It is not fair!

Jesus did not carry a sword or a spear. He had no army behind him. His only weapon was his mouth, and what got him into trouble was his message. He made people so angry that they wanted to kill him. His message was perceived as not only wrong but dangerous. She was subversive. It threatened to disrupt the social order of Judaism. But what message could anger the religious authorities so much that they killed their messenger?

One thought that could anger religious leaders is found in Matthew 9:13: "I came to call sinners, and not the righteous." Jesus had good news for sinners, but many of those who thought of themselves as good found that Jesus was giving bad news. Jesus invited whores and tax collectors into the kingdom of God, and the good ones didn't like it. "That's unfair," they might say. "We've worked so hard to be good, so why can't they get into the kingdom without trying? If the sinners don't have to stay outside, it's unfair!"

More than fair

Instead, God is more than fair. His grace goes far beyond anything we could deserve. God is generous, full of grace, full of mercy, full of love for us, although we do not deserve it. Such a message disturbs religious authorities and those who say the harder you try, the more you get; if you manage yourself better, you will get better wages. This type of message is liked by religious authorities because it makes it easy to motivate people to make an effort to do right, to live justly. But Jesus says: It's not like that.

If you've dug a really deep pit yourself, if you've screwed up over and over, if you've been the worst sinner, you don't have to work your way out of the pit on your own to be redeemed. God just forgives you for Jesus' sake. You don't have to deserve it, God just does. You just have to believe it. You just have to trust God, take him at his word: Your multi-million dollar debt is forgiven.

Apparently some people find this kind of message bad. “Look, I've been trying so hard to get out of the pit,” you might say, “and I'm almost out. And now you're telling me that 'those' are pulled right out of the pit without even having to try? That's unfair!"

No, grace isn't "fair," it's grace, a gift we don't deserve. God can be generous with whom He chooses to be generous, and the good news is that He offers His generosity to all. It's fair in the sense that it's for everyone, although that means he forgives some a big debt and others a smaller one—the same arrangement for all, though the requirements are different.

A parable about fair and unfair

In Matthew 20 there is a parable of the workers in the vineyard. Some received exactly what they agreed, while others received more. Now the men who had been working all day said, “It's unfair. We have worked all day, and it is not fair to pay us the same as those who worked less” (cf. v. 12). But the men who had labored all day received exactly what they had agreed upon before beginning the work (verse 4). They grumbled only because others received more than was fair.

What did the lord of the vineyard say? "Have I not power to do as I please with what is mine? Do you look askance because I am so kind?” (v. 15). The lord of the vineyard said he would give them a fair day's wages for a fair day's work, and he did, and yet the workers complained. Why? Because they compared themselves to others and were less favored. They had hopes and were disappointed.

But the lord of the vineyard said to one of them, "I do you no wrong. If you don't think that's fair, the problem is your expectation, not what you actually received. Had I not paid so much to those who came later, you would have been quite content with what I gave you. The problem is your expectations, not what I've done. You accuse me of being bad just because I was so good to another” (cf. vv. 13-15).

How would you react to that? What would you think if your manager gave a bonus to the newest co-workers but not to the old, loyal employees? It wouldn't be very good for morale, would it? But Jesus is not talking about bonuses here - he is talking about the kingdom of God in this parable (verse 1). The parable reflects something that happened in Jesus' ministry: God gave salvation to people who hadn't tried very hard, and the religious authorities said, “That's unfair. You mustn't be so generous to them. We have tried, and they have done little.” And Jesus answered, “I bring good news to sinners, not to the righteous.” His teaching threatened to undermine the normal motive for being good.

What does that have to do with us?

We may want to believe that after working all day and bearing the burden and heat of the day, we deserve a good reward. We dont have. It doesn't matter how long you've been in church or how many sacrifices you have made; that is nothing compared to what God gives us. Paul tried harder than any of us; he made more sacrifices for the gospel than we realize, but he counted it all as a loss to Christ. It was nothing.

The time we've spent in church is not for God. The work we've done is nothing against what he can do. Even when we are at our best, we are useless servants, as another parable says (Luk. 17, 10). Jesus bought our whole life; he has a fair claim to every thought and deed. There is no way we can give him anything beyond that - even if we do everything he commands.

In reality we are like the workers who only worked an hour and got a full day's wage. We barely started and got paid like we'd actually done something useful. Is that fair Maybe we shouldn't ask the question at all. If the verdict is in our favor, we shouldn't get a second opinion!

Do we see ourselves as people who have worked long and hard? Do we think we made more than we get? Or do we see ourselves as people who receive an undeserved gift, no matter how long we have worked? This is food for thought.

by Joseph Tkach

It is not fair!