Three more enigmatic parables for you to get your head around…

Working life: that’s another area of life that everyone in Jesus’ day could relate to. Most people either employed workers or worked for someone else. Work relationships mattered as much in Jesus’ times as they do today. And so Jesus used stories from the workplace to reveal deeper truths about the kingdom of heaven.

In Matthew 20, there’s a parable about casual workers, workers who are not part of the permanent workforce, but who supply services on an irregular or flexible basis, often to meet a fluctuating demand for work.

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.  Matthew 20:1-2

Seems reasonable.

He then goes out at 9, 12, 3 and 5 to hire more workers. At the end of the day, each worker is paid the same. Now that doesn’t seem fair to the workers who’ve been working the whole day. They expect to be paid more, to be better rewarded than those who have stood around doing nothing all day before starting work.

And this is the landowner’s response to their grumbling –

‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ Matthew 20:13-15

He’s the boss. He makes that clear. He can do whatever he wants. He knows best. And he’s not been unfair. He’s paid each worker exactly what he said he would. The wages only became an issue when the workers started comparing the amount of work they’d done with the other workers around them.

The kingdom of heaven is like this. When we focus on our relationship with God and what He has done for us, then all is well. We try to live by the values of this upside kingdom because we’re convinced that God knows best. The issue arises when we start to compare ourselves with those around us. We think it’s unfair that they’re doing less than us, that they came into the kingdom later – like we should be rewarded more for long service or something. It’s not like that at all. It’s an upside down kingdom remember –

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 20:16

We have to let go of the notions of earning or deserving or doing better than someone else. It doesn’t work like that. God’s generosity is for all. Comparison never ends well – occasionally in superiority and smugness, more often in dissatisfaction and grumbling.

The Parable of the Shrewd Manager (the story of the canny boss!) appears in Luke 16. This is an upside down tale if ever I heard one! Jesus appears to be condoning the kind of deception I would not expect him to be OK with. The story goes like this: the manager has to account for the losses he’s made to the rich man he works for. He doesn’t panic but works out a cunning plan: he goes round the debtors, asking them how much they owe and reducing their debt. That way, when he loses his job, he’ll have made some friends along the way who’ll help him out when times get tough. When the rich man finds out, he’s not angry but impressed with the guy’s shrewdness.

And this is Jesus’ comment –

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Luke 16:9

I’m not entirely sure what Jesus is trying to say to us here. He’s not suggesting that we act dishonestly, for he goes on to say ‘Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.’ It’s about how we handle the resources that we have – how we handle our money, what we do with what has been entrusted to us. I guess the manager in the story does not turn to extortion and exploitation to get himself out of trouble. He actually lessens the debts due so that others will have a higher opinion of him. He treats others as he would want to be treated (even if it is a bit shady!).

Jesus goes on to make a statement that is as true now as it was then –

‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.’

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight’. Luke 16:13-15

If making money and accumulating riches become the be all and end all in our lives, then we are on the wrong track. There’s a choice to be made here. God knows what’s going on in our hearts. He knows what we value the most. He knows if we are putting our possessions before our relationships.

The last story we’ll look at today is about a hard boss. No one likes him. He was a man of status and wanted to be king, but none of the people wanted him to be king. They were scared of him. Before he went away, he gave ten of his servants ten minas each and told them to ‘put this money to work’. When he returns, the first servant he talks to has made ten more minas and the second servant five more minas. Each is rewarded accordingly. The next servant he talks to has reacted out of the fear of losing the money so has hidden it.

Servant: Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.

Master: I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest? Luke 19:20-23

Again, another tough story to get your head around. This man is punished for not using wisely what has been entrusted to him. I personally see this as a challenge to use all the resources that God has given me freely and without fear. Yes, I’ll get it wrong sometimes. I’ll make mistakes. But I don’t want to be that person that clings onto my money and possessions and gifts for fear of getting it wrong or losing them. I want to be generous and share. I want to grasp the opportunities I have to invest in people and ultimately in the kingdom of heaven. Fears will still hold me back at times. The fear of what someone else will think or the fear of doing something God doesn’t want me to do. The fear that I’ll start something I can’t finish. The fear I’ll mess us completely. I can feel most of those fears swirling around inside me right now as I contemplate some ideas for the next few months.

Jesus’ stories leave plenty of questions unanswered. Each one is not a neat little package, tied up with a bow. They’re a bit enigmatic, tough to get your head around. So I’ll leave these three parables with you to mull over for the rest of the day. You’ll see something different to what I’ve seen, that’s for sure. That’s the joy of these stories.