
And
Jesus is also teaching us that when we see someone who has been carrying the
weight of the burden of their circumstances, when we see someone who has spent
their life struggling … who are we to say that they do not deserve a measure of
grace?
The
reality is that the length … the duration … of someone’s “church” membership is
not an indication of their relationship with God.
This
lesson is about the grace of God. It does not matter when one enters into their
relationship with God.
This
parable is about the compassion of God. God welcomes all and loves all. God
welcomes those whom the world rejects, or discards, or ignores altogether.
This
parable is about the generosity of God. God’s grace is generously and freely
given. God does not count the cost.
And
just as was the case when Peter asked Jesus how many times he had to forgive
those who sin against him, and Jesus essentially said, ‘Peter, if you are
counting, then you are not truly forgiving.’ If we are “serving” God, or
“serving” our neighbor with our reward in mind, rather than the well-being of
our neighbor, rather than for the pure and genuine love of God, then we are not
truly serving.
Peter
was honest enough, and courageous enough to ask the tough questions. He put
voice to those areas with which we struggle. May Jesus’ words remain in our
hearts and minds. May we pray fervently for the strength to follow them. And
may we embrace and give thanks for God’s grace when we stumble and fall short.
Amen.
BACK