Matthew shares a parable of Jesus in which a landowner hires laborers throughout the day and then pays all of them the same daily wage (Matthew 20:1-16). It doesn’t surprise us that those who were hired first thing in the morning are upset that those who were hired late in the afternoon are paid the same. The landowner explains that everyone received what they were promised, a day’s wage. Those who were hired first felt entitled to more because others received the same as they did.
Why are we often discontent with having the same as others? Why do we think we deserve more? These are not characteristics of the Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven. In God’s Kingdom there is no first or last. We are all first and last. There is no greater than or less than. We are all joint heirs with Jesus. There is no holding power over others but power with that enables the mutuality of all who are in God’s Kingdom.
All three of our gospel writers share another parable of Jesus about entitled laborers (Matthew 21:33-45, Mark 12:1-12, Luke 20:9-18). In this story, the landowner leases the vineyard out and moves far away. At harvest time, the landowner sends his representative to collect the rent and the tenants beat him and throw him out. This happens repeatedly. Finally the landowner sends his son. The tenants kill him. At this point in the story, Jesus asks those listening to the parable “what will the landowner do to the tenants?” They say that the landowner will kill the tenants and get new ones. Jesus doesn’t completely confirm their answer as he reminds them of the prophet Isaiah’s words “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” God had entrusted the ancient Israelites with the fruit of God’s Kingdom and they tried to take it for their own.
The tenant farmers thought that they were in control of the vineyard. They felt entitled to take what they wanted even at the expense of the lives of others. They made power and wealth more important than other human beings. The fruit of all that we do is to be for the building up of God’s Kingdom, not our own.
God’s kingdom was never to be exclusionary. God has from the very beginning wanted to include all human beings. God chose to spread this news through a particular people but always provided provision for all to be welcome and equally included. It was never God’s people’s responsibility to decide who was allowed in and who isn’t. We’ve never been given the authority to design God’s Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven by our own standards. We are the laborers given full benefit of the Kingdom. We are the tenant farmers and the produce of the vineyard is not ours to take but entrusted to us so that all benefit from God’s provision.
God’s provision isn’t the extra we get over and above our needs. All that we have and all that we are is God’s provision. Our very life is a gift of our Creator. Nothing is of our own creation. We have an active role in nurturing and maintaining our lives but our life is a gift. Whenever we begin to live as if we know better than God what the design for our life should be, we disrupt the equitability and mutuality of God’s Kingdom.
We are not ‘owners’ in this life but stewards of the greatest gift of life. And this does not mean we are worthless or insignificant. We are invaluable. We are made by God in love, by love, and for love. We do not, nor can we, earn God’s love. God loves. We have the choice to receive God’s love and enter into relationship with our Creator. The invitation is always open. We have the choice to live as we are created to be, beloved children of God, or as gods of our own kingdoms. Either way, God loves us because God’s love is not transactional. We have the choice to live relationally with God and each other or transactionally for our own benefit. We have the choice to lead our own kingdoms or follow Jesus into the Kingdom-on-earth-as-I-heaven.
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