The Unfair God

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on November 6, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 20:1-16.

            This story raises one of the questions that we always struggle with when we think about God.  Is God fair?

           We like to think God so.  After all, it would be pretty hard to love a god who was not fair, right?  We might respect the power of such a god, and we might serve such a god out of fear, but we would not love a god who was not fair.

           On the other hand, we see a lot of things that happen in this world that don’t seem fair to us.  Someone who seems to have lived their whole life serving God and loving God is stricken with cancer, or is killed in a car accident.  How’s that fair?  A tornado comes along and wipes out a town.  Is that fair?  Some people are born into wealth and freedom, and others are born into poverty and servitude.  Is that fair?

           In our Bible reading for tonight, Jesus tells a story about how God treats people that may not seem fair to us.  We have four groups of people who all work for a farmer.  One group works all day, one group works all afternoon, one group works part of the afternoon, and one group works for about an hour.  At the end of the day, they line up to get paid, and they all get paid the same amount. 

The ones who worked all day were upset.  We can understand why.  Here they were working all day, manual labor, in the hot sun.  Then, here come are these other people, who only worked for an hour, and they get the exact same amount.  That does not seem fair, does it?

           Well, first, we need to remember is that Jesus did not tell this story as an example of good economic policy.  The first words of the story are “the kingdom of heaven is like…”  Jesus told this story to help us understand God and heaven, not economics.

           What Jesus is trying to tell us is that there are no differences between people in heaven.  It does not matter whether we grow up in the faith, whether we accept Jesus as our Savior as children, as young adults, when we’re middle aged, or at the end of our life.  I mean, it matters as far as how we live our lives and what we do.  It matters as far as the impact our lives make on others and on society.  Jesus’ point, though, is that it does not matter as far as whether we get into heaven.  All that matters is that we accept Jesus as our Savior at some point in our lives.

           But you know, sometimes that does not seem fair, either.  Why should someone who has believed in Jesus all their life, and who has tried to be a good person and do what’s right, be on no better footing in heaven than someone who lied and cheated and stole all their lives and then came to believe at the last minute?  It’s not necessarily that we think those late-comers should be kept out of heaven, but it just does not seem right to us that someone who hurt all kinds of people in their life on earth, and then, finally, after years and years of bad behavior, finally saw the error of his or her ways, should get just as much privilege in heaven as someone who followed the rules his or her whole life.

           In that way, this story really has something in common with the story of the prodigal son.  Because that’s exactly how the older brother felt, right?  He felt cheated.  He felt like he’d been dealt with unfairly.  He did not necessarily want his brother kicked out of the house, but he did not want Dad to throw a big party for him, either.  He did not see why his brother and he should be on an equal footing.  The younger brother had been irresponsible and wasted everything, while the older brother had been responsible and done his duty.  How was that fair?

          What that question shows, I think, is that how humans look at fairness and how God looks at fairness are two entirely different things.  Humans tend to look at fairness as a comparative thing.  We compare what we have with what other people have.  We compare the way we’re treated with the way other people are treated.  We compare our circumstances to the circumstances of other people.  And if that comparison leaves us feeling like we’re not doing as well as we think we should be, we get upset.  We say, “That’s not fair.”

           Jesus points out the trouble we run into when we look at it that way.  Listen to what he tells us God’s viewpoint on that is.  He says, “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?”

           That’s what happens we will look at fairness as a comparison with other people.  We try to put limits on God’s generosity and God’s goodness.  We tell God it’s not right if it seems like God has given more to some people, or if God gives gifts to people who don’t “deserve” them.  We get envious of people we think have gotten gifts from God, especially if their gifts seem better than our gifts or if we’ve decided they don’t deserve those gifts.

           See, when we look at fairness as a comparison with others, we’re always going to run into a problem.  There’s always going to be somebody who we think is better off than we are.  There will always be someone who has more money than we do, or who has a better family situation than we have, or who has more friends than we do, or who just generally seems to have gotten a better deal from life than we have.  Always.  It does not matter who we are.  I suspect even Bill Gates has somebody he looks at and thinks sometimes, “I wish I could have that life.”  Any time we compare our lives with others, we’re going to find someone we can envy.

           Jesus tells us that’s not how God looks at fairness.  God looks at fairness as a one-to-one relationship.  Fairness is a relationship between us and God.  Other people have nothing to do with it.  

So, looking at that one-to-one relationship between us and God, is God fair?  Well, actually, no.  I don’t think so.  Here’s why I say that.  Think about how this relationship between God and us works.  On one side, you have God.  God, who is all-powerful.  God who is all-wise.  God, who is perfect.  Then, on the other side you have us, who are…not. 

We are not all-powerful, although sometimes we like to think we are.  We are not wise, although we like to think that, too.  We’re certainly not perfect.  As Paul wrote, we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God.

           Given who God is, and given who we are, how would a “fair” god treat us?  Not very well, I suspect.  A “fair” god would give us what we deserve.  A “fair” god would punish us for our sins.

           Yet, that’s not what God does.  This all-loving, all-merciful, completely unfair God does not give us what we deserve.  God gives us much better than we deserve.  God says that if we have faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, then God will have mercy on us, forgive our sins, and allow us into heaven.  It does not matter what we’ve done.  It does not matter who we’ve hurt.  It does not how long we’ve hurt them.  If we accept Jesus as our Savior, if we ask God to forgive our sins, God will do just that.  It’s not “fair” at all.  It’s just wonderful and amazing.

           Sometimes when things go wrong, we think God is not fair.  That’s not it.  It’s not the times when things go wrong that God is not fair.  It’s the times when things go right.  It’s the times when we’re scared of something, and then everything turns out to be okay.  It’s the times when we’re sick and get well.  It’s the times when we jam on our brakes and avoid the car accident.  It’s the times when there’s all kinds of lightning and thunder and wind, but nothing gets destroyed and nobody gets hurt.  Those are the times when God is not fair.  Those are the times when God does not give us what we deserve, but instead gives us something better than what we deserve.  And, of course, there’s what we just talked about, the greatest unfairness of all, that God would take lowly sinners like us and, as long as we believe in Jesus as our Savior, allow us into heaven.

           It’s natural to question God when things don’t go the way we think they should.  God understands why we do that, and God won’t get mad at us for it.  We’ll be happier, though, if instead of blaming God when things go wrong, we instead think of all the things that went right.  Then, we can praise God for all the wonderful, incredible, unfair blessings God gives us.