It seems like one of the first things that comes out of a child’s mouth, (after the obligatory “mama” and “dada” of course) are the words, “That’s not fair!”. “Her cookie is bigger than mine! That’s not fair!” “Johnny got to ride the go-cart five minutes longer than I did! That’s not fair!” Even as adults, we often continue to think this way. We see someone else who seems to be doing the same things we are doing, and somehow things turn out better for them. A co-worker gets a promotion that you feel like you deserved. The guy on the interstate who blew around you going about 20 mph faster than you got away, and you were stopped and given a speeding ticket. Etc., etc. You get the point.
Where does this idea that life is supposed to be fair originate? It certainly does not come from Evolution. If anything, Evolution teaches the exact opposite. Where does fairness come into play in the survival of the fittest? Most of the animal kingdom consists of different species breeding, and eating each other! It does not come from the Bible. It appears that we just made it up. Let’s look at an example that proves that the idea of fairness is not Biblical:
The Parable of the Ten Minas
While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’ “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’ “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’ “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’ “Then another servant came and said, ‘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.’ “His master replied, ‘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?’ “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’ “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”
(Luke 19: 11-27 NIV)
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
“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. About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So, when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘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?’ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
(Matthew 20: 1-16 NIV)
It could be said that these two passages represent a spiritual smackdown to Socialist ideology!
“the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once”. The Kingdom of God did appear, but it was not what they expected. Because of the misapplication/misinterpretation of the Messianic prophesies of the Old Testament, the Jews of Jesus’s day had been conditioned to expect a political messiah to appear that would overthrow the oppression of the Roman government and restore the Davidic kingdom to Israel. Jesus represents a world-wide restoration of the kingdom of God, breaking the bondage of mankind to the power of sin over human life, and restoring humanity, one individual at a time, to a right relation to God, the Creator, and giver of life.
Isn’t it so true of human nature for people to often expect a certain outcome, that we are blinded to the truth, even as it is starring us in the face? That is the irony of the Gospel. The people of Israel were searching intently for Yahweh in their scriptures, rituals, and temple rites, and expecting their messiah, and did not even know Him as He was standing right in front of them, incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. “It’s not fair, Jesus! We worked hard at solidifying our expectations, and you showed up and did something else!”
“A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ There is one word in the English we use frequently that represents a lie. The word is “mine”. No matter what we have in our possession as we live out our brief life on this earth, it does not belong to us. There is no such thing as “mine”. It does not belong to me. It belongs to God, the King, who has entrusted it to me to bring Him glory and advance His cause on this earth. He has entrusted it to me. He knows what I can handle, and what I can’t. The people in this world who possess great wealth, and use that wealth to live in wanton self-indulgence will one day answer to that King for their misuse of His resources, and the outcome of that encounter will not be pretty. It matters not one iota that you may “not want this man to be your king…” You have no say so in the matter. You can choose to not believe in God, but that does not change the fact that one day you will stand before Him, regardless of what you do or do not believe.
Ten servants were each given one mina. We are only told of what the outcome for three of the ten servants was. The first did slightly better than the second. One man did poorly because of a gross misunderstanding of his master. His outcome was the primary lesson of the story. We must assume that the other seven who are not mentioned must have done OK. Their success was only a matter of degrees, whereas the last man was an utter failure.
This is an allegory about how people respond to God. Look at what this man said: “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.” You cannot understand anyone if you never take the time to get to know them. All you can do is make assumptions about them. This man did not understand his master, because he did not know him. He thought of his master as a demanding, unreasonable man. The other servants apparently did not feel this way about their master. He thought of his master as being unfair. He thought of his master as being the kind of man who made his wealth off the backs of others, and because of this, he took no pleasure in his work. He thought of it as drudgery, something he would not receive any personal benefit from. Then we see something peculiar happen. His master responded to him, based on his faulty perception of his master’s character: “His master replied, ‘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?’ “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
Then comes the cry of “Foul play” to those watching what transpired: “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’ Newsflash, when God is dealing with someone else, Stay out of it! It is none of your business.
“He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” Does this offend your sensibilities? Does it sound unfair? That is because, in God’s system, you reap what you sow. God does not operate like some government bureaucrat operating under Socialist principles of taking from those who have worked hard and sown, and giving it to those who have not put forth the work to gain a harvest. Don’t misunderstand what I am saying here. Jesus definitely teaches us that we should be compassionate to those in need. We should all work harder to share what we have with those in need to make their lives better. There are many legitimate reasons why people may be in need. A family, whose primary bread winner has lost his or her job, a sickness or injury that prevents someone from working, etc. What this parable, in the purely material sense, is teaching is that laziness or indifference should not be rewarded by taking from the wealthy by force or coercion. This is what Socialism does. Socialism eventually demotivates the hard working, and rewards lazy and indifferent people.
The parable also teaches, in the spiritual sense, that we know God more fully by intentionally seeking Him out. This requires work. This requires an eagerness to know truth, to want to know what God expects, and put our lives in line with that. The world is full of wrong ideas and beliefs about God. Just like the last man in this parable, there are a lot of people whose perception of what God is like, is just plain wrong. We have to shut out all this chatter, and truly seek Him, and He has promised that if we do, we will be rewarded.
Let’s look at the second parable for a moment. Several years ago, after being between jobs for about six months, I was offered a job as a contractor at the company I now work for full time. I agreed to a certain rate. Several months after I began work, I learned that they were hiring new people at a rate that was several dollars an hour higher than what I was making. I got mad. “That’s not fair!” I had been there longer than the new hires, and I worked hard. Then I read that parable, and remembered what I had agreed to work for. It was not any of my business what they were paying others.
One of the things we do as humans to make ourselves miserable is to compare ourselves to others. If we are constantly focusing on others, and comparing ourselves to others, we will always have cause to feel as if things are unfair.
The parable of the workers in the vineyard is a difficult pill to swallow, because we somehow get the notion, at a very early age, that life is supposed to be fair. While I do think that we should, as much as it is within our power to do so, treat others fairly, if we go through life with the notion that life is supposed to be fair, we set ourselves up for being disappointed and mad about life.
The questions each of us must ask ourselves are:
- What has God given me? How do I use what I have been entrusted with to glorify God and please Him?
- How has God made me? What are my strengths and weaknesses? How do I accentuate my strengths and allow God to use them for His purposes? Do I recognize my weaknesses, and allow God to work through them? The Scripture teaches that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. Do we recognize that and allow God to be glorified in our weakness?
- Am I jealous of others? Am I comparing myself to others? How do I stop doing that, and become content in who God made me to be?
The truth of the matter is that life is not fair. We should not expect it to be, because that is not reality. But God is good, and He meets each one of us in the place He has ordained for us to be if we are seeking Him. Seek and you will find. Ask, and it will be given, knock and the door will be opened. The biggest gift we can give ourselves is to be comfortable in our own skin, to love ourselves as God loves us, not in a narcissistic, vain way, but in a way that humbly and gratefully acknowledges that God knows better than we do what is best for each of us, and He does not make mistakes!
Danny's Stump 