Hey! That’s’ Not Fair!

Most of us ants who scurry around on the Big Blue Marble consider ourselves to be just and fair people. (There are exceptions.) When an issue of inequity arises, we complain to GOD, instead of doing something about it ourselves! But these readings for the weekend have more to do with GRACE than injustice.

You’re probably familiar with JONAH, the reluctant prophet who wouldn’t go preach to the city of Nineveh; but he did, after a fishing story, and the Ninevites repented! As a patriotic Jew, Jonah didn’t go for this; and besides, he wanted to watch that city get nuked. So the present reading, 4:1-11, finds Jonah pouting at the edge of the city. God caused a shady bush to spring up, giving Jonah some relief from the heat; but the next morning, God sent a cut-worm to destroy that bush, leaving Jonah heat blasted again… It’s a good story, and it appears in the Hebrew Bible to tell about God’s abundant generosity, even towards those formerly pagan Ninevites.

Paul’s letter to the PHILIPPIANS, 1:21-30, finds him ruminating about his own life-threatening situation (he’s under house arrest in Rome), and words of encouragement to those congregations who are besieged by the surrounding ungodly culture, urging them to stand “side by side with one mind for the faith of the Gospel”. There are evidently many injustices happening in Phillipi which are hardly “fair” to the resident Christians. Grace is experienced through these opportunities to Change the World. What does it mean for us to experience Grace in our current culture?

The parable of Jesus told in MATTHEW 20:1-16 is uncomfortable to those of us who have high assumptions. The late-comers got paid just as much as those workers who were diligent in “the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” They’d assumed that they’d get paid more; but the Boss gave them all the whole day’s wages, which was quite generous. What can we say about these deathbed converts and these thieves who share the crucifixion? Are they entitled to as much heavenly Grace as we who have attended worship regularly and volunteered for mission and prayed for others all our lives? God’s generosity far exceeds our own standards–and assumptions.

As my parents often told me, “No one said that the world is fair”. And it’s not: I have so much more than my colleagues in Uganda; or Serbia. Maybe when the Kingdom has drawn near enough we’ll see and experience equity for all people! But in the meantime, God expects us to take in each smidgen of Grace.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

On each Tuesday we present our understanding of what the weekend’s lessons are about. Come join us– argue with us?–at horacebrownking.com.