Sermon: Universalism Ain’t Fair

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The parable of the workers in the vineyard in the book of Matthew in the Christian Scriptures:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘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.’  But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

 

Doesn’t seem fair, does it? Doesn’t seem right. The first workers started at 6am and worked all day in the scorching heat. The last workers started at 5pm, worked an hour and went home with the same pay. They obviously needed to unionize. What’s up with this story that seems to endorse something that’s so clearly an injustice?

 

It’s interesting to notice our reactions. I think most of us probably bristle a little. The idea of fairness is something that’s so deeply ingrained in us. Equal pay for equal work; equal work for equal pay. Even little kids — even babies, if you believe those baby psychology experiments — have a strong sense of what’s fair and what’s not fair. When we see characters in stories who act unfairly, we don’t like them. When we see characters who are treated unfairly, we identify with them.

 

So when you think about this parable and you think about your own life, which worker are you? The worker who worked all day in the hot sun? The worker who started work at noon and worked half a day? The worker who started at 3? Or the worker who started at 5? If we compare ourselves to the people immediately around us, some of us might be able to say that we work a full day and that others get off the hook with a lot less. But if we think globally and we’re really honest with ourselves, I think almost all of us in this room would have to admit that we are the workers who arrive at 5pm.

 

Anyone born in this century in the first world has an ease of life unimaginable at other times and places. Add to that privileges that some of us have because of race, class, gender, and physical abilities and it adds up — relatively speaking — to a free ride. Relative, I mean, to workers in a garment factory in Cambodia who get paid $100 for a month’s work. Relative to migrant workers who pick tomatoes in Florida fields, work 16 hour days 7 days a week and sometimes get paid as little as $12,000 a year. Relative to fast food workers in New York City who make $8/hr with no benefits and have to try to pay rent in New York City. Truly, many of us are the beneficiaries of exactly the kind of injustice described in this parable.

 

But, I digress. Because this is a parable. It’s not actually a story about labor rights. It’s a story in which the plot is actually a metaphor for something else. In this case it’s a story attributed to Jesus about the “kingdom of heaven.” And in this parable, the unfairness of the wage discrepancy is not a problem — it’s a good thing. A very good thing! In fact, the unfairness is the whole point. “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who…” is how it begins.

 

In this vision, you don’t earn admission to the kingdom of heaven. You don’t climb some divine ladder by working hard at being spiritual, doing good deeds, praying a lot, giving to charity, converting the heathen, etc. You’re just loitering in the marketplace and when someone asks, you just kind of show up. Whenever that is. And God does the rest. It’s a whole different metric — not a human idea of justice, a cosmic idea of justice. In Christian language, “God doesn’t pay wages, God gives grace.”

 

This is the heart of the Universalist dimension of our tradition as well. Universalism is the faith that everybody goes to heaven — the same heaven. No exceptions. There is a great love in the universe that accepts us all and welcomes us all, gathers us all into itself at the end of the day, all of us the same. No exceptions. Even if you have made a mess of your life and accomplished nothing, you are still loved. Even if you have been selfish and hurt others to get ahead, you are still loved. Even if you have failed to love yourself, you are still loved. In Universalism, if this were our parable, there would be a worker who didn’t even work the one hour and would get the same pay.

 

We work hard to do good in the world and live out our dharmas in a positive way, not because we’re going to earn more love that way or get into heaven, but because we are powerfully called to do it. Someone has shown up where we’re hanging out in the marketplace and asked us to help and we’ve said yes. But if we said no? We’re loved either way. If that feels unfair to you, guess what? Universalism ain’t fair. That’s the whole point. And that’s the point of this parable as I read it. Our fundamental acceptance and love by the universe is not contingent on anything we do or don’t do. It’s unconditional.

 

And maybe it is unjust from the perspective of us mortals toiling under the hot sun here on earth. But if you read it carefully, this parable is actually not about the workers. It’s about the landowner. “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who…” This place called heaven is like a person. Heaven is the state of being like the landowner who pays all the workers the same. The landowner who keeps going back to the marketplace to invite more and more workers to the work. The landowner who is not concerned with squeezing the most work for the least money out of each worker. The landowner who is able to love unconditionally. Heaven is not only the place you go where everyone is loved; heaven is being able to love like that! That’s heaven.

 

The landowner even suspects that the full-day workers who complain are not jealous of the one-hour workers; they’re jealous of him. He asks, “are you envious because I’m generous?” A more literal translation of the original Greek would be, “Is your eye evil because I’m good?” The idea of the evil eye was associated with jealously — looking negatively at someone because you want what he or she has. So the landowner is saying, “You weren’t cheated in any way. You got paid what we agreed on. You’re jealous of me because I’m good, because I’m generous, because I’m happy.”

 

And it’s true. Lucky landowner. Instead of being cautious and stingy with his wealth, measuring exactly how much someone did for him before giving to them, evaluating and judging all the time, the landowner is just happy that so many people participated and he wants to share his bounty with them all. On this farm, in the words of the bumper sticker, “It’s non-judgment day.”

 

So this is the challenge of this parable to us. Can we become more like the landowner and whatever wealth we have, be it money or time or attention or positive regard or love, can we be not only generous but magnanimous? Pour it out over the world without any careful accounting of who has or hasn’t earned it or what’s in it for us? Can we be generous with our praise, lavishing thanks on someone who helped just a little with a project? Can we be generous with forgiveness, showing patience with our family when they do the things that aggravate us over and over again? Can we be generous with our speech, speaking well of our fellow congregation members even if they have not spoken well of us? Can we be generous with our possessions, lending our neighbor what they need, even if they didn’t give it back the last time? Can we be generous with our time, listening to someone with whom an association will not boost our social capital, if you know what I mean? Can we give what is ours to give?

 

Some of us might think, well that would just be stupid, never mind unfair. But this is why Jesus says at the end of this parable, “So the first will be last and the last will be first.” He’s talking about some kind of reversal of fortunes. That what seems like a stupid calculation in a world of calculations, is actually the smartest move you could make if you want to be blissed out and spiritually alive. The first will be last and the last will be first. He could be referring to the hard workers who got a raw deal versus the lazy workers who hit the jackpot. But I don’t think so. I think he’s referring to the full-day workers, who could have been happy that they got paid a fair wage for a day’s work (and maybe even happy for the other workers), but instead are miserable because they are comparing, counting, judging, and evaluating. They did indeed get a raw deal, but not for the reason they think. And then the landowner, who seems to be a foolish businessman, paying too much for too little work, is actually in heaven. Lucky landowner who is able to love unconditionally.

 

To be in that state of loving is to participate in what Universalism teaches is the nature of the universe. It is to participate in that unfair world where everyone gives what they can and gets what they need; where everyone is given a chance, everyone is accepted, and everyone is loved. It is to live out what is part of each of our dharmas – as one of our members said in their dharma statement, “to spread and give love and kindness to all.” To all! No exceptions. To the extent that we can do that, we will be in heaven.