Sermon "Is God Fair?"
Rev. Lonnie Richardson
Sunday, September 19, 1999
Matthew 20:1-16
Is God Fair?
This gospel lesson is hard for those of us who are concerned about fairness. It seems to tell us that God is not fair. The story is simple: Jesus describes a hiring process. Some workers are hired early, some at mid-day, some in the afternoon, and some just before quitting time. At the end of the day, they were all paid the same wage.
Those who had worked all day felt that they should be paid more than those who had worked only part of the day. But the employer said, "You all agreed to the wage before it was paid; " and more significantly, "It's my money and if I want to pay everyone the same thing, I can."
From this we learn that God is not fair. Rather than being fair, God is lavish.
I don't know about you, but I am so glad that god is not fair. If God were fair and gave me what I truly deserve, I would be tortured slowly before being consigned to hell for ever. Let's revisit fairness.
Fairness is the highest ethical stance of many in our culture. Some would even choose fairness over lavish love. Children see fairness as the standard. They are especially keen on fairness if they believe that they have been treated unfairly. All who are parents are familiar with the cry of outrage, "That's not fair!" This may be accompanied by that other great ethical benchmark of children, "But all the other kids get to..." Most parents have a set of responses to these statements that they heard from their parents. Children seldom raise the issue of fairness when they are being favored. In fact, almost no one raises the issue of fairness when they are favored or privileged.
There have been some first class church fights grounded in unfairness. Sometimes it is a group of spiritually aware folks trying to guide the life of a congregation in a more "holy" way. And they are not treated fairly in the decision-making. Sometimes it is a group of long time church members who have labored long for the sake of the congregation and they are excluded from decisions about congregational life by a newer group of members. Sometimes there is even conflict between the clergy and laity. Frequently all of these problems are identified as "fairness" problems. And they are.
There is unfairness in life. Anyone who wants to fill his or her heart and life with resentment will have ample opportunity to do so. Illness is not fair ... opportunity and access is not fair ... rather than being fair, God is lavish!
Jesus invites us to move beyond fairness and into boundless love. The kind of love Jesus calls us to is grounded in his own sacrificial love. This love was won on the cross- suffering preceded Jesus' death.
Jesus' death was unjust. We might see it as a cosmically unfair event. But that awful death became the door to resurrection for Jesus. In Jesus' resurrection we see the meaning of suffering, the meaning of injustice, and the meaning of death transformed by God's power into our experience and knowledge of God's limitless love. Even in the process of death, Jesus was transforming meaning. He said to the thief on the cross-, who admitted that his death sentence was fair, "Today you shall be with me in paradise." Jesus said to God about those who were killing him, "Father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing." Both of Jesus' statements were cosmically unfair. Both of Jesus' statements are signs of God's lavish love for us.
So, when you are treated unfairly, rejoice because it reminds you that God loves you lavishly. Then forgive and share the love you have received. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer (Kathy Rust)
O God our great healer,
There is pain in us, Lord, and sickness.
It comes in many forms... but the anguish is the same.
Some of us are battling disease and injury.
Perhaps not even our closest friends know how really serious it is, but you know.
Some of us live with pain as our ever-present companion.
We want you to take the hurt away: but if it must be, give us the stamina and grace to bear it with patience and the power to keep from taking it our on those around us.
Some of us outwardly are a picture of health, but inside our heart of hearts, where you alone walk freely, something is wrong, something that sickens joy and love.
Perhaps it stems from a very old tragedy,
Perhaps it is a recent heartbreak,
Perhaps it is conflict in our family,
Perhaps it is loneliness,
Perhaps it is doubt.
Touch us. Lord.
Heal our memories: free us from what is past.
Others of us are doing our best with the pain of a loved one as an illness or heartbreak ravages one we hold dear.
Often there is very little we can do directly,
Even though we might gladly change places with that person if we could.
Be near to those we name before you in our hearts, relieve the loneliness of their struggle, battle their pain, lift their spirits, restore their joy.
We pray for the sickness that is stalking and terrorizing and plundering our neighbors far from our shores on the other side of the world.
We pray for the sickness that is present in our own land, as close as our fellow Christians...suffering the horror of death within their own church walls.
Use us as instruments of your healing in the world around us.
Holy Spirit, blow through our lives and motivate us to walk the walk with Christ Jesus, our Savior, our friend, and the one we can count on for healing strength.
