Field Workers

Today people will hear the story of the landowner who paid the same wages to the workers who came at the last hour as at the first (Matthew 20:1-16). And they will hear the story of Jonah, how when the people of Nineveh repented "God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them: and he did not do it." (Jonah 3:10 -4:11)

In both stories, we hear about the hard workers getting angry with God, angry because those who were sinful and those who barely worked at all, got treated well. We hear their ire towards God, who showered justice and mercy on them in abundance before the Creator was generous with the latecomers. How human it is to want justice and mercy for oneself and God's full judgment on others. How human it is to labor hard, and watch others reap the benefits of our labor. How human it is to be jealous when cruel and unkind people seem to be rewarded.

Today, I want to pray for the brokenhearted laborers among us. We all have been hurt by the injustice we have received while arrogant and unkind folks get applause and favor. Like siblings around a table, we are jealous about others' treatment. We think we know the whole story. But the Creator is the one who is the whole story. Unbridled love and unflinching redemption is the commerce of God. Gods love is inexhaustible, unquenchable, always going full throttle. We tire, get cranky and lose heart. But even as we sit under our shriveled bush, melting in the sun, complaining bitterly about how unfair life is, our God is acting in love for us and for the whole world. We cannot contain God's love, we cannot keep it for ourselves alone. We cannot damn up the flowing stream of God's abundance and blessing, we cannot restrain generosity and healing. We can only know it fully as we offer what we have, as we labor in the fields and share the Creator's love with all whom we encounter.

On this day of rest, may we give thanks for God's undying love. May we rest in the big strong arms of our loving Parent, who holds us and adore us even when we complain about food, the arrangements and the pay. You and I have no way to repay God for the love that we are embedded within, the strength that surrounds us daily, the peace that flows through us even in our storms of jealousy. May we revel today on God's love, take comfort in the Creator's goodness, swallow deep the living waters that Christ brought for the whole world, and know that our humanity and labor is loved and needed in this world.