Matthew 20: 1-16

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ?You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. And about five o'clock, he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ?Why are you standing here idle all day?' They said to him, ?Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, ?You also go into the vineyard.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ?Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ?These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' But he replied to one of them, ?Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous? So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Luke 15: 11-32

Then Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ?Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ?How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ?Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, ?Quickly, bring out a robe?the best one?and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate. "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ?Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ?Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him' Then the father said to him, ?Son you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

Sermon Text

On Thursday a news article about the rescue of two cats ran on the front page of the Wilmington News Journal. The cats were found swimming in eight feet of water in the bathroom of the home that their owners had very reluctantly abandoned. The cats were discovered by a man who set out by canoe to save whatever pets he could find. He must have cut quite a picture with his canoe full of cats and dogs. Stories like that pull at our heart strings, don't they. A stranger helping defenseless animals?we celebrate compassion such as that, holding it up as a fine example of humaneness. But what if the needy creatures in question are not innocent animals but rather, people we look down on; like looters, or people who shoot at rescue helicopters.. People like that don't deserve compassion, some would say. Isn't it wrong to show compassion to people who have no shame? If we get soft on bad actors, won't we just encourage laziness and corruption? Isn't it socially wiser to show kindness just to the people who really deserve it?the good hearted people, the ones with clean records, the people you can trust not to take advantage of a kindness? Yes, this way of thinking does seem worldly wise and quite fair: To the just go the rewards; to the unjust, punishment. What could be more fair than that?

When Jesus walked the countryside of Galilee, he told stories about a new world order that was coming to pass, right under people's noses, if only they had the imagination and the courage to see it. He called that new world order God's kingdom. Jesus liked to make jokes. He liked to entertain people with humor, because when people laugh they relax, and when they get relaxed they let down their defenses so that God's subversive compassion can get inside their hearts and heads and change them.

So, what was the joke in the instance of God's kingdom? Well, kings were seldom good. They took what they wanted. They made the laws, and they usually saw themselves as above them. Many kings were downright cruel. So, get this: Jesus said that God's kingdom is coming. God is going to be the king in this new time, Jesus implied, not Caesar. Everything's going to be different in this new kingdom. Everything will be turned upside down. Isn't that a hoot! The rules of the cruel kingdoms will be turned upside down. The last will be first, and the first, last. Before there had been ruthless cruelty, now there would be compassion. Before only the powerful got the goods; now, everybody would find a place at the table.

And here's the kicker: God's kingdom is already dawning. You don't have to wait for it. You just have to allow yourself to live in it, as Jesus did. Doesn't that sound like wonderful news?!

Well, to many people it was?especially the people at the bottom of the heap who were always getting kicked around. But to people who already had a middling place in the pecking order, it must have seemed frightful news, because in this new world order they would have no advantage over bottom feeders, no advantage at all. In a world where there's compassion for all, distinctions between good and bad people, haves and have-nots, evaporate. How can there be fairness in a world like that? And how can the advent of such a new world order possibly be good news?

You know what I think Jesus would say to that question? I think he'd say that God isn't fair, at least not by our standards. God is way beyond fair. God is extravagantly compassionate, not carefully and parsimoniously compassionate, as people tend to be who have learned to get along by the rules of the former kingdoms. God is a spendthrift with compassion. Isn't that what Jesus taught again and again in his stories? Come the end of the day, God is like the boss man who feels just as compassionate toward the workers who only worked in the evening as toward those who worked all day long in the blazing sun. Now, is that fair? Of course not. But get over it. God isn't fair. God is extravagantly compassionate. God wants those end-of -the- day workers to eat too, so he pays them a daily wage, same as the others.

And in the story of the two sons, where one goes off and squanders his inheritance and the other who is left at home to do twice the work, God is like the father who rejoices at the return of the good-for-nothing son, because he loves him nonetheless. The older brother is full of resentment, and rightfully so, for the father hasn't been fair. The dissolute son got the fatted calf, but the older brother never even received a goat. What kind of justice is that? The good-for-nothing son gets a party. The dutiful, persevering, never complaining older brother gets nothing. Or, so it seems to him, because he can't get past his resentment, can't see things from his father's point of view, which is that both sons are loved equally, though they are treated differently.

Now, don't take me wrong. Fairness is good. It protects us from lawlessness, from social anarchy, from the kind of chaos that was coming to pass in New Orleans after the storm. But fairness is not enough in the kingdom of God. Fairness is good, but if that's all there is, then how will there be room for all at the table?

How, then, can the body of Christ move people to open their hearts and minds to this new way of living? How can we persuade them to try living in God's kingdom? People must somehow manage to let go of the almost sacred notion that God must be fair. It isn't so, taught Jesus. Especially when push comes to shove, God is not fair. God is so compassionate that it blows our minds.

Sooner or later life readies us to hear this good news. You see, when we're fit and able to fare for ourselves, and we feel perhaps a bit superior to our fellows, then when we hear that God is so very compassionate, it doesn't mean that much to us; but when we're down and out, in need of forgiveness, desperate for just a little love, then a body can be mighty glad that God doesn't hand out rewards according to just deserts, but rather, loves us-- each and every one-- extravagantly.

Back to the question I raise earlier: How can the body of Christ, the church, persuade people to live in this kingdom of God? I don't think people can be argued into it. That's why Jesus used subversive stories, to grab people before they could erect their defenses. I don't know anyone who has been as clever with stories as Jesus was. I doubt that we'll make much headway by that means. But, one thing we can do is to try to love extravagantly too; or at least, to set as good an example of that as we can.

Those of you who are parents, do you remember how early your sons and daughters acquired a sense of fairness? Little children develop a very strong sense of fairness based on just proportions. The other day my grandson Griffin received a whole pop sickle, fresh from the freezer. He held it up to gaze at the deep purple beauty, frosted with a veneer of ice, and sending vapor into the air. So luscious! Griffin is barely one and a half, but already he has a strong sense of what belongs to him, and what belongs to his sister, and he clearly believes that what's fair for one kid is fair for another, no more, no less. Well, his sister was already munching her pop sickle when his mother reached over and took a bite from his. Just a wee bite! But that infuriated him, and he cried crocodile tears. This wasn't fair! His pop sickle was smaller now! Right, mother hadn't been fair, not according to strict rules of equal portions. But, how is a parent to help a child go beyond an ethic based on strict fairness? How is a parent to get across the idea that sometimes in a family there won't be precisely equal distributions, because something higher than fairness is required? How is a parent to teach a child that sharing is good, even though it diminishes one's own portion? How is a parent to get across the concept that different children have different needs, so that sometimes out of compassion you are moved to give more to one than to another? Well, the only way I know to get all this across is to demonstrate compassion yourself. Sometimes your children may resent it. They'll say it isn't fair. O.K. It isn't fair. But wait until they are on the receiving end of your compassion, and then they may see the light.