Hello my freinds,

I have been thinking so much about about how Jesus' parable of the vineyard workers is so fitting to what we are witnessing from many corners of Christianity in the United States today. So, I wanted to reflect on that passage with you. Be sure to share your thoughts with me after reading.

Recommended Links

​-Back To School Drive. Public Democracy America is hosting a fundraiser for families in need as the school year approaches. For a lot of families, the first day of school doesn't feel like a fresh start, it feels like a bill they can't quite cover. More than two in five kids in this country live in a household that struggles to afford the basics. A $75 supply list can be the line between ready to learn and already behind. Going to school shouldn't cost this much extra, for parents or for teachers. Systems are broken when teachers have to fundraise to stock a classroom. In dozens of districts they're extra broken: teachers are barred from crowdfunding at all. With this fundraiser, one hundred percent of what this drive distributes goes out through trusted local churches, schools, and community groups, directly into the hands of the kids who need it most. You can read more and give through the link above.

​-Into The Gray Podcast. While my podcast is often an audio version of my newsletter, this week I reflected on Jesus feeding of the +5,000 from Matthew 14:13-21 and how it contrasts with how rugged individualism often approaches charity. You can find the most recent episode through the link above.

Resenting Generosity.

Matthew 20:1-16

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

How Unfair.

When I first read this parable, I thought it was really unfair. I felt myself siding with the workers who were hired first.

As we read, the landowner goes out early in the morning and hires workers for his vineyard. He agrees to pay them a denarius, a standard day's wage in the first century. Throughout the day, he continues returning to the marketplace, hiring more workers at nine in the morning, noon, three in the afternoon, and even an hour before quitting time.

Then comes the surprise. When evening arrives, everyone receives the same wage. Those who worked all day. Those who worked half a day. Those who worked only an hour. Everyone receives a full day's wages.

The workers who labored from sunrise are outraged. "These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat."

I think if we're honest, many of us understand their frustration. Something inside us immediately starts calculating. Comparing. Measuring. Determining who deserves what. We know there is something just and right in compensating people fairly for their work.

But I have come to believe that discomfort we feel from this parable is exactly the point. Because this parable is not primarily about economics. It is about the nature of the Kingdom of God and the priorities it challenges in us.

Who Is Jesus Talking To?

Traditionally, many Christians have interpreted this story as God's gracious inclusion of gentiles and outsiders and a critique of the Pharisees "grumbling" over their inclusion. Much like the eldest son in Jesus' other parable about the prodigal son. However, Matthew places this teaching immediately after Jesus is speaking with his disciples. The audience is not Rome or the Pharisees. The audience is his own disciples. It still is today.

For Jesus' listeners, another detail would have stood out immediately. The setting is a vineyard. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, the vineyard is a common image for Israel itself. The prophet Isaiah describes Israel as God's vineyard. Jeremiah uses the same imagery. The vineyard represents God's people and God's purposes in the world.

This means that Jesus is not describing a distant economic transaction. He is describing life within God's household. Life within God's Kingdom. And within that Kingdom, something remarkable happens. The householder keeps returning to the marketplace looking for people who have not been hired.

The Greek text suggests they are not lazy. They are simply without work. They have been overlooked. Passed by and left behind. And every time the householder finds them, he brings them into the vineyard. Again and again. Morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. The householder never stops looking for people who are in need.

That alone tells us something profound about God. God is not searching for reasons to exclude. God is searching for people to include. God is not anxiously guarding resources. God is generously extending them. And when payday comes, everyone receives enough.

That is precisely where the tension begins. Not because anyone receives less than they were promised. But it is because someone else receives more than we think they deserve.

The first workers receive exactly what they agreed to receive. The problem is not their wage. The problem is that others received one too. The problem is not scarcity. The problem is comparison. The problem is resenting people getting as much as we get even if they didn't have to work as hard for it.

We Still See This Today.

I believe this is where this parable becomes painfully relevant for American Christianity today. We live in a culture saturated with the myth of scarcity. We are constantly told there is not enough. Not enough resources. Not enough opportunities. Not enough jobs. Not enough housing. Not enough healthcare. Not enough assistance. Not enough room. Not enough money. Not enough security. And because we are told there is not enough, we are taught to fear anyone else receiving what they need. Especially if we believe they didn't "work hard enough" for it in the first place.

The poor become suspects. People receiving food assistance become targets of resentment. Student debt relief becomes a source of outrage. Refugees become threats. Immigrants become scapegoats. The conversation often begins with the assumption that if someone else receives help, there will somehow be less left for us.

Yet the Kingdom of God consistently challenges that assumption. Throughout Scripture, God's economy is marked not by scarcity but by abundance. Manna falls every morning. Water flows from rocks. Bread multiplies in the wilderness. The nets overflow with fish. The wedding feast never runs out of wine. And here, every worker receives enough to feed their family.

The tragedy of the first workers is not that they lacked provision. The tragedy is that they could not celebrate someone else's provision. Instead of rejoicing that more families would eat that night, they grumbled. Instead of celebrating generosity, they resented it. Instead of seeing abundance, they saw competition.

Tragically, we often hear this same kind of grumbling from those who claim to follow Jesus today.

How often do we hear about someone receiving assistance and immediately begin calculating whether they deserve it? How often do we become suspicious when someone else's burden is lifted?How often do we view struggling people through the lens of scarcity rather than compassion? How often do we resent grace when it is extended to others?

Jesus exposes something uncomfortable here. Sometimes our greatest obstacle to loving our neighbors is not because we do not care about them. It is that we have been taught to fear scarcity to such an extent that we fear caring for others will leave us with less.

The householder asks a piercing question: "Are you envious because I am generous?" The Greek phrase is even more vivid. Literally, it asks whether their "eye is evil" because the householder is good. In the ancient world, an "evil eye" referred to envy, stinginess, and resentment toward another person's blessing. It is very similar to the question God asks Jonah, who is so furious that God was compassionate, merciful, and abounding in love towards the people of Nineveh, "Is it right for you to be angry about this?" (Jonah 4:4).

It is a question every disciple must wrestle with. Can we celebrate when others receive what they need? Can we rejoice when someone finds shelter? When a family receives food? When a student receives relief? When an immigrant finds safety? When a struggling parent receives support? Can we celebrate another person's flourishing without feeling threatened by it?

The Kingdom of God invites us into that kind of generosity. Not because justice and fairness is unimportant. Not because wisdom is unnecessary. But because God's heart consistently moves toward those who are vulnerable, overlooked, and left standing in the marketplace wondering whether anyone sees them.

The good news of this parable is that God does.

God keeps returning.

God keeps searching.

God keeps inviting.

God keeps providing.

And God calls his disciples not to grumble when others are welcomed into that abundance, but to rejoice.

Because in the Kingdom of Heaven, someone else receiving what they need is not a threat. It is a reason to celebrate.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Forgive us for the times we have viewed others through the lens of scarcity instead of the lens of love.

Forgive us for the moments when we have been quicker to question whether someone deserves help than to rejoice that their burden has been eased.

Forgive us for the ways fear has shaped our imagination more than your generosity.

Open our eyes to see your abundance.

Teach us to celebrate when others receive what they need.

Teach us to rejoice when the hungry are fed, when the stranger is welcomed, when the poor are cared for, and when those who have been overlooked are brought into the vineyard.

Free us from resentment.

Free us from comparison.

Free us from the myth that compassion is a limited resource.

Give us hearts that reflect your generosity.

May we become people who open our hands rather than close them.

People who rejoice in the flourishing of our neighbors.

People who trust that your Kingdom is abundant enough for everyone.

And may we remember that we, too, are recipients of grace we did not earn.

Help us to extend that same grace to others.

In the name of the generous householder who never stops seeking those left behind,

Amen.

Now I'd like to hear from you! Did you find this helpful? What thoughts came to your mind as you read? Feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me. I look forward to reading them. A 30 Day Day Devotional: I wrote a daily devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus through the season of we are currently navigating together. You can find out more below: $20.00 Following Jesus In A World Obsessed With Empires: 30 Days of reclaiming the hope, compassion, and justice of Jesus. Today, our world can often feel overwhelmed by darkness, division, and despair. I created this 30-day devotional to... Read more Get it now! ​ Ways to support: If you'd like to support this project, you can do so through one-time-gift of any amount you feel is right. You can also subscribe through a $5/mo, $15/mo, or $25/mo. Several others have also asked for a recurring gift option that is different from the ones offered here, like this one. If you'd like me to set up a different option for you, please just send me an email with the word "support" in the subject line. As always, I really want to thank all of you for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every single week. I'm thankful for the ways we are building this together and hope it creates a lasting, positive change in our world along the way! I sincerely appreciate you all, Ben Remember, you can now view this and all previous newsletters as well as invite friends to join through this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page/profile.

​