We can find God’s generosity in life

Sunday, September 20

Year A, Proper 20, RCL, Track 1

Exodus 16:2-15

Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45

Philippians 1:21-30

Matthew 20:1-16

“To me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” Paul tells the Church in Philippi that when we are alive, we should live in Christ. There is no better way to live than having Christ within you. The only better place we can be is in dying. For that is gain over where we are now. He says he is hard-pressed to make a decision (as if the decision were his to make). He is hard-pressed because he knows his ministry with his churches is not finished. They are making “progress and joy in faith.” Paul continues that Living in Christ and “for the faith of the gospel” will be a sign to the rest of the world of their destruction. Doing this may not bring you praise or comfort. By doing this, Paul says, you will face the same struggles I have faced and still face.

We know what struggles Paul is talking about. He struggles with people hurling accusations and imprisoning him, especially by those in political or religious authority. He struggles with the niceties of life. For he is a vagabond, relying on others for food and shelter while he does his work: preaching and leading people in the way of the Gospel. For those of us who hold up the Apostles and wish we could model our lives after them. All we have to do is read the New Testament to see how difficult their life was. And Jesus gives us an example of what this might look like in our lives.

Jesus said it is like a farmer who has a crop to bring in that is too big for any one person to harvest. So the owner hires people in the morning at the agreed-upon wage: one denarius. So those hired in the morning were expecting this pay. But the owner kept hiring people every three hours, until the last group of workers could only work one hour, for the day was over. Everyone saw the man’s generosity. He was paying those who worked one or four hours a full day’s wage. As a result, those who worked 9 or 12 hours expected to be paid more. When they did not get paid more, they became upset. They felt this landowner was unfair and they were being dishonored. If these workers didn’t know what the others were being paid, they wouldn't have complained at all. They were mad at the owner, but as we see, the problem wasn't with the owner; it was with them. We may get upset when we believe a situation is unfair. And I find some people react negatively to justice and equity for it often do not look fair, much like the workers viewed the landowner.

A denarius, much like the current minimum wage, was a subsistence living, especially for a small family, and even then only under favorable conditions. In the first century, people had to pay Roman taxes, local tolls, and temple offerings. There were plenty of unpaid days due to illness, injury, or for festivals and holy days, let alone inclement weather. With an income of a denarius a day, every family member was expected to work, whether it was domestic work like spinning wool or sending the kids to glean fields. Some estimate there were only 180-220 paid days a year. According to some historians, chronic underemployment was a hallmark of first-century Palestine. We should also be careful and not read these late-coming workers as lazy, but as still looking for work even into the evening. From this non-allegorical perspective, we may view the wealthy landowner not only as generous but as offering generosity out of equity rather than charity.

The allegory also holds true. If we interpret this story as God being the Landowner, and the rest of humanity as the Laborers, then the pay or the prize that Paul talks about is our heavenly inheritance. This allegory says it doesn’t matter whether you have faithfully followed Christ your entire life or only at the end of your life. The prize remains the same: salvation. But I do think we should couch this in Paul’s thinking: Even though the prize is the same, it is better to live with Christ and follow his ways than to live in the flesh and the sin of the world, for by doing this, in the end, salvation will be all the sweeter.

Our lesson, from Genesis, is also about God’s generosity. As we have been reading, God sends his people out of Egypt into the wilderness. After crossing the Reed Sea, they could not find water. So God tests them to see if they will listen. They soon find water. Now, 22 days after the parting of the Reed Sea, they are hungry and without food. They complain that they are starving to death, using much the same word as when they were thirsty. This forces us to think, “Where is their faith?” God provided water; do you not think God will provide sustenance as well? God sends something down from heaven that forms in the morning dew. What is it? The people ask. “What is it?” is the English translation of Manna. Manna is a strange substance. God made it with human nature in mind. If you try to save it for the next day, it will turn to worms and smell putrid. If you try to take more than your share, it will become increasingly difficult to find, so that you cannot over gill your jar or take more than you need. If you are unable to go out and gather it, you will find it easily, so you do not need to search. God made sure this was not about economics. You cannot start a business by selling it or hoarding it. You cannot use it as a monetary system for there is no security of it lasting overnight. The only security you have is your dependence on God: your faith. A theme that Jesus often tells us about. Do not store up your treasures, for you never know what tomorrow will bring. Or the parable of the farmer who built a huge grain shed so he could live a relaxed life. As soon as he filled it, he died, never seeing the fruits of his labor.

These stories draw our attention to our needs and the needs of others. Equally important is our faith in God. We are asked to have faith in a God, seeing God as sustaining us each day, like manna from heaven. Without God, we would be nothing; our existence would cease, like a collapse of the universe. An understanding of this nature, while forming our lives in this way, is radical. It means relinquishing the idea of independence, or self-reliance, and entering into a relationship with our Maker that extends beyond our wants and desires into the humility of being the simple servant we are asked to be. It means relinquishing our nature to hoard, for in doing so, we hurt our neighbors. God assures us that through our faith, there is plenty for all.

A lack of this type of faith may lead us to look for natural, or physical, explanations of divine miracles. For example, over the years, people have speculated what Manna is. Most of those who speculate believe manna was the honeydew of aphids or certain scaled insects. And while these insects can be common in the deserts of the Levant, and they produce a sweet substance, it is also recognized that humans couldn’t live on honeydew, since it is mostly sugar.

Last week we read about the parting of the Reed Sea. There are numerous explanations for how this might have happened, from a wind blowing the water to a tsunami caused by a volcanic explosion, or even the mirage effect. Not only are there disagreements over how this parting could have occurred, but there also seems to be even more disagreement about where the crossing may have taken place.

I find it fascinating that people want to find reasonable explanations for God’s unreasonable miracles. I can see that discussing theories and pondering these things might be a fun intellectual exercise. But I’m not sure miracles are meant to be explained. If they were simply natural occurrences, even if rare, there would be no mystery, nothing miraculous about it. And if we can’t believe in a miracle, such as the parting of a sea or God feeding God’s people out of nothing, then how can we begin to believe more difficult things: that Jesus was fully human and fully divine, or that Christ overcame death and rose to new life?

We are called to have a child's faith. A child’s faith is not only inquisitive but also willing to suspend belief and accept the mysteries of life. I find that most children are generous. They want to share what they have. They somehow understand that by sharing, we bring people closer together. Children even know that hoarding, having more than we need and not sharing, builds distrust and isolation. I believe we can find God’s generosity in life, by opening our eyes to the impossible, and sharing with our neighbor what we already have.