The Great Leveler
- davidwperk
- Jun 26, 2024
- 7 min read
Devotional Reflection, Wednesday, June 26,2024
Proper 7, the week of the fifth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, “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.” 13But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 973)
AM Psalm 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30; PM Psalm 119:121-144
Num. 16:36-50; Rom. 4:13-25; Matt. 20:1-16
Today we celebrate the Feast of Isabel Florence Hapgood. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
Occasionally, when viewing a new class of seminarians for the first time, I would say, “What you do will make no difference with regard to your grade. No matter what your test scores or your grades on book reviews and papers, I will decide your final grade myself. Your efforts will have no impact on the process.”
Of course, they would bristle immediately. Then, I would read this parable. The economic principles articulated in this parable make no sense in the world of labor and income and merit increases. The people who worked all day got paid the same amount as those who picked grapes only for an hour. One would not normally administer a vineyard in that fashion. That IS the point. In the realm of the Spirit of God, our accustomed ways of thinking about merit and rank simply do not apply.
Grace is the great leveler.
The parable presents a typical agricultural scene. Day laborers are hired to pick grapes. Fall rains may have been imminent, because the owner keeps trying to add to the work force throughout the day. (The shirkers and loiterers would comprise those contracted later in the day.) The Old Testament instructed that the workers be paid at the end of the day, and Jesus arranged the scene so that the all-day workers were last in line and could see what the one-hour workers received. When they receive equal pay, the all-day workers protest. The key phrases are “you made them equal to us” and “are you envious because I am generous?”.
Are we indeed angry because God is generous? We live with the illusion that our behavior, our faithfulness, and our virtues place us at an advantage over those without faith or with what we judge to be a weaker faith and practice. Even those new to our faith community can find themselves one-down; after all, we’re the ones who have been here faithfully for years. We might be reluctant to admit it, but in that inner place no one sees, lurks our sense of superiority, our persistent self-elevation.
For example, I would look out at a class of first year seminarians with a mixture of compassion for the challenges they faced and feelings of superiority. I had sweated blood through five years of endeavor to earn a doctorate in New Testament and Greek. These peons knew far less about the New Testament than did I and they even read it in English, with no or little knowledge of Greek. Those inner streams of self-elevation seldom leak out where others can see them, but they flow on, resisting God’s grace and it’s leveling effects.
The God of this parable takes all control over our destiny and our salvation out of our hands. God blesses us according to our need, not according to our effort or our virtue. And, we all need God equally, whether we can bring ourselves to admit that or not. Grace is the great leveler. The farmer in this parable cares about the plight of the one-hour workers and their families and pays them enough to subsist. (He does not make a very generous God image. Subsistence pay lacks something in terms of generosity.) He had made a pay commitment only to the all-day workers and had told everyone else that he would pay what was right for their working a portion of the day.
That’s it. Our destiny and our daily lives depend on our receiving the gracious love God gives. It cannot be extracted from God on our terms or controlled by our strivings. Grace is the great leveler. God insists on blessing us according to our need. When we resist that, as did the all-day workers, we deny ourselves the very grace we so desperately need.
Gerald G. May put it so well:
". . . grace is the dynamic outpouring of God's loving nature that flows into and through creation in an endless self-offering of healing, love, illumination, and reconciliation." It is a gift that we are free to ignore, reject, ask for, or simply accept. And it is a gift that is often given in spite of our intentions and errors."*
Grace is the great leveler.
Note: Research on the economic and social dynamics underlying the parables rightly raises questions about the generosity of the owner in this parable, given the stark economic conditions which oppressed peasant day laborers in Jesus’ world. William Herzog, Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed (Westminster/John Knox) makes that point in his treatment of this parable.
* Gerald G. May, Addiction and Grace (Harper, 1988), p. 17.
Collect of the Day, Proper 7, the second Sunday after Pentecost
O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 230)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Isabel Florence Hapgood, ecumenist, translator, journalist (died 26 June 1928).
Collect of the Feast of Isabel Florence Hapgood
Teach your divided church, O God, so to follow the example of your servant Isabel Florence Hapgood that we might look upon one another with a holy envy, to honor whatever is good and right in our separate traditions, and to continually seek the unity that you desire for all your people. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who prayed that his church might be one. Amen.
A Collect for Grace
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)
For the Church
Give to your Church, O God, a bold vision and a daring charity, a refreshed wisdom and a courteous understanding, that the eternal message of your Son may be acclaimed as the good news of the age; through him who makes all things new,
even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
A Collect for the Presence of Christ
Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen. (BCP, 124)
Collect of Aelfric
O almighty God, who caused your dear Son, our Saviour Christ, to assume human form and submit to being hanged on the cross, grant that we may benefit from the example of His endurance and participate in his true resurrection. Amen.
A Collect for Mission
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)
Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 20:1-16
20:1‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And 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?” 7They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” 8When 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.” 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, “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.” 13But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’
Daily Offices in the Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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