Whatever is Right

Matthew 20:3-4 - And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. He said to these, "You also go into the vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right."

This vineyard manager goes out again because there is still work to be done in his vineyard. Because he represents God here, we can think about a God continually calling us to be workers in his kin-dom (the vineyard). Whether we refuse one time or many times God still comes back, calling us into relationship with God and God's people. There's work to be done so he keeps checking on who would like to be involved. In the same way, this vineyard manager keeps going back. This is only his second trip but we can guess, even if we didn't already know, that it won't be his last. This is also where the connection between the parable and his statement about the last being first begins to be made. The first, in this instance, are those that were hired early in the morning. The last will be hired later in the day.

However, I want to focus on the phrase, "whatever is right." The word for right here also means just. Whatever is fair. This is not the same phrase he used earlier. Then he said, "a denarius for a day's work." I want to lift up the ambiguity of this phrase. 'whatever is right.' Now, upon first reading this, I would immediately assume that the manager will pro-rate their wages. Maybe you would as well. That seems fair, right? But the phrase is more ambiguous than that. It could also mean, as we will soon find out it does, that the workers will be paid the same, or in today's expression, 'a living wage.' I highlight this because I think it is productive to ask ourselves about our assumptions here and in the more mundane happenings of our lives. What is right to us is not necessarily right to God.

An obvious example of this, one among many obvious examples currently rocking our nation, is the Republican push to repeal and replace Obamacare. For reasons that have to do with money, the Republicans in the senate are about to vote on a bill that would take away healthcare from 34 million Americans in the next few years. They know how terrible this is because they have exempted themselves from this legislation. Not only will millions of people lose access to health care, many will lose their jobs, and because Obamacare is integrated tightly into our economy, it will be knocked off its already thin rails.

It is easy to see the injustice in this. What would just and fair health insurance look like to you? Who deserves health insurance and care? Why? These are questions we should all be asking ourselves. It's easy to see the injustice in this plan; it's much more difficult to see the injustice inherent in our own ideas.

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