What Do You Want: Justice or Mercy?

A sermon preached by Father Dwight D. Duncan, ssc, Rector, St Matthias, Dallas, Texas
22 September 2002 - The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year A, Proper 20)

Scripture: St Matthew 20:1-16


Children bickering over a toy: "I saw it first; that's not fair!" Siblings doing chores complaining: "Mine are more difficult. That's not fair!" Soccer players whose coach seems to play his child more frequently: "That's not fair!" An employee thinking his boss does not appreciate his efforts or recognize his achievements: "That's not fair!" A worker whose raise is less than that of a co-worker she thinks less deserving: "That's not fair!"

Well, we all know how it goes, don't we? "Fairness" is a concept dear to our hearts. That is, fairness as it applies to ourselves personally is a concept dear to our hearts. So when confronted with a situation such as that put before us today by Jesus, we'd get provoked. I would. It's not fair that workers who labor for only one hour should receive the same wage as those who have toiled a full day in the scorching sun.

A parable such as this, about bald-faced injustice, gets our attention. That's precisely why Jesus told it to us. He wanted to get our attention and present us with a true picture of reality, a window through which we may see the way things really are, with his Father and with ourselves. Jesus hopes that, seeing what is true, we then will change the way we operate in relationship to it. If we do, we will be living in the way that is healthy for ourselves and everyone else. So what's Jesus' point here?

Let's quickly survey the parable. First of all, you must understand that ALL the laborers were derelicts of one stripe or another. Some were bums through no fault of their own: people of no property, orphans, the war injured, refugees from famine areas. Others were "at fault" for their situation; they preferred hand-outs to earning a living through labor.

But at whatever time they were hired, all the laborers were recipients of the vineyard owner's kindness: he was under no compulsion to hire any particular one of them. They all received jobs and they all were paid.

And the ones hired late in the day were not hired because of the value of their labor. The vineyard owner hired them solely because he had compassion on them. They had no money, no where to go, and they probably were shiftless. Giving them a token amount of employment provided the owner with a cover for giving them a gift, a little charity. Further, the owner gave them this charity in a way which would not make them feel like beggars OR play to their probable preference to get something for nothing.

The anger the all-day workers had towards the vineyard owner had to do with their begrudging the owner's kindness. Oh, they had been grateful for that kindness in the morning, when they got a job and so would be able to keep some covering over their heads and food in their stomachs for another day. But now, after a hard day's work, they knew they were more deserving than those hired later. They couldn't argue for more pay; they had contracted for their hire. BUT they could argue that the late-comers should get less.

Gosh, that sound's an awful lot like me! In relationship to myself what I want from God and everybody else is mercy: "Cut me some slack. Don't toss me aside just because I can be so irritating. Give me another chance...and another...and another."

But in relationship to others what I want to give them, AND what I want God to give them, is justice: what they deserve, which, of course, means what I think they deserve. And you know what? I have yet to meet any of you who on these matters are much different from me! The sticky wicket here is this: if everybody else gets justice from God, how do I avoid getting that for myself?

So, what is Jesus' point? Well, for one thing, he certainly is telling us to quit playing the "merit" game. You know that game; each of us plays it. We establish our own criteria for what is or is not meritorious: what social or family background, what educational level, what physical appearance, what personality characteristics, etc. are meritorious and which are not. Then - and here is the big problem with our game - we treat one another on the basis of our judgments. If someone measures up to our notion of merit, we'll cut them all kinds of slack. If they don't, we'll cut them off!

The argument of the all-day vineyard workers and the way we deal with another by our merit game may be valid in modern labor disputes. But they are totally irrelevant, even evil, in the realm of relationships: our relationship with God and with one another. God, you see, is working to rebuild our community and communion with him and with one another. The virtues which build community and communion between people are the virtues of gift, unwarranted love, forbearance, apologizing, forgiveness, mercy. It is these virtues which maintain my communion with my wife and with you, and yours with me. If we tried to build our community with each other on a system of merit, it would not survive.

If God dealt with us on the basis of our merit, none of us would make it into his presence. All of us, as the apostle Paul reminds us, fall short of his glory. ALL OF US. And each of us are latecomers to God, because we do not fully and finally give ourselves back to him until we have handed over every distorted aspect of our personality, every sin to which we still cling, and quit worshiping at the altars of anyone or anything other than his. And, of course, the first altar at which we need to quit worshiping is the altar of ourselves.

But, praise his holy Name, God does NOT deal with us on the basis of our merit. He deals with us on the basis of HIS merit: he loves us, he values us, simply because we are, simply because it pleased him to think us up and, seeing the beauty of the thought of his which we are, gave us to his world for her enrichment. "Gave us to the world for her enrichment." One of the ways we do that is by imitating God's dealing with us in our dealings with one another. Stop the merit game; bring on the mercy train.

Be very careful of that for which you ask God. What God gives to one, he gives to all. So choose what you wish to call down from him upon others: justice or mercy. Your choice will be what you yourself receive. And realize this: you and I are making our choice in the way we treat our fellows. What we want from God for ourselves, we had better work on giving to others.

The writer, Mark Twain put it well: "Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out, and your dog would go in." Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.


Back to the SERMONS page