Delivered on September 25, 2005, Melana
says, "It's Not Fair!" We hope you enjoy
reading her sermons and wish you would
join us each Sunday to hear the
new one in person.
It's Not Fair Matthew 20:1-16
It's not fair!
How many times have you heard that refrain from your children or grandchildren, from students or employees, from neighbors or friends?
How many times have you said it yourself?
It's not fair!
It's not fair when a young father is killed on the highway, doing his job, leaving his wife and children without him.
It's not fair!
It's not fair to have to evacuate a home in New Orleans, only to find the generator in the Superdome isn't up to the task, only to be moved to Texas and have another hurricane threaten and be forced to move again.
It's not fair!
It's not fair for a woman in her 60's with severe cerebral palsy to be told that the government is cutting her aid so she will have to pay for people to come help her with grocery shopping and running errands and keeping the house clean.
It's not fair!
But wait...
Who ever said that life should be fair?
If you think about it honestly, probably your mother or father or grandparent told you at some point that life isn't fair - so get over it!
But even as adults, we really, really want things to be fair. Which makes it difficult for us to actually talk about God's grace. Grace knows nothing of fairness - grace knows about love, which also knows nothing about fairness.
Donald Shelby, a preacher in California, told a story in a sermon about an interview that was broadcast. The person being interviewed was a heroic mother who had single-handedly raised a large family. In spite of all the frustrations, disappointments and obstacles, she had persevered and every one of her children had made remarkable achievements, not only in their schooling but also in their vocation. It was an inspiring story worth celebrating, for it revealed the heights and depths of human greatness.
During the interview, the mother was asked her secret by the reporter who said, 'I suppose you loved all your children equally, making sure that all got the same treatment?' The mother replied, 'I loved them. I loved them all, each one of them, but not equally.
I loved the one the most that was down until he was up.
I loved the one the most that was weak until she was strong.
I loved the one the most that was hurt until he was healed.
I loved the one the most that was lost until she was found.'
--Donald J. Shelby, "The Lord's House and Ours",
10 May 1992, Santa Monica, California.
This doesn't mean that any of them felt unloved, each received the love they needed at the time, but some more than others at particular times in life. That is also the way God acts toward us - loving each of us, always - But knowing when we need some particularly special care and concern.
This parable that we read this morning is a story about life not being fair. The workers, who had been in the field for an hour, in the cool of the evening, received a full day's wage. The workers who had been in the field all day, were tired, thirsty, ready to go home - when they saw the wages received by the people who had only worked an hour, they logically thought they would receive more. But they, too, received a day's wage.
It wasn't fair!
The workers who had been there all day complained to the vineyard owner. But the owner had no sympathy at all. He told them they had agreed on a wage and that is what they had received, so there should be no complaining. They protested again, why would you pay these workers so much when they only worked an hour? The vineyard owner tells them that they have no right to question how he chooses to spend his money.
But we question God all the time, don't we?
Why does that person make more money than I do?
Why can't I have a bigger house or a larger family or more time to enjoy myself?
It's not fair!
In actuality, it is difficult to determine how many of those kinds of things God chooses to set up for us. We have free will and we make choices, some better than others that often determine how much money we make or where we live or any of those other things that we use to compare ourselves with those around us. But the things that really matter are the things that God brings to us through grace and love. We are so set up to compare though, that we even begin to compare grace and love.
God's grace is sufficient for us in all things - if we are able to let ourselves claim it and experience it. Too often we try to make it through difficulties on our own, not recognizing that God is with us and providing for us. God is much more than we can comprehend, even though we try.
A little girl came to her mother with the age-old question, "Mother, what is God like?"
Her mother hesitated. "Ask your father," she said.
Her father also hesitated.
Later, among her child's possessions, her mother found this scrap of paper on which were these words in free verse:
"I asked my mother what God was like.
She did not know.
Then I asked my father, who knows more than anyone else in the world, what God was like.
He did not know.
I think if I had lived as long as my mother and father,
I would know something about God."
-- Source unknown
We do know something about God, but just not enough.
We are not able to comprehend the unconditional love that God has for us. We are not able to understand the immensity of God's grace for all people, not just the people we think are good enough to deserve it. Not just the people who have worked long enough and hard enough, but even the people who haven't done what we think is enough.
It's not fair - but it is the way God works in grace.
And thank goodness for that, because when we compare ourselves to the goodness of God, we all fall short - no matter how many hours of work we put in for Angel Food Ministry or LOGOS or choir or any other good work.
We do not deserve God's grace - it is freely given.
Think for a moment about a time when you have experienced God's grace in your own life - a moment of peace in the midst of turmoil.
A moment of joy in the midst of pain and grief -
A caring word when it was most needed.
God's grace comes to us in many ways over the course of our life -
Often when we least expect it and when we most need it.
Just as the woman loved her children the most when they needed it most, God gives us grace in abundance when we need it most.
God's grace is all around us, undeserved, but freely given.
We cannot earn it.
We do not deserve it.
It's not fair!
It's God's grace.
© Melana Scruggs 2005
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