Definitions of Justice

Matthew 20:13 - And he replied to one of them, "Friend, I do you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?"

Here we are getting into expectations. The workers understandably expected that everyone else would get less than they. And, it turns out that this understandable expectations was completely unrealistic. How often we get into the trap of assuming things about others. When we assume, we are setting ourselves up for our un/conscious expectations to be unfulfilled. Setting ourselves up for disappointment and hurt feelings.

Everyone does this - I do this. I'm not pointing the finger at people who do this. As I said, the workers' expectations were completely understandable. We expect fairness from employers in the same way we expect our friends to be supportive. My point is, rather, that it doesn't have to happen, if we are willing to do some soul searching, self searching so that we can recognize what our expectations about the world and about each other actually are. Only then can we think about whether these expectations are realistic. The same goes for our expectations of God.

All of us have expectations of God, whether we're aware of them or not. And one thing that we tend to expect from God, based on our readings of scripture, is that God is just, fair. Right? It's all over the bible. I am comfortable saying that expectation is not only understandable but also realistic. Yet, in the parable, it's the God figure that seems to be unfair. I think many of us, me included, read this passage the first time and were shocked at God's actions. Because we define justice differently than God does.

Have you ever been in a heated discussion or argument with someone and when all was said and done, it was merely a misunderstanding of how each of you defined a word or situation? That's what's happening here. The laborer (us) defines fairness and generosity differently than the landowner (God). This is implied in the landowner's answer to the grumbler, "Did you not agree with me for a denarius?" He reminds them of the terms they agreed to. Of all the workers, these hired first were the only workers told explicitly how much they would receive. The manager only told the later workers he'd give them "what was right (just)."

Just to God is everyone has enough to live. Just to us, in America, and maybe elsewhere is everyone gets what they earned. And here in America, we don't mandate that everyone get a just, living wage. In face, we actively prevent people of color from the flourishing that God desires for all of us, Her children. Slavery, redlining, suppressing the vote; the things I discussed earlier. We find it hard to believe that God could be so generous. Maybe because we are not. Yet, for a long time, the prevailing attitude was that God was angry and just itching for an excuse to send us to hell. Jonathan Edwards' sermon describing us as spiders hanging over the fires of hell by a thread describes this view perfectly.

Yet, Jesus is telling his disciples and us that that is not how it works. Our ideas of fairness and justice, because they are built on a foundation of an inherently unjust society, are wrong, wrong, wrong.

Sit with that for a moment. Lament that. For we can never get past this monstrous injustice until we lament, truly understanding the wrongs of our ancestors and how we have profited from the injustice inherent in the system.
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