“We think of fellowship as biscuits and coffee… but New Testament fellowship is rooted in the idea of economic sharing, of financial participation, which works in relieving the pain and hunger of suffering brothers and sisters”

(George Malone)

In the Matthew reading, God is the gracious master who rewards all the workers equally (= salvation), thereby upsetting the workers who toiled all day (the Jews) by giving the latecomers (Gentiles) the same rewards.

 

Jesus’ parables are meant to get us to think critically about the world we have constructed, free us from our cultural shackles and blinders, and enable us to discern more clearly how God works in the world. Instead of symbolisms, why not read the story on its own terms, as a straightforward account of the interactions between a landowner and the day laborers who work for him.

 

We are tempted to see the landowner in God-like terms because he is powerful. He hires workers all day long and pays them all equally, and he declares his own goodness and justice. We should remember, however, that at the end of the day the workers are all as vulnerable and powerless as they were at the beginning of the day, except that, we will see, they have lost their dignity, and probably their unity. The injustices are intensified, not overturned. Day-laborers constituted a limitless and disposable energy — bodies to be burned up — that made the ancient economy run.

 

Our world is again full of such bodies, who make our clothes, produce our food, and assemble our electronic gizmos, yet never gain enough traction to be able to join the world of consumers. The parable thus pulls back the curtain on the ways our own world works, as it would have for Jesus’ audience.

 

It is true that, at one level, the landowner treats the workers with equality. He goes hunting for workers throughout the day, and they keep showing up until the very end. It is a landowner’s dream labour market. He pays everyone what they had agreed to be paid and, in the case of those hired at the end, even more than they might have expected.

 

Why did the landowner give the laborers equal amount of payment which is called the ‘daily wage’? What is his idea or criteria of fairness or equality?

What do you think is the kingdom of heaven’s idea of equality and fairness?

 

 

 

 

Daily wage

 

What is a daily wage? How is a daily wage determined? How does one country differ from another country in terms of what their respective governments legislate as minimum wage?

 

As of 1 July 2020 the national minimum wage is $19.84 per hour or $753.80 per week.[1]  Or about AUS$158.72 if working 8 hours a day.

 

As of Jan 14, 2020, the Philippines has daily minimum wage rates that vary from region to region, ranging from P290 (AUS$8.29) to P537 (AUS$15.35) a day. The wages are set by tripartite regional wage boards located in every region.[2]

 

An Australian worker earns mote than 10 times what a Filipino workers gets.  So here you can see the gap between the different daily wages paid by employers to workers in different countries, first and third world countries in particular.

 

Filipinos describe the wage they receive for a day as “just enough to survive for the day and be able to go to work the next day”. It is also called “hand-to-mouth” existence.

 

When Jesus taught the crowd to pray he said, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Perhaps he way saying eat or consume only what you can consume today. Do not overfill, do not get more that what you need, do not hoard, do not accumulate. He was also teaching them the value of being able to live one day at a time under the grace of God.

 

He was teaching the people to trust in God that this God is generous enough to provide them what they need. They are assured, like the birds of the air, that they will be fed, as long as they trust and live out the principles and values of the kingdom.

 

Food in the Wilderness

 

The feeding of the Israelites while they were in the wilderness demonstrates a caring God and at the same time having dominion over nature. The people, almost at the verge of rebellion against Moses and against God, are fed with bread (manna) and (meat) from quails.

 

But perhaps the more revealing about this provision from God is about what happens when the people take more than they. Despite being instructed by Moses to take only what they need, they do otherwise.

 

To their surprise, and dismay for others, those who collected less had enough for themselves and those who gathered more than they need, bread which were not consumed became unfit for eating the next day. It was futile to get more than what they need.

 

But on collections for two days including Sabbath day, the part for Sabbath consumption was miraculously unspoiled.

 

God’s economy

 

I believe God is teaching us a new economy. This is heaven’s economy on earth. What could be some of its principles from the Readings and the exercise we did today?

 

No one accumulates wealth for oneself. What one needs for one day is what one must receive from God. Enough to live for a day in complete trust in the God who provides.

 

The principle of providing each according to one’s needs, while each one contributes one’s labor according one’s capacity.

 

What happens when one accumulates property and amasses wealth for oneself?

 

That person treats God’s creation or the earth’s resources as things which can be turned into private property.

 

The system of private ownership and the monopoly of the means of production, and production for the sake of more profit have deprived many of the basic necessities of life. This economic system of wealth accumulation and monopoly of production by using the most exploitative methods to squeeze the blood, sweat and tears from workers and toiling people is completely the opposite of the economy of God’s kingdom.

 

The Uniting Church Assembly has issued a Statement in 2009 denouncing the present neoliberal economic order as an ‘economy of death’ and at the same time espouses heaven’s economy as the economy of life. (Slide)

 

God’s economy is an economy of life and love which flows out of the very life of the Triune God. Life and all its riches are both an expression of God’s very being as creative love and a gift of God.

 

An economy of life is marked by regard for the common good. Individualism, competition and greed deny human flourishing because the fullness of our humanity is not found in wealth but in relationship with each other and the world around us. We need community for our wellbeing. Systems and structures, which breed individualism and competition, deny the nature of our humanity and lead to isolation and despair.

 

Let us think of the people who receive very little out of the backbreaking labor they are forced to give out in order to survive. They do not deserve our pity. They deserve justice and liberation from all forces that exploit and oppress them. And so they deserve our solidarity.

 

In closing let us be reminded of the quote from the famous Aboriginal leader Lilia Watson. This quote, for me, challenges many of our ideas about relationship, charity, assimilation, and social justice. She said:

 

If you have come here to help me, you are wasting our time.

But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.

 

   Amen.

[1] Minimum Wages, Fair work Ombudsman; https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/minimum-wages (Accessed 17 Sept 2020).

[2] Philippine Daily Minimum Wages, Trading Economics, https://tradingeconomics.com/philippines/minimum-wages#:~:text=Minimum%20Wages%20in%20Philippines%20is,macro%20models%20and%20analysts%20expectations. (Accessed 17 Sept 2020).