Proper 20 / Pentecost 18 / OT 25
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
... Or are you envious because I am generous?
-- Matthew 20:15
On the surface, we can identify much more with those who grumbled in the parable than with the landowner who represented God. If we had toiled all day and then received the same wages as those who had worked only an hour, we would grumble, too. It would seem unfair to us. To understand the parable, we must first understand the labor pool. Each day the men lined up waiting to be hired. Their ability to feed their family depended on being picked. The owner was not questioned when he offered the usual daily wage of one denarius. This was not an unjust situation. When he kept returning to get more workers, they assumed that he would be fair. When he questioned those standing idle late in the day, it was clear that the reason they were not working was not laziness but because they had not been hired. Through no fault of their own, their family would not eat that night. The turning point of the parable was the owner's compassion on the last to be hired. He wanted their families to eat, as well. Those who worked longer saw this generous act and expected that since they worked longer they would get more pay. But the owner only paid what he had agreed to pay. The suggestion of the parable is that God is interested in "giving us this day our daily bread" and would extend God, himself, to provide such to the less fortunate, also. God was not interested in keeping the world divided along the lines of who had worked hardest. God was interested in our sufficiency and not our gathering wealth.
-- Matthew 20:15
On the surface, we can identify much more with those who grumbled in the parable than with the landowner who represented God. If we had toiled all day and then received the same wages as those who had worked only an hour, we would grumble, too. It would seem unfair to us. To understand the parable, we must first understand the labor pool. Each day the men lined up waiting to be hired. Their ability to feed their family depended on being picked. The owner was not questioned when he offered the usual daily wage of one denarius. This was not an unjust situation. When he kept returning to get more workers, they assumed that he would be fair. When he questioned those standing idle late in the day, it was clear that the reason they were not working was not laziness but because they had not been hired. Through no fault of their own, their family would not eat that night. The turning point of the parable was the owner's compassion on the last to be hired. He wanted their families to eat, as well. Those who worked longer saw this generous act and expected that since they worked longer they would get more pay. But the owner only paid what he had agreed to pay. The suggestion of the parable is that God is interested in "giving us this day our daily bread" and would extend God, himself, to provide such to the less fortunate, also. God was not interested in keeping the world divided along the lines of who had worked hardest. God was interested in our sufficiency and not our gathering wealth.
