Episode 41
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Jeremy: [00:00:00] You're probably familiar with the idea of karma, that if you do something bad, eventually something bad is going to happen to you. If you do something good, eventually something good is going to happen to you. We also apply this to other people as well. If someone else does something bad, then we expect karma to make that right.
Here's the problem though. You may have noticed that karma doesn't actually fit in with the teachings of Jesus. In fact, Jesus operates in ways that we would say are unfair, that don't really make sense. And one of the easiest ways of illustrating this is to look at one of the stories that Jesus told.
And I absolutely love this story. And if you unpack this story, there's so much there for us to process as believers today. And even if you're watching from afar and you're like, yeah, what's the deal with that? This story shows us how radical [00:01:00] Jesus' ideas really are. And so this is going to be Episode 41, why Christianity Is Unfair.
Bumper: I've never shared this with anybody publicly. There's so many things happening in this conversation right now. A thousand years from now, people are going to be looking at this podcast saying, so this was the breakthrough. If this was SportsCenter, that would be like such a hot take. Skip Bayles would have no idea.
Steve and A. Smith would have no idea what to say if you drop that down. That is so good. The joke I always say is like, how'd you learn so much? You gotta drink a lot. The power of food and beverage to lubricate an environment. That Resistance to change is hurting the church. I'm not in the camp that God has a penis or a vagina or a body at all.
I'm in the camp that God is a universal spirit. This is the strangest podcast that I've done. I don't even know what to do. I'm kind of [00:02:00] geeked up about this wine. This is my second glass and it delivers a little more of a punch than I expected. So if I get a little loopy, it's your fault. Like you told me to drink it on the show.
I will also say as a confession, I am a lightweight. So I've had like three sips of this wine and I'm already feeling it. So. This is fun. You've uncovered the mystery. You've exposed the formula. You've just duct taped together a number of things that aren't normally hanging out together and I'm here for it.
We're gonna sit down at table, we're gonna have a glass of wine and some food, and we're gonna talk about The beauty of Jesus. Thank you for the hospitality that this particular podcast provides folks like myself, and I know others to, to be curious around their faith practices. I really appreciate this menu, what you're doing.
It is fun. And yet you dig into the deep stuff. I've heard about your podcast for a long time and I love. That you're a pastor and that you explore the world of faith through wine, that's very unique. I will never forget the first time I bought a bottle of wine [00:03:00] by myself, which was yesterday. If you're familiar with drunk history, I thought it's like drunk theology, so I, oh.
I got a little spicy there. It's the peach wine. By the way, drinking this Pinot Grigio at 3 o'clock in the afternoon is making me even more direct in my communication than I normally would be. I know why you had your guest drink wine. Makes sense now. Yeah, I get it. A little bit of liquid courage should really unleash the beast.
Jeremy: I want to begin with what I'm drinking today. In this episode, I am drinking a red blend from Portugal. This is a 2019. It's called Destino from Fifth Empire. This is actually a very nice blend Some of the the main grapes in it are Touriga Nacional and that's a big boy grape. I mean, that's a grape that Usually can you know knock you down a bit and as I poured this I noticed the color in the glass was [00:04:00] Super dark super rich and so it was a little little hesitant
I often compare these wines to whether or not they need a good steak or something to go with it. I'm not eating a meal here. So I was a little nervous that maybe I went aggressive on this. But the blend that this has, which is four different grapes in total, actually really rounds this off. And that's why I often love blends.
Some people don't love blends. I personally do. Because they're creating a little bit of a mix of the strengths of one grape and where maybe that grape can be a little overpowering. They're going to balance that out with a different grape. And this one to me is drinking really nice. I'm getting plum and blueberry notes and not overpowering.
It's actually really enjoyable. So that's what I'm drinking. If you are not driving while you enjoy this episode and you are able to enjoy a glass with me, cheers to you. And cheers to another episode of Cabernet and pray.
Today we're [00:05:00] going to explore a story in Matthew chapter 20. So if you want to pause this right now, if you want to get your Bible out, you want to read along for yourself. That's totally cool. Otherwise I'm going to read this story for us, but this is a radical story. It's a story that if you hear it in church, we often make it kind of cute and like, Oh, look at Jesus doing.
But I want to suggest that the implications of this story are far reaching, and we're going to realize Jesus doesn't operate on karma. Even more than that, Jesus operates in a world that is blatantly not fair and doesn't work out the way we may envision. What are we to with a God like that? What are we supposed to do as, as we follow Jesus?
today. Well, here's what we find in Matthew chapter 20 beginning in verse one. Jesus says for the kingdom of heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Got to love [00:06:00] a story about a vineyard and Cabernet and pray. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and he sent them out to work at nine o'clock in the morning.
He was passing through the marketplace. And he saw some people standing around doing nothing. So he hired them telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. Notice that phrase, whatever is right. So they went to work in the vineyard at noon and again at three o'clock he did the same thing.
At five o'clock that afternoon, he was in town again and saw some more people standing around And he asked them, why haven't you been working today? They replied because no one hired us. The landowner told them then go out and join the others in my vineyard. So we've got a story of a vineyard and the owner is looking for people to work on the vineyard.
What a perfect setting to enjoy a glass of [00:07:00] wine on this episode of Cabernet and Pray. Now, let's break this down a little bit. What are we looking at here? Well, this story takes place throughout a 12 hour workday and notice there are five different shifts of people who are beginning work throughout this 12 hour workday.
The shifts are 6 a. m. is the first one, 9 a. m., noon, 3 p. m. and 5 p. m. and then it ends at 6. So that means the earliest workers That get there at 6 a. m. They're there for 12 hours that day and the latest workers are going to be there for an hour or less maybe. Right? So we're just kind of playing with the details in the story, but this is a made up story.
So who knows? Now just a quick question for us to connect with this story and to make this more real. I want you to think about how many of you who are watching or listening to this episode would say that you have a job that you work 12 hours a day. Now maybe a [00:08:00] few of you would say, yeah, you work like four days a week and that's your schedule.
Or maybe you have, a couple of days in a row where you work, longer shifts, but most people don't work that long. In a typical day, that's a very long day of 12 hours would, would be probably longer than what we would say is average. But how many of you on the other side would say you let you work less than an hour a day or just one hour a day?
Now, again, that would be an extreme on the low side. Most people will say, no, I don't work one hour. I work more than that. So what we have here is, is two different extremes and we have an extreme low and extreme high. And this is to show that all of the workers are included in this illustration. So no matter where you would put yourself, no matter how many hours you would, you are included in this story.
It is a story for all people, all workers, no matter where you're at in this workday. Now, verse eight says it like this. That evening he told the foreman [00:09:00] to call the workers in and pay them. And this is where it starts to get dicey. Beginning with the last workers first, these are the guys that got recruited at 5 p.
m. in the evening. So when those who were hired at five o'clock were paid, each received a full day's wage. What? Now this is the first part of Jesus story where the original audience listening would have been going, wait, what? They've been leaning in a little bit going, okay, that's a, that's a plot twist right there.
We didn't see that coming. The owner of this vineyard is paying a full day's wage. These people who, who only started working at 5 PM, the last hired are the first paid and they're paid an entire day's wage for an hour. Now imagine what everyone else is thinking. Both, the, the workers, if they were real, who are [00:10:00] watching this and everyone listening to the story that Jesus is telling, they're thinking if the owner is paying a full day's wage for one hour of work, what on earth is Are the people who got there early going to make, I mean, these guys are going to be rolling in money.
They are going to be so extravagantly paid. This is going to be incredible because remember the owner promised to pay everyone what is right. But if you thought that the, you had already got to the plot twist, that was just setting you up for what Jesus says next. Matthew 20 verse 10. When those hired first came to get their paid.
So we finally get to the, the early birds. They assume they would receive more as you would naturally assume as you would assume. And I would assume, but they too were paid a day's wage. Now, [00:11:00] what do you think they would respond with? How would you respond in this scenario? Verse 11, when they received their pay, they protested to the owner.
Those people worked only one hour and yet you've paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day. And then they add some details in the scorching heat. Like not only did we work all day, but it was hot while we were working in the vineyard. And the owner answered one of them, friend, I haven't been unfair.
Didn't you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Now let's ask the question here. Let's wrestle with this. [00:12:00] Is this fair or not? Now, not only had some of them worked a lot longer, they had gone out to find work earlier than the others too.
So we could say, well, there's a difference of drive with these employees, right? The ones who got the earlier, they were, they were up and ready and looking for work. And these other ones were kind of just waiting around, hoping work, right? Came to them at the end of their day. At the end of the day, what's fascinating is that the hourly wage is radically different for each of these employees.
Now, just for the sake of numbers, let's assume an average daily pay of a hundred dollars for an eight hour shift. Okay. So let's, let's just assume that is the benchmark we're going to use. Just for this illustration. Now, if we used a hundred dollars a day for an eight hour shift using these numbers, that means some people got paid 1250 [00:13:00] an hour.
It also means other people got paid a hundred and 50 an hour doing the exact same thing. So in this story, the less you worked. The more money you got paid hourly. I mean, this is radical in the way that Jesus is setting this up. Is it fair to do it like this? Now let's personalize it a bit for you and I let's, let's get this into the terms that, that we can relate with and that we can understand a little bit more.
Imagine I gave you a choice and I said that you could have a salary but everyone around you is going to make 25, 000. Okay. So imagine that that's option one, you make 50, 000, everyone around you, they make 25, 000 or what's behind door. Number two, [00:14:00] you get to make a hundred thousand dollars. So I double your salary, but everyone around you makes 200, 000.
Okay. So in the first scenario, you make double what other people around you make, but you only make 50 grand. In the second scenario, we double that. You make a hundred grand, but everyone around you makes twice what you made. Which of these two options would you choose? Now, logically we should choose option two.
Why? Because you have twice as much money. An option too. But if you're honest with yourself, or if you've had enough wine to, to get past that honesty, you start to realize, you know what? I don't think that I would choose that. Or maybe at least you can acknowledge you have some reservations about choosing the second one because you don't want everyone around you to have twice as much as what you have to make twice as much as what you make.
That would feel Like a [00:15:00] loss, even though objectively you would have to acknowledge that's twice what you would have in the first scenario. You see, if we're honest, we're bothered by Jesus logic too, because we have some bizarre ways of figuring out what we think is fair. We want so badly to believe that karma is, is fair, that something is going to settle all accounts.
The problem is we, we can't all agree. On what is fair. And even in this scenario, we wouldn't all be able to agree on what is the right scenario to choose. Now there are countries throughout the world that have come up with creative ways of trying to make fair punishments for people. So how do you punish someone when, one person could make this amount and the next person can make dramatically more?
How do you make a consequence that's of equal value for both people? There are countries like Finland that have determined one [00:16:00] speed for a fine, a speeding ticket that is based on your salary. So not based on how fast you are going or some just flat rate amount, but in accordance with how much money you make.
So the more you earn, the higher your fine will be. Now, this has led to some truly notable speeding tickets as you may imagine in 2002, a former Nokia director was driving 17 miles over the speed limit and was fined 103, 000 for going that fast because of his salary. In 2015, a Finnish businessman was driving 15 miles per hour over the speed limit, had to pay 62, 000 for going 15 over.
But the Guinness Book of World Records claims that the largest speeding ticket belongs to a [00:17:00] Swiss man who was caught driving 35 miles per hour over the speed limit. Get this. He was fined $290,000 based on his $22.7 million wealth $290,000 speeding ticket. Is that fair? Now again, you start to realize how complicated this is and if you're.
Enjoying this episode with some friends right now, maybe hit pause and debate this amongst yourselves. Is it fair to charge speeding tickets based on your salary or not? And if you're with the group, you may realize you don't all see this the same way. One of the verses that I love in, in the story is the very next verse, Matthew chapter 20 verse 15, the latter part of 15 says this, should you [00:18:00] be jealous?
because I am kind to others. What a statement for the vineyard owner to make. Should you be jealous because I am kind to others? Pastor Brian Zan says this, the vineyard owner was more interested in giving people what they needed than than what they deserved. The vineyard owner was giving people what they needed rather than what they deserved.
See, I think most of us, we fear that someone we think is less deserving will be made equal to us based on their need and God's love. Like someone who doesn't deserve it is going to get what we have. Not because they did anything, not because they earned it the way we [00:19:00] think we probably have, but because of their need and because of God's love, we want unfair stories to resolve.
That's the plot line of most of our movies. Most of our books are about unfair things getting resolved. It is almost a karma in story form. But I want you to notice here, Jesus's story doesn't resolve. It doesn't. Jesus's story doesn't have that nice ending, doesn't have a nice bow on it, doesn't make you feel good if you're rooting for karma.
And just to make it personal, would you describe this landowner as a good person to work for? Would you want to work for a boss like that? Now, again, on one hand, you would say, well, yeah, this boss is really taking care of people. But on the other hand, you go, I don't know if I'd want to actually work for a person like that, because he's going to equally give to other people what they don't [00:20:00] deserve.
Now, here's what most people miss. If the landowner in this story represents Jesus, then those who got paid less hourly also got more time with him. Like they got to be on the vineyard longer. That's, they got to spend the entire day on the vineyard. Now, I can't think of many places I'd rather be than a vineyard.
Just to be performance with you. I love being in vineyards. I think they're fantastic. Now, if I had to work in a vineyard all day and the sun was blazing on me, obviously that might be a, a different environment, but you have to realize that the people that were there earlier, their, their hourly rate was lower.
but they spent the day on the vineyard in the presence of the owner who only stepped out to go get more people and presumably was there the rest of the time. See what's so fascinating to me about this story that Jesus tells in Matthew 20 is that it [00:21:00] reveals to you and I what we value when it comes to Christianity.
So we can say we value all these things and we can point to different things and go, that's, that's important. That's important. Yeah. But a story like this gets to the heart. A story like this is going to show you what really matters most to you. And so I want to ask you two questions today, that as you think about this story, these two questions will, will change you.
And if you're honest with these two questions, you, you begin to see some things in your own journey with God. Question number one, is Jesus good enough? for you. Is that enough of a reward for you? Or if we're honest, do other need, other people need to lose in order for us to feel like we have won? Do other people [00:22:00] need to, to, to lose something for me to feel like I have gained something?
Does the success of other people? take away from what we have or let's, let's get real brutally honest. Do other people need to suffer in hell for us to enjoy heaven? Now, as bizarre as that question may sound to you, I'm convinced that for many Christians, the answer is an absolute yes to that question.
They need to feel like other people will be experiencing hell so that they feel justified. They feel warranted in the decision they have made to follow God. And what all that reveals is that if you go, yeah, that, that is true, then Jesus isn't enough for you. Jesus as a reward isn't enough to say, Hey, you get to spend [00:23:00] the day with the owner of the vineyard.
It's not enough. And at least let's be honest about that and say, yeah if I'm going to follow Jesus, I'm going to be a Christian. I'm looking for something more than just Jesus. Like that's not going to be a good enough reward for me. I would at least appreciate some honesty. If more Christians would acknowledge, yeah, we're actually not interested in Jesus.
We want X, Y, and Z. See, oftentimes we don't label that because it doesn't sound good, but we act as though we're very aware that we need other things. Or here's the second question to wrestle with. Are you jealous when Jesus is kind to other people who you don't think deserve it? If you were to watch Jesus bestow kindness and grace on someone else, Is there a potential there that it would bother you based on what you know about that person?
You see, we assume God [00:24:00] is kind to us because we deserve it, right? Well, the reason why I have experienced the grace I have is because I'm like pretty good. I'm a pretty good person. But what about those people? Now, you know exactly who I'm talking about and each one of us has probably a different grouping of those people and you have someone coming to your mind when I say those people, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
What happens if God were to be kind to those people that you don't like that agitate you, that bother you, those people that you, you think, man, I can't wait for them to get what's coming to them. I can't wait for the consequences of their decisions. I can't wait for them to reap what they have sowed.
What happens if Jesus was to be kind to those [00:25:00] people? How would you react to that? And Lamont says this, you can safely assume that you've created God in your own image. When it turns out that God hates all the same people. That you do, right? We, we love to think, Oh God, God doesn't like them either. God's pretty in order to them too, because I am.
And in reality, if we understand the story, Jesus is telling you, Matthew 20, no, I don't think God is as bothered by those people as you and I are. That's a, that's an issue for you and I to work through what we find in, in a God that looks like Jesus is a God of kindness, of compassion, of grace. God who gives people what they haven't earned.
And we go, yeah, well, that's not fair. And what do we do with a God like that? I remember when I was in junior high, I made my [00:26:00] very first convert ever and we'll just call him Teddy for the sake of this story. And I remember being so proud. I had led someone to the Lord. This, this person was not a Christian.
And then because of my interaction with them, they were a Christian. And at that point in my Christianity, I felt like this is what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to bring people to Jesus and convert them and turn them into a Christian. And I was very proud. Yeah. that the first person, that I had ever had brought to Jesus had, had, had worked out, and this was, this was like a huge deal for me.
Teddy had become a believer. Well, just because Teddy had become a believer, didn't mean that Teddy actually fully changed the, the, the decisions and the choices that he made. And Teddy was always getting in trouble and had just a knack for it. And I just remember this moment when he got detention one day in junior high, And I said after school, Hey, I'll wait up for you.
And I don't remember all the details, but I'll, I'll meet up with you afterward. And we'll, we'll touch base after your detention's over. And so I remember [00:27:00] what he had done and probably fought someone or done something. He was often getting into fights, but after this, we, we meet up and you've got this person who's like this baby believer does believe it, but still is, very rough around the edges.
Hasn't had a ton of time to figure out what, what it might mean to follow Jesus. And I'll never forget he came out of detention and he was so proud. Like he was beaming and he had like this, this bizarre smile on his face. Remember asking him like, dude, what just happened in there? And he's like, Oh man, I I wrote I wrote a verse out.
I said, really? And he's like, yeah, he's like, that verse that you guys are always talking about it. I wrote that verse out so that someone in detention would, would read that verse and then they would experience Jesus. And I actually thought that's kind of brilliant, and like a bizarrely poetic way to like bring other people who may be, going through a hard time in detention and bring them to, to know Jesus.
So I, I was like, what, what verse, like, are you talking about? [00:28:00] And he goes, well, the big one, John three 17. I said, no, you mean John three 16. He's like, no, John three 17. I was like, Oh, Teddy. No, you, you wrote the wrong verse down. Like John three 16 is the one you're thinking of.
Forgot to love the world that he's like, yeah, yeah. That one. I'm like, that's, that's not 17. That's, that's John three 16. He's like, Oh, He's like, well, what does John three 17 say? Like, well, you wrote, you wrote that heading on the wall. Let's find out what you just told people. Well, in case you want to know, I think John three 17 is probably an even better verse to put on the wall of a detention.
It says, God sent his son into the world, not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. And yet if God did not send Jesus to come and judge the world, but to save the world, maybe we can let go of some of the judgment that we have. [00:29:00] Maybe we can let go of some of our need to say, whoa, they showed up late.
They weren't here on time. They, they don't deserve what we deserve. They shouldn't have what we have.
Maybe if we understand that Jesus came to save the world, we could be a part of that saving with him. Maybe we could stop spending all of our time judging others and instead decide to join in what Jesus is doing. You see, my takeaway from this vineyard story in Matthew 20 is that we should be the ones welcoming people into the vineyard rather than trying to keep them out.
Like how different would this story be if every time a new shift arrived, the people who had already been there welcomed them. Hey, so glad you're here. We've got more people to do this work now. This is going to be [00:30:00] awesome. What if there was a joy, a celebration every time a new shift showed up? Yes, look, we got more people now.
This is awesome. What if we just celebrated rather than thinking, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I have been here longer than you. I have been here before you. You see, as you might have imagined, this story isn't actually about whether you and I are going to go work in a vineyard. And what are hourly raid might be this story is about you and I welcoming others into what God is doing.
And it's a question for us. If we're going to be the kind of people constantly welcoming people, it doesn't matter where you've been. It doesn't matter how long you've been. We're going to welcome you in. We are so glad that you're here now, or we can be the kind of people that say, yeah, I don't, I don't think, I don't think so.
Not for you. not for those people and we can actually work against [00:31:00] what Jesus is doing.
I'll close with something that a Polish American poet said and can't even pronounce his first name. Last name is Milos or something to that effect. He says this, I knew always that I would be a worker in the vineyard. as are all men and women living at the same time, whether they are aware of it or not.
See friends, the vineyard is big and it's got life and Jesus is inviting and bringing more and more people. And you and I get to decide to work against that, to constantly point out how unfair it is that more people keep showing up and Or we can join in what the owner of the vineyard is doing, what Jesus is doing, and we can be on the front line to celebrate the work that God is up to.
Let's be those people. I'll see [00:32:00] you on the next episode of Cabernet and Pray.
