I recently read an article about unfair wages in the job market. It seems that qualified women are still making less in certain positions than men with the same job skills or less. All I could think was we should have fixed these sorts of problems by now. I mean, c’mon! We’re all about fairness here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. Everybody should be treated the same, especially when it comes to our jobs! We’re supposed to have government oversight for that, ensuring same pay for the same work, regardless of gender or race. No one wants to feel cheated for their efforts. That’s why it’s so surprising to me that God doesn’t feel the same way. Don’t get me twisted, He doesn’t want us to treat people different based on sex or ethnicity, but He definitely has some unfair wage policies (at least by our standard).
In Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus tells a story that illustrates His payment methods. He tells of a landowner who hires a group of men in the morning to work in his vineyard. He adds employees at noon and again at three to join the first group. Finally, at five in the afternoon, he spots one last group of men who look like they need some work and hires them, even though there is just an hour of work left. When quitting time roles around, an issue arises with fair wage practices. Check this out…
“That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’
“He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’ Matthew 20:8-15
How can he say he wasn’t unfair!?! Of course it’s not fair to pay someone who worked all day the same amount as you pay someone who did the same job for only an hour! That seems like the definition of unfair! Why would Jesus tell this story, obviously identifying with the owner, when it goes against everything that we instinctively know is right?
Maybe that’s the problem. What we instinctively feel is most often centered around ourselves. This can be necessary in the normal workplace, where, if we are not careful, we can find ourselves taken advantage of or mistreated (refer back to unfair hiring practices for women at the top of this blog). But the instinct to put self first has no place in God’s kingdom. He is committed to caring for us so we no longer need to focus on ourselves and instead can rejoice in the success of others. That is true regardless of compared effort. That ultimately means that those who serve Christ all their lives receive the same reward as those who cry out to Him in their final moments. That also means that God’s gifts and blessings are not distributed on a specific wage scale. He gives to each as He sees fit.
That has certainly caused me to cry foul at times and I know I’m not the only one. If God heals one, He should heal everyone. If God provides for one, He should provide for everyone. If you have not had similar thoughts, then you haven’t considered the concept close enough. Yet such thoughts are misplaced and jealously really isn’t appropriate here for two reasons. One – God deals with everyone individually and blesses where it does the ultimate good, not just providing a temporary fix. That means the blessings He gives are appropriate to the individual at the right time. Knowing that allows us to celebrate with others even if they receive what we might have wanted. Two – we really don’t deserve anything from God in the first place, so everything He gives is extreme excess. When you add eternity into that equation, I’m willing to work overtime, regardless of what the dude next to me is making!
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