You may be familiar with the story of the Israelites in the wilderness. But in case you were away that day, here’s a summary. The Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt. They have been released from their slavery and are now being led to the Promised Land – Israel – by Moses. The Bible tells us that they spent 40 years wandering around the wilderness before arriving at the Promised Land which suggests they needed a new Sat Nav or at the very least a better map! Given their endless meanderings, it’s very understandable that
2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodis 16: 2 - 3
Thankfully the Lord heard their grumbling and
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.
We may find this fanciful. But this story is a valuable insight into the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, which in itself is a valuable insight in to what God’s Kingdom is like.
Out in the wilderness, God is creating a new people. His new people will be different from the people who had been enslaved in Egypt and who had witnessed what it was like to live in Egypt. God’s people in Egypt had been used to the ways of domination and submission, rich and poor, powerful and powerless. In the wilderness God is showing and creating a new way. God is showing them that his way is different. And he wants his people to live by this new way in the Promised Land.
The manna they all receive is nothing fancy or luxurious. Manna provided basic sustenance. Manna was good old “daily bread”. But all had it and all had enough of it. With manna everyone had plenty but no one had too much.
17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed. Exodus 16: 17 - 18
The manna, this gift from God, cannot be hoarded. In fact when the people try to do what people always try to do – gather more than they need either to hoard for later or, who knows to sell on to someone - they found it had gone bad and was full of maggots.
God was showing his people that in his world, everyone has plenty but not too much. The leaders and the servants receive the same. The people who work all day and the people who have nothing to do, receive the same amount. The able and the disabled receive the same. The old and the young receive the same. The black and the white receive the same. The Scots and the English receive the same.
In God’s kingdom all receive plenty, but not too much. In God’s world there is equality and justice. And what God provides is a gift.
The story of the manna in the wilderness is the embodiment of what we pray in the Lord’s Prayer:
“Give us this day our daily bread”
Just as God was creating a new people in the wilderness, Jesus in his parable is showing that Jesus’ people are new people too, and Jesus’ kingdom has values that aren’t the values of the world but are the values of God.
Jesus relates the parable to the disciples as they struggle to understand the meaning of God’s Kingdom. As they struggle to relate how God’s reign will work within the framework of the world. In other words the disciples try to understand how God’s reign will apply in a world that sees rich and poor, superior and inferior.
The parable of the workers in the Vineyard builds on the passage in Matthew 19 where a man comes to Jesus and asks what he must do in order to gain eternal life. Jesus reminds the young man he needs to keep the commandments but that also
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21
And
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Matthew 19:22
Later in the same passage the disciples’ reaction is recorded. They are clearly shocked by what Jesus has said and no doubt feel uncomfortable that any wealth they might accumulate will be a stumbling block. The disciples were mostly poor people. Like many poor people then and now no doubt they felt that a way out of their situation was to become rich. But Jesus challenges that assumption.
So coming back to the parable of the Labourers in the vineyard. Jesus is challenging the old assumptions about wealth and power and privilege in order to create the possibility of something new. Jesus is even challenging what we might think of fairness. And through this strange story, Jesus gives a glimpse of what the new order of God will be like and reminds us what the old order, the values of the world, are like.
In the parable Jesus presents us with a vision of the newness of God’s Kingdom. As Warren Carter in his book “Matthew and the margins” puts it, Jesus offers a vision of the “alternative household of God’s empire”. In God’s household, as in the wilderness, everyone receives the necessary daily bread as much as they need. And that I think is key point - each person receives what they need. This isn’t always going to be the same as everyone else. Some may have more some may have less but it is according to their needs.
A very helpful book to help interpret the Gospels is one by Kenneth E. Bailey called “Jesus through Middle Eastern eyes”. In the book Mr Bailey gives us information about the culture in the Middle East at the time of Jesus and, in some instances now, and this is a big held in understanding some of the stories.
For example, for this parable, Bailey explains how this practice of workers gathering in the market place was common at the time of Jesus and happens today too. An employer comes wanting a certain number of people for the day and he picks how many he needs. Often those left might not be the fittest, they might be too old or too young. It is not a fair system. And the wages no doubt aren’t fair either. The basic rule of economics – supply and demand – dictates that if there are more workers than work, their wages will be lower.
The point Jesus is making then is that in God’s Kingdom, justice demands that each are treated and valued according to their needs and who they are. This may seem unfair and unequal to us, but God’s justice demands this is how it should be. In the parable, those who are left over in the market place are likely to be the ones who are sick, disabled or elderly for example. Their needs are greater than those who are healthy.
I think these pictures serve to illustrate what Jesus is saying.
The parable serves as a reminder that the values of this world – winner and loser, superior and inferior, insider and outsider, honoured and shamed – these values do not apply to the kingdom of God. Moreover, the parable reminds us that in the Kingdom of God the “Me” culture doesn’t exist. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray to “Our father” and to say “Give us this day our daily bread”
This parable is a real challenge to the world we live in and it’s a challenge to each of us, because it goes contrary to everything the world holds to be true and good – power, wealth and status. But God’s Kingdom built on his grace goes contrary to the world.
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