The best work

Did you ever hire a babysitter? Our kids are really spread out, Robert is almost 16 years older than Elizabeth, so we hired babysitters for more than 25 years. It was one thing to find that excellent person with whom we could leave our greatest treasure for an evening. But in all my years I never, ever, got one to tell me how much I should pay them. We always tried to pay them well. But it got to be a game with me.

But there’s a real question there. The responsibility is immense; the tasks may be minimal to nothing. What is the value? That’s a worthwhile question in all our work. Some people get paid by the hour. Some get paid by the piece. Some are on salary. Some take the risk of doing, making, building or growing something and earn whatever is left over after expenses and taxes have been paid.

This is normal, and in an earthly sense, right. If you work longer or harder to produce more, you should earn more. Pay tends to reward better skills or more experience, and supply and demand and all sorts of factors may affect it. We reject false and unfair treatment based on race, gender or other factors. All of that is as complex and diverse as the myriad of ways people earn a living in our society, It isn’t perfect, but we live by these principles of exchange.

Further, we find they are vital to human growth and development. Work builds character and it builds communities. God himself ordains work as good and it is counted as a virtue. That’s why we have our kids do their chores. We even pay them. Some kids get paid by the piece, some are on salary. (That’s what an allowance is, right?)

What word do we use for a child whom has had everything handed to him or her? Spoiled. Or maybe we get a bit more specific about the effect on their character and say “spoiled brat.”

There is no question about the necessity of work and the value of fair pay. We expect our religious life to be rooted in a similar exchange. If I’m good, I’ll go to heaven. If I’m bad, I’ll go to hell.

That’s not what Jesus says. Jesus explains that the Kingdom of God is quite different, profoundly different. This is a very difficult point for most of us to absorb because we are so steeped in the exchange of work for reward of some sort.

As we look at this parable of the laborers, please note that there is no distinction among them other than when they went into the field. It doesn’t say any worked harder or more efficiently than another. It doesn’t make any reference to skills or experience or race or gender. These are day laborers, so we can assume unskilled labor.

We can understand the complaint of the ones who worked all day. It doesn’t seem fair. They worked longer. They deserve more pay, don’t they? But this isn’t a normal job framed by earthly factors. This is the Kingdom of God and it is different, profoundly different. We don’t earn God’s grace. God’s grace is a gift; it is bestowed by his generosity. It is the exercise of His love. We receive it. We don’t get more of it because we worked harder or longer.

For example, think about an 80-year-old woman who was baptized as an infant and has been a faithful member of the church ever since. She cannot remember her life without church. In fact, she cannot conceive of her life without church. She has been active, dedicated, giving and truly believes in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the work of the church. She is “all in” and effectively so. She’s in, right? I mean, if anyone is “in” it’s her, as far as we could tell. And this is a parable of sorts so just assume that.

Now think of a prisoner who has been locked up for horrible crimes for which he is fully responsible. He is guilty as charged, and he knows it. He has been in prison for 30 years and is serving a life sentence with no hope of parole. He knows he will eventually die in prison.

Then one day he accepts an invitation to a Kairos retreat inside his prison, just because it will give him something different to do for a few days. And he heard they have cookies. In the course of that weekend, he repents his crimes and his sins from his heart and confesses them to God. He accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Even though he will never leave prison, he is now free and he knows it.

In that moment, he is received by God on equal terms with the 80-year-old church woman. His reward is exactly the same as hers. He may feel the leap from where he was to where he is a bit more, but the end is the same. He is still a prisoner. She never had so much as a traffic ticket. (She did get stopped once, but she burst into tears so the policeman felt bad and let her off with a warning.)

We are not to have the slightest scrap of resentment about that disparity. On the contrary, God’s love touched the prisoner in the very moment he bit into a chocolate chip cookie the faithful woman had baked cookies for that Kairos retreat to demonstrate God’s love to the prisoners, as Jesus commanded. “Where were you when I was in prison?” She must feel joy, the same joy The Lord has in the recovery of a lost soul and the same joy The Lord has had in her for her whole life.

Having heard about all this, may I assume you want in? May I assume that you want that reward, that gracious gift of salvation from God? May I assume that you want it today, whether you’ve been with Jesus your whole life or you’re just starting to think there may be something to all this church stuff? Well, good!

You see, the landowner has just asked you to labor in his vineyard, and you have just accepted the job. Jesus kind of snuck that one up on us, didn’t he? We thought it was about them, but he’s talking about us, too.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’ (Matthew 9:37-38)

This is why we are here. God has invited us to work for the same wage.

Which brings us to another prisoner. The Apostle Paul was in prison, probably in Rome, maybe Ephesus, and he was sick. He wasn’t sure if he would survive or die. He was confident of his reward, that he would be with Christ forever, so he did not fear death. But he knew there was more to do and he meant to share this work with the church at Philippi:

Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again. (Philippians 1:25)

And so he who was called as a laborer is now calling others.

Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel… (Philippians 1:26-27)

It doesn’t matter how old you are or how long you’ve been in the field, “Only live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” He is inviting you to find your ultimate worth, your ultimate value, in the care of His greatest treasure, His children.

AMEN