Let’s hear how the vineyard manager might tell this story:
Let me get this straight right off the bat: It was not my decision to pay everyone the same. That was the way the boss wanted it, and I follow orders. To tell you the truth, it was weird. I watched how hard the guys hired at dawn worked. The ones who came later worked hard too, but there’s a big difference between working for twelve hours and working for one.
When the boss told me to give out the full daily wage for everybody, I was surprised. I thought maybe he’d work out some kind of a bonus for the ones who picked all day. But no. It was like his generosity was all for the ones who got hired late. More for them than expected; the amount agreed-upon for everyone else. He even paid them first. Fair…and maybe not fair. Depends on how you look at it. Depends on who you’re looking at.
I don’t blame the all-day folks for being mad. But here’s what they don’t know: they were already at the top of the pay scale. That daily wage was way above the norm. The boss was paying out everything he was making off that vineyard. The only way to pay those workers more was to pay others less, and that’s not how he rolls. Not how he thinks. He’s quirky, the boss… hard to understand at times. But I’ll tell you: he knows what he’s doing.
Who might the manager in Jesus’ story represent? To me, he stands for all who consider ourselves servants of God, who participate in what God is doing, carry out God’s mercy and God’s justice, speak God’s peace, who forgive and heal and love and tend. God’s ways don’t always make sense to us – we take a big leap of faith whenever we walk into the works God has prepared for us.
It can be hard to be God’s representative in the face of grief or crisis, to sit with someone who feels God is not blessing her as God blesses others. It is a challenge to proclaim God’s love to someone who insists they have never known it, cannot feel it. I am often tempted to defend God when someone is disappointed or accusing, when something in the Bible or the church causes offense. Then I remember: God doesn’t need me to defend him. God only needs me to be true to what I believe God is telling or showing or leading.
And God needs us to be true to ourselves. We don’t leave ourselves at the door when we work with God - the Spirit of God works through us, and that means through our intellect, emotions, history, moods, our circumstances on any given day. God doesn’t want robots – God seems to want us.
Are you willing to be God’s “ managing agent” today? What vineyard have you been called to tend? Are there any difficult “orders” to carry out? If so, you don’t have to worry about doing it yourself. Simply pray, “Lord, if you want me to do this thing, or have that conversation, please work in me and through me.” Then pay attention to what happens.
I stand on the reminder I had in prayer one day, that God already loves me the most. There is nothing I can do to make God love me more, because God is already as delighted in me as can be. I could quit accomplishing and producing right now, and my God-salary would not decrease. I’m already at the top of a really generous pay scale. And so are you.
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