Generous or Unfair?

(They said, “The ones who were hired last worked for only one hour. But you paid them the same that you did us. And we worked in the hot sun all day long!” Matthew 20:12)

“The ones who were hired last…you paid them the same that you did us.” “That’s not fair!” Those three words are among the most common from toddler to teen. Adults find more sophisticated ways of expressing the same sentiment, like filing lawsuits. Or the threats thereof!

We simply don’t like it when the cards are dealt unevenly. Why should someone else get all the attention and glory when we have put in as much time and effort as they did. No, we put in more work! I’ve been with the company for years and have never been invited to go to the sales convention. But that new guy, who the boss likes to hang around with, he has gone twice already!

Unfair? Yes indeed. There is no question about it. There are going to be many incidents where we do not receive what we feel we deserve.

My parents recognized this and tried to do something about it while we four siblings were growing up. We started a tradition. At each birthday of our birthdays, the rest of the siblings also received one present.

I think it started with me. As the oldest, I probably wailed when my younger brother got presents for his birthday and I received none. Our mother, ever the diligent overseer of justice, probably gave me a gift to pacify me and quiet my bawling. From there it processed into the family tradition: one gift for everybody during another one’s birthday.

Perhaps that is part of what formed my intense sense of fairness. I still have that inner monitor that measures what others have received compared to my own efforts. If it seems I have put out the same or greater effort and the other person is far more recognized, that “it’s not fair” buzzer goes off in my head.

Does any of this sound familiar? Am I the only one who complains when life seems unfair? I really don’t think so. But, to be honest, the workers in Matthew 20 had a legitimate complaint. They had been hired for a “fair amount” early that morning. At the end of the day, a group of workers hired right before closing received the same amount promised to the first group.

Initially this caused some excitement among those first workers. They thought they would be given much more than promised, seeing these last workers received so much. Instead, every group of workers, no matter when they were hired for that day, received exactly that same wages.

This story rang true. It is still a common practice. Every Eastern town has a well-known place where men congregate at dawn and wait to be engaged in manual labor for the day. Such labor includes gardening, ditching, repairing walls, whitewashing, and lifting and carrying burdens. These day laborers work from hand to mouth. The wages each day’s wage is needed at sunset to purchase the family supper.

So, this was a very real conflict. The wages were greatly needed. They were not simply going to invest the extra into a well-padded retirement fund. Whatever additional amount they hoped to receive would provide one or two days without having to worry about where their meal would come from.

But the owner was actually quite fair. He gave each group exactly what he had promised. There was no deceit. And he did not subtract anything from a single worker. So this story highlights our constant scrutiny concerning fairness; our own fairness. There was no outcry on behalf of the other workers.

The kingdom of heaven (the way God works in the world) has nothing to do with hourly wages. The owner replies in verse 15, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Why should you be jealous, if I want to be generous?”

Ouch! God pours the riches of His blessing into someone else’s life, we cry foul, and it reveals what we are made of. “Do you really want to complain because I am a generous God?” Jesus says that everyone who is now first will be last, and everyone who is last will be first. (verse 16).

The kingdom of God is full of people who have received more than they deserve. The difference is whether or not we want to acknowledge that we, too, have received far more than our own efforts merit. The kingdom of God is full of people who have thrown the desire for personal fairness out the window. It is not that they no longer work to achieve. But they no longer keep track of how much they have received compared to others. They simply follow the God who gives to everyone far more than they deserve.

We have a kind and generous God. I want to forget about fairness. I want to exhibit the same qualities within myself. I want my speech to reflect the mercy of my Master. I want my actions to display the very same kindness of Jesus.

If being last and unnoticed in this world means I am first in God’s kingdom of love, then I accept those wages gratefully.