Thomas J Parlette
“It’s Not Fair!”
Matt. 20: 1-16
9/20/26
If you ever have the chance to visit Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, you will no doubt notice the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights – an imposing building of ornate stone modeled after a Greek Temple.
Kirby Hall is named after Fred Morgan Kirby – a wealthy businessman who donated the money to build it in the late 1920’s.
Mr. Kirby did very well for himself. At the tender age of 23, he used his life-savings of $600 to purchase a variety store in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He had a partner in the venture named Charles Sumner Woolworth. Together, they opened the first Woolworth’s “five and ten,” store – which became the cornerstone of a retail empire.
Mr. Kirby took an active role in designing the college building that would bear his name. He also was very specific about what kind of teaching would go inside its walls. There’s a dedicatory plaque just inside the entrance, declaring that Kirby Hall is “for instruction in the Anglo-Saxon ideals of the true principles of constitutional freedom, including the right of man to own property and do with it as he will; the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and, incidentally, the right to sell his labor as he chooses.”
Mr. Kirby was a Gilded Age captain of industry. He was anti-socialism and anti-union. He didn’t want any left-wing ideas taught inside HIS building.
Mr. Kirby also directed that something else be carved into that stone plaque – a Bible verse, one we read this morning, Matthew 20: 15. In the King James Version it reads: “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?”
To Mr. Kirby, that verse seemed like the perfect justification for the capitalist, free-enterprise system. (1)
Turns out, the joke was on him – because that scripture verse doesn’t really mean what he thought it meant. You always have to consider context.
Apparently no one pointed out to Mr. Kirby that the person who speaks that line in Jesus parable about laborers in a vineyard, is the landowner. He’s anything but a dyed-in-the-wool capitalist. In fact, he is just the opposite. What he does seems downright unfair. How he uses his wealth is dangerously close to socialism. This is the boss who, at the end of the day, pays all his farm hands the same amount of money, regardless of how many hours they worked. That just seems like bad business – and it’s not fair.
Fairness is something we learn very early in life. Infants as young as 13 months begin to have a concept of fairness when they see that someone has more cheerios or brightly colored blocks than they do. By the time they get to about 10 years old, fairness, playing the game by the same rules, becomes very important – and they are quite happy to point out, “Hey, that’s not fair!
An awareness of the concept of fairness is not limited to humans. There is a researcher named Frans de Waal who conducted a study with monkeys in which two groups of moneys did the exact same task – but the rewards were different. One group for instance received more bananas and some oranges while the other group got 1 small banana each. When the monkeys were asked to perform the same task again, the group who got less fruit refused. (2) They could see – this was not fair!
Fairness is what’s at the heart of both of our passage for today. We all remember the story of Jonah – the guy who tries to run away from what God asked him to do and gets swallowed by a whale. We all know that part. We don’t always remember the end of that story. That’s what we hear today. After getting spit out by the whale, Jonah goes to Nineveh as the Lord asked him to do, he preaches against the wickedness of the city and their need to repent, and he gets out of town. Shockingly, at least to Jonah, the people of Nineveh listen to him. They do repent, and they avoid the wrath of God.
As Jonah sits atop a mountain overlooking the city, he throws himself a bit of a pity party. He complains loudly that God has let him down. “You sent me there to condemn those sinners, and look, nothing happened. I look ridiculous, Lord.”
God answers Jonah, “Are you angry because I showed the people of Nineveh mercy? Look, Jonah, I can show mercy to anyone I want. That’s my department, not yours. I am God – you are not.”
To Jonah, God was not fair to the people of Nineveh. The deserved to be punished – and Jonah wanted a front row seat. But it turns out, God has a different view of fairness. God chooses grace over fairness every time.
That’s what we see in Matthew as well. Matthew is the only Gospel writer who tells this story. That’s probably because Matthew was writing for a Jewish audience and there was a great deal of consternation about these new Gentile converts and whether they were entitled to same rewards of the life-long Jews. So Matthew shares this story that almost all scholars agree was a genuine Jesus-story, with very little editing down through the centuries.
We know the jist – there is this vineyard owner who heads out to hire some workers. He hops in his old pick-up truck and drives down to the local lumberyard, or Menards or Kwik-Trip – wherever the guys are hanging out looking for work. He picks a group of guys, agrees on a price for the day and put them to work. He goes back and picks up more workers throughout the day, until he drops off his final crew at the vineyard around 5:00, with one hour left in the work day.
6:00 rolls around, quitting time – and time to get paid. The vineyard owner pulls up, lowers the tailgate on his truck, pulls out his cash box and the workers line up for their money. The ones who worked an hour get in line first – and to their delight, they receive a full day’s pay! This causes a stir at the back of the line, where the ones who worked all day are waiting.
“If those guys got a full day’s pay, we’re bound to get more, right? That’s the only fair way.”
But when they get to the front of the line – they get the same pay as everyone else! And the ruckus begins – “Hey, this isn’t fair! We worked all day – they worked an hour. Why are we all getting the same! It isn’t fair!”
And that’s a good point – it’s not fair. Not only is not fair, it also seems to be a terrible business practice.
But then the vineyard owner stands up in the back of his pick-up truck – “Hey, you got what we agreed on. I paid you exactly what I said I would. How is that unfair. It’s my vineyard, and it’s my money. I can use it as I see fit. Are you angry because I am generous?”
Two things we can take from this parable today.
First – God gives all of us work to do. Notice that the Vineyard owner didn’t conduct interviews, there is no ranking of who has more experience or more skills when it comes to vineyard work. It seems that the owner just loads people up in the back of the truck and puts them to work. God has a job for everyone. God gives us all work to do to further the Kingdom of God.
Second – God is above all, generous – always, and in all ways. As it turns out, God is a very good businessman. God is a lousy accountant. BUT – God is a great Philanthropist. God is generous, but not always fair – at last not by our usual definitions. But God is always gracious and generous – always and in all ways.
As Charlotte Dudley Cleghorne points out, “This parable really isn’t about fairness – although that’s where we get hung up. This parable is actually about the generosity of God. It is not about equity or proper disbursement of wages but a gracious and undeserved gift. It is ot about an economic exchange, but rather, about a bestowing of grace and mercy to all, no matter what time they have put in or how deserving or undeserving we may think them to be. God’s generosity often violates our own sense of right and wrong, or sense of how things would be if we ran the world.”
“This parable challenges us to see through the eyes of God. Our ideas of right and wrong, fair and unfair, of what is just or unjust, are not necessarily God’s ideas – and that is actually a very good thing.” (3) It’s good thing because God doesn’t give us what we deserve. God gives us what God desires to give. It’s not always fair – thank goodness. But it’s always grace.
One of the sayings we hear a lot these days is “Get over it.” It’s very simple advice – but there is some wisdom there.
I remember a friend of mine in Seminary – he was studying for the Master of Divinity degree, as I was, but he was always working on a Masters of Social Work as well. One of the requirements was to participate in counseling sessions with clients.
Every couple of weeks, we would go out to “debrief,” especially after a particularly difficult week, and he would tell me about the clients he saw and the problems they were dealing with. One particular week, we looked up and said to me – “Sometimes I just want to shout, “Just get over it!”
Now he said it more out of frustration than anything else – but there was some wisdom there. Work through things, yes. Then, let them go – get over it, move on. As long as we hold on, we continue to hurt others and ourselves. God forgives us and loves us, and so we must forgive and love ourselves and others as well.
Rest assured, God is always gracious and generous. Fair – not always, at least not by our usual standards. God may be a terrible accountant, but God is a great Philanthropist. For God is generous and gracious - Always, and in All Ways.
And for that, may God be praised. Amen.
1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 9/14/26
2. Shawnthea Monroe, Connections, Year A, Vol. 3, Westminster John Knox Press, 2020, p 331
3. Charlotte Dudley Cleghorne, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4, Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p 96.
