A man went out to hire some men to work in his vineyard. An everyday scene in 1st century Palestine. In Palestine the grape harvest ripens towards the end of September, and very soon afterwards comes the rainy season. If the harvest is not gathered in before the rains break, then it is ruined. To get the harvest in is a frantic race against time. Any worker is welcome, even if he can only give an hour to the work.
Where did he find his workers ? In the market-place like everyone did. These men were hired labourers - bottom of the heap on the social ladder, lower even that slaves and servants. Slaves and servants were regarded as being to some extent attached to the family; they were within the group; their fortunes would vary with the fortunes of the family, but in normal times they would never be in any imminent danger of starvation.
Life for hired-labourers was quite different. They were entirely at the mercy of chance employment, they always lived on the semi-starvation line. The pay was one drachma a day. If they didn't find work for that day, they and their wives and children would go hungry. Nobody could afford to have savings on just one drachma a day. To be unemployed for a day was a disaster. The workers would gather every day at the market square hoping that an employer would require their labour. These were unskilled labourers, much like the unskilled labourers of our time. Today they may not gather at the labour exchange, but they are there all the same, poorly-paid, used and abused by various employers, working long hours, and using every penny simply to make ends meet. Then, as now, it was an employers market, he held all the cards.
And out came the employer at daybreak, at the third hour, at the sixth hour and so on. The Jewish day began at six a.m. The third hour would have been at 9 O'clock, the sixth hour - twelve O'clock and so on. The day ended at Six p.m. The employer came out for the last time at 5pm - the eleventh hour, with only one hour of the working day left.
At the end of the day the men lined up for their wages. The foremen began with those who had only been working an hour, and gave them a full days wages. Not surprisingly these men were delighted - they would not have to face accusing and anxious looks, and rows at home for returning with only a fraction of a days pay. Those who had worked all day were probably smiling too, expecting a sizeable bonus. You can almost see their faces fall as watch the foreman works his way up the line - those who had worked 3 hours, those who had worked 6 hours, those who had worked 9 hours - all received exactly the same - one drachma. They marched in protest to the owner. "Those men over there have only worked for an hour, they've scarcely worked up a sweat. But we've been working hard all day, in the full heat of the midday sun. We've worked ourselves to a standstill, and yet you pay us the same. UNFAIR !!"
"But," the owner replied, "surely I'm doing you no wrong, did we not agree to do a day's work for a day's pay ? Take your pay and go home. Don't be angry simply because I choose to be generous to another."
And who among us does not side instinctively with the workers who have worked all day? But today I want us to put this parable alongside another story – the story of Jonah, and see if we can draw something deeper from it.
There were many who had worked all day - people like Jonah.
Many people get hung up with pictures of big fish and what's it like to live inside a whale when it comes to the story of Jonah, and it is easy to miss the main point of his story. The fish, or the whale is really only a bit part in the story, part of the build-up to the climax. But it is such a vivid picture that often the rest of the story is lost.
God calls Jonah to go and preach to the people of Nineveh. Jonah doesn't think it is a very good idea, and so he tries to escape God's call. He set off in a ship in the opposite direction. Of course he ends up being thrown off the ship and swallowed by a whale. If we end the story there, or with Jonah being spat up on the beach, then we learn a good lesson - that we cannot escape from God's calling. But that's not the main point of the story.
Jonah does go to Nineveh, and he does preach God's word. It took him three days of walking through the city proclaiming God's judgement - "In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed !"
To Jonah’s surprise the people of Nineveh repented ! They all wore sackcloth and ashes and fasted. God saw their repentance, he saw that they had given up their wicked behaviour, and he changed his mind - he did not punish them as he said he would ! He forgave them.
And Jonah, who had spent three long days walking through the city preaching gloom and doom thought this made him look a little silly. He was very cross, and so in anger he prayed to God, "Lord, didn't I say before I left home that this is exactly what you would do ? That's why I tried my best to run off to Spain ! I knew that you are a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind and always ready to change your mind and not punish. I wish I was dead."
And God said, "What business have you to be angry ?" Much the same as what the vineyard-owner said in Jesus' story. Jonah and the workers are angry because God is being unfair - unfairly generous. Jonah is upset because he has been made a fool of, but also because he has to do some re-thinking about the nature of God. He has made an important discovery. God's heart is bigger than Jonah wants it to be. In fact it's so big that it can find room for Jews and Gentiles. It's so big that it can even find room for Israel's sworn enemies - the Assyrians, and their capital city - Nineveh.
Jesus' story makes the same point - those who come to work in the vineyard at the final hour are the Gentiles. They are latecomers, newcomers, and yet God loves them the same, they get the same reward. There are no long service medals in God's kingdom, he loves all of his children equally. God is like that eccentric employer in Jesus' story. He is like that father in the story of the prodigal son. He rejoices and throws a lavish party when his younger son returns home. The elder son is jealous and hurt. "It's not fair," he says, "I've been by your side the longest."
God is unfair, he is unfairly generous to each one of us. He forgives us, he has inexhaustible patience as we constantly disappoint him. If God treated us fairly, he would have deserted us long ago. But NO ! He treats us with unfair generosity, and he treats those who live alongside us with unfair generosity. We must not begrudge anyone God's generosity, for it is properly called God's grace. And it is by God's grace that we are saved, by God's grace that we are brought together as God's children.
And what part do you play in these stories ? Are any of the characters you ? Do you feel you have been working all day in the heat of the burning sun, and resent those newcomers who have not yet broken sweat ? Are you a late arrival who feels the resentment of the other workers, and who is surprised by God's generosity and acceptance ? Are you a Jonah or a resident of Nineveh ? What's the message for you from these stories ? A scholar that I read recently said about parables and stories in the Bible that the most important rule for interpreting them and discerning their meaning for you is this - "If the cap fits, wear it !"
Whoever you identify with, this is true - God has been unfairly generous to YOU. God's grace is there for everyone. So lets live our lives as though we had something to be thankful for.