"If You Want to Be Who You Want to Be, You Have to Give Up Who You Are."

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
July 12, 2026
Proper 10, A
Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 65: (1-8), 9-14
Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

What is the soil of your heart like? Can it receive and live the Kingdom of God here on earth? Jesus told a parable of the one who scatters seeds of the Kingdom of God. Depending on the condition of people’s hearts, they would receive and live the Kingdom of God here on earth, or they would not. 

The Kingdom of God here on earth is a life of faith and hope, trusting in God’s grace and love for us, trusting in God’s grace and love for every single person, ever. We believe that we are loved by God. We believe that we are forgiven by God. We believe that even after we die, will continue to live forever with God in God’s eternal Kingdom. 

So, with that faith and hope, Jesus teaches us to live the Kingdom of God in our lives on earth. Forgive people who wrong you, even if they don’t deserve it. Work to heal any damage you’ve done to others. Love those who love you, and love those who hate you. Rather than fight against a world that is full of problems, accept the things you cannot change, and lovingly live to help heal the things you can. Faith and hope build up the Kingdom of God, and they are built on the foundation of love.

In the parable Jesus told, he is constantly scattering the seed of that kingdom of faith and hope, built on the foundation of love, and as he scatters that seed, some people really don’t get it, just don’t understand. Their hearts don’t understand. Their hearts just can’t grasp the idea of a life of love, forgiveness, and service to others built with faith and hope. So, the idea of living God’s Kingdom of faith, hope, and love, is gone almost as soon as they hear it. 

As Jesus scatters the seed of God’s Kingdom, some love the idea, and they really want to start living a life of faith and hope. Other people they know, however think it sounds stupid and weak, and they mock them for such soft beliefs. So, they give up on the Kingdom of God because their hearts weren’t ready to live it without the total support of others around them.

Then, Jesus said there are some who receive the seed of the Kingdom of God, but they want power, wealth, and stuff instead. They put their trust in their own power; they want control over the world and the lives of the people around them. They don’t want to serve and heal the world, rather they want to force the world to be the way they want it to be. They may have a lot of money and power, or they only have a little bit of money and power, but either way, they want they everything to go their way, and so they reject the Kingdom of God to make the kingdom of themselves. They cause harm, so much harm to those around them, near and far.

Then, Jesus said there are some who receive the seeds of the Kingdom of God and they truly accept it. They choose to live a life of faith and hope, built on the foundation of love. These are the peacemakers, the merciful. These are the pure in heart, the meek, the poor in spirit. These are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the ones who mourn, the ones who may even be rejected and ridiculed for their way of faith, hope, and love.

When rejected and ridiculed, the ones who truly live the Kingdom of God don’t turn to their own power. They don’t turn to anger or rage. They offer their difficulties up to God, they accept what they cannot change, and they seek God’s strength to continue living a life of faith and hope as part of something bigger than themselves. 

When we see people shot on the Metro right beside us, we offer our fear to God, we leave rage alone, and we seek God’s strength not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. 

When we hear of people being chased in ordinary looking cars and then shot by people claiming to be police, we offer our fear to God, we leave rage alone, and we seek God’s strength not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. 

When we feel like we keep getting knocked down over and over again, we offer our fear to God, we leave rage alone, and we seek God’s strength not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. 

When we have given up and decide to do whatever we can to numb and feel better, we turn back again, we offer our fear to God, we leave rage alone, and we seek God’s strength not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. 

The seeds of God’s Kingdom are scattered over and over throughout our lives, and sometimes the conditions of our hearts aren’t able to receive them. So, we work on the condition of our hearts. We work to make the soil of our hearts ready to receive and live God’s Kingdom of faith, hope, and love. 

So, I’m going to sing a song by Guy Forsyth called, “Leave Me Alone.” It’s about a guy who wants to just be left alone, except that he actually desperately wants not to be alone. Maybe he’s been overcome by pain and hurt in his life, we don’t know, but we find in the end that he desperately desires to change so that he won’t always be alone.

Leave Me Alone - Words and Music by Guy Forsyth

https://www.guyforsyth.com/ (Sung with permission)

I’m all alone now, they’ve all gone upstairs.

I’m on my own now, except for the tables and the chairs.

Guess that’s what I wanted, you know I tried hard enough,

To make them leave me alone.

It used to scare me, now I crave it.

I keep joking about taking off to London.

Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

If I could, I would. I want to go, to go away,

To make them leave me alone. 

 

They all danced so well tonight,

Spinning cartwheels ‘round the moon.

I didn’t even have the strength to move my legs.

I didn’t even catch the tune.

If you want to be who you want to be,

You have to give up who you are.

Lie with your love, love with a laugh,

Laugh with a lie, life to your love.

Don’t let them see which one is me,

Or they will leave me alone.

Leave me alone.

When we find we want God’s kingdom and we just can’t seem to live it, we just can’t seem to receive the seeds of God’s kingdom, then we find we must give up who we are in order to be who we want to be. That’s resurrection. That’s Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 16:25, that, “those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” 

“If you want to be who you want to be, you have to give up who you are.” If you want to live God’s kingdom, but you just can’t seem to receive the seeds of God’s kingdom, then it’s time to turn around, to give up who you are and ask God to take control and guide you into who God wants you to be, and like in the song, that work is not done alone. We can’t become who we want to be, living God’s kingdom of faith, hope, and love, and be left alone. We join with our church and others in our church to live the life of God’s kingdom together, becoming merciful peacemakers, pure in heart, meek, poor in spirit, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, even as we mourn, even if we are rejected or ridiculed for our way of faith, hope, and love. We live the kingdom of God with others, dancing so well together, spinning cartwheels ‘round the moon.

Beautiful Neighbors

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
July 27, 2025
Proper 12, C
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Psalm 138
Luke 11:1-13

Eventually, maybe one day, I’ll feel complete. If I gain enough success in life, I’ll feel like I have accomplished enough to feel good about myself; or maybe if I earn enough money, or get enough stuff, then I’ll feel like I’m ok. That’s kind of ridiculous, yeah? The thought that I’ll finally be a whole and complete person if I only have enough, well, that’s a ridiculous thought, and I’m guessing that if you asked just about anyone if they need more money or success or stuff to be a whole and complete person, they’d likely say, “no,” and yet the drive for more is still there.

What drives us to have more, to get more, to be more? What gnaws at our subconscious telling us, if we just have this one more thing, if we can just achieve this, then we’ll be ok? Something seems to be telling us that as we are, we’re not good enough. Perhaps that starts at a young age?

I was watching a movie about Mr. Rogers the other day. Y’all remember Mr. Rogers, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, the kids show on PBS years and years ago? “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Won’t you be, won’t you please? Please won’t you be my neighbor?” He was so kind, and on his show and in his life, he showed others how to be kind. He had a great love of children, and he taught kids how to deal with their emotions and showed them how wonderful they were. 

One thing Mr. Rogers talked about was how wonderful and beloved kids are, not because of who they’ll be one day, but that they are wonderful and beloved just as they are. 

What if, as kids, we already know we are complete? What if, as kids, we already know that we are valued and loved just as we are, not because of who we’ll one day be?

Perhaps then we wouldn’t feel the need for enough money, possessions, or success to feel whole. 

I’m not saying this to knock anyone’s parents, but I’m guessing we’ve all had people in our lives who in one way or another made us feel like we had to achieve something to be ok. Think about some of the messages we often get as kids. “Don’t cry.” “Be quiet.” “You shouldn’t be so angry.” “Stop being so sad.” “Smile more.”

Mr. Rogers pointed out that saying things like that to kids makes them feel like they don’t belong, like they aren’t good enough as they are, like their emotions aren’t welcome. Kids are trying to figure out how to belong, and a lot of the messages they get are, “You don’t quite belong in this adult world. You need to change in order to be ok.” This makes sense because parents are trying to prepare their kids for adulthood, but kids often get this notion that, “I’ll be good enough, I’ll belong, once I have achieved” whatever it is: enough money, enough success, enough fame, enough stuff. 

For Mr. Rogers, encouraging kids wasn’t about telling them how great they’ll be when they’re grown? For him, encouraging kids was about telling them how great they are now.

How children feel about themselves is what I care about most. If we can help our children feel accepted and valued when they are small, they’ll have a better chance of growing into adults who can feel good about who they are, too. – Fred Rogers

That’s right in line with the teaching Jesus offered us in our Gospel today. “Take care!” Jesus said. “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Jesus told this to a man who wanted what he felt was his share of his family’s inheritance. 

Was this guy really struggling for money, or did he just want more to feel better about himself, to feel complete, to feel worthy? He didn’t say he was impoverished, and you’d think he would have led with that if it was the case. No, it sounds like the guy was hacked off that his brother was getting more than he was. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair, and if he could only get more of the inheritance, then he’d be ok, and it was all about comparison. 

He had enough, but he had less, compared to his brother, so he felt some aching, some longing to be complete. Jesus taught him, though, that having more or less doesn’t make us more or less. Having enough for status doesn’t actually improve our lives, and we don’t need it to be healed and loved.

That goes counter to some preaching that’s out there. Name it and claim it? Give your money to whatever ministry, and God will bless you with even greater wealth? That kind of preaching ain’t about the gospel. The name it and claim it preaching is simply feeding into our insecurities of not belonging, of not being enough, of not having enough. Rather than telling us the truth of God’s love for us, as we are, for who we are, the name it and claim it preaching is fueling the lie that we need more in order to be ok. 

Jesus wants us to know that our lives are not made complete by status, wealth, success, and stuff. Our lives are made complete by love. 

There was a study done about wealth and happiness, showing that having tons more money that you need doesn’t actually make you happier. Now, for a person making $30,000 a year to get a salary increase to $60,000 a year, they end up much happier. So much less stress and so much more freedom, not worrying nearly so much about where food is gonna come from or if they can afford rent. That doubling of salary from $30,000 to $60,000 makes a huge difference in happiness. 

For a person making $500,000 a year, however, if they double their salary to $1,000,000 a year, they don’t actually end up much happier. They can certainly buy a crud ton more stuff, but that doesn’t tend to translate to improved quality of life or improved happiness. 

It turns out that modern social science is learning the truth that Jesus taught a couple thousand years ago. Our lives are not about having a bunch of stuff, and our lives aren’t actually made better by having a bunch of stuff.

 

The happiest people are those who have quality relationships with other people. Again, that’s what Jesus taught and how Jesus lived. When Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God and having riches in the Kingdom of God, he was talking about the love we have for others and they love others have for us. 

Here’s the Gospel secret, or not so secret, God has that love for us, and we don’t need to be better, do better, earn more, or have more to earn God’s love. We’re already complete, and we’re already completely beloved just as we are. 

“Jesus, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 

“Dude, I ain’t here to make you rich, man. I’m here to tell you, you don’t need to be. You’re already complete. You’re already whole. You already belong to God’s family just as you are.

“In returning and rest we shall be saved. In quietness and confidence shall be our strength.”

 The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church
May 14, 2023
6 Easter, Year A
Acts 17:22-31
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
Psalm 66:7-18

“In returning and rest we shall be saved. In quietness and confidence shall be our strength.”

Has anyone else ever found themselves worshipping an idol, or is it just me? Interesting Sunday when the priest tells you he’s been worshipping idols, but I figure I should be honest about that when the sermon topic includes idol worship. Now, in our reading from Acts, Paul was talking about what we often think of as idols, little statues of gold or wood, and no, I’ve not bowed down and prayed to a little statue made of gold or wood. 

It was bronze…kidding. 

When Paul saw all of the things the Athenians had for their various religions, he saw idols, little statues, and he saw an altar to “an unknown God.” Paul let them know that God was not actually unknown, and pointed out that God is not anything like a little statue. God is not something that we make. 

God is, in fact, beyond all of creation. As vast as the universe is, all of the universe is contained within God. Anything that we could make or do is contained within God, for as Paul said, “In God we live and move and have our being.” Rather, than something we make, God made us and all of creation so that we would search for God and perhaps grope for God and find God.

Union with God is the deepest desire of our souls, and God is always united to us. The trick of the devil is not to separate us from God; that’s impossible. The trick of the devil is to have us think that we’re separated from God and then to think that something else will fill that void. 

In the Garden of Eden in the second story of creation, we find desire for knowledge as the first idol. Remember, God told the humans not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but the serpent told them that they actually should eat it, told them that God had lied to them. The serpent tricked them into thinking that their union with God was broken and gone. Then the serpent let them think that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, would somehow replace their union with God, would satisfy their longing for union with God. Their union with God wasn’t actually broken, but the serpent convinced them it was and then lied to them about how they could fix their longing. 

Classic marketing strategy on the serpent’s part. Here’s a problem you didn’t know you had; now you can fix it by purchasing this.

Our souls want union with God. We actually have union with God, but our hurts and fears, our anxieties and traumas often keep us from realizing the unity we have. We feel a deep longing for peace. We feel great disquiet within ourselves, and we long comfort, for soothing, for some way to know that we are ok or to stop caring that we are not. In our hurts and fears, our anxieties and traumas, we seek all sorts of things which we think will fix us or fill us. 

Some seek money and power, never having enough, even when they’ve got more than they could need in multiple lifetimes. Others simply have enough, and yet they still fret constantly, worried about the future and if there will be enough. In either case, money can become an idol when it becomes our focus in soothing all our fears and anxieties. That’s one of the kinds of idols I was talking about earlier. If only I had enough not to worry about money, well then, I’d be ok. 

We have countless idols, not statues of gold and wood, things that we think will help soothe our souls. Being right and making sure we can prove others wrong can be an idol. Hanging on to anger and resentment can be an idol. Finding fault in others to make ourselves feel better can be an idol. The what ifs of the past or the if onlys of the future can be idols. Numbing and escaping reality can be an idol. 

So, now when I ask, “has anyone else ever found themselves worshipping an idol,” maybe you get my meaning a bit more? The kinds of idols I’m talking about: money, more, being right, resentment, anger, escape, what if, if only, numbing out…these kinds of things are idols I’m guessing all of us find ourselves turning to. 

My point is not, “Oh, we’re terrible idolaters, how awful of us.” My point is that we are hurting, and we tend to seek help in ways that don’t actually help us all that much. We unwittingly believe the serpent’s lie that our union with God is broken and any number of these other things will fix it. 

The truth is, “In God we live and move and have our being.” God is with us, among us, around us, in us, and through us all the time. So, when we set our minds on other things to fix us, we ignore the life all around us. When we turn to the idols of money and more; the idols of being right, resentment, anger; the idols of escape, what if, if only, and numbing out, when we turn to those idols, we block out God in whom we live and move and have our being. When we turn to these idols, we block out the peace we can have by turning to God in whom we live and move and have our being. 

I was talking with a gentleman a while back, seeking some peace, and we talked about prayer and meditation as ways to be with God, rather than disassociate from our fears and anxieties. 

We talked about having a rhythm of prayer. Rhythm has been found to help heal trauma. Our bodies are wired for rhythm. Our breath, our heartbeats, the steps we take, all in rhythm. There are the rhythms of the sun and the moon, night and day, the rhythms of the seasons. We’ve separated ourselves from a lot of these natural rhythms in modern society, and I believe that adds to our stress. So, adding in some rhythm of prayer can help heal our bodies, spending time with God in whom we live and move and have our being. 

In the Episcopal Church, we have a rhythm of prayer. Eucharist every Sunday. We also have daily prayer: morning, noon, evening, and night. Following this rhythm of prayer helps bring rhythm back into our lives and helps bring us into constant awareness of God’s presence with, and around, and within us. 

Another way to spend time in awareness of God meditation, specifically a meditation prayer called Centering Prayer. In Centering Prayer, you spend time in silence, focusing on your breathing, simply being in the present moment, aware of God’s presence around and within you. 

The way it works is you sit in silence for a few minutes, or up to twenty minutes, and you simply breathe. Before you begin, you choose a “sacred word,” generally something related to faith: God, Jesus, Love. Mine is Peace. The sacred word is used to draw us back to the center and back to the breath. As we sit in silence, thoughts will come, as thoughts tend to do, and when thoughts come, we say our sacred word in our minds to let go of the thoughts and draw us back to the present, to the breath.  

Centering Prayer is a way of letting go of our thoughts, simply experiencing the quiet (or the noise) of the present. Simply experiencing the quiet of breathing, of life around us. Simply experiencing God in whom we live and move and have our being.

The result is peace. 

Dwelling not in the past or the future, but simply dwelling in the present, focusing on the breath, breathing God in and out, we find peace. 

Rather than disassociate because of hurt and trauma, rather than use various idols, we can seek rhythm of prayer and meditation. We can seek to know and live unity with God, for it is God in whom we live and move and have our being. Union with God is the deepest desire of our souls, and despite the devil’s lie, we are still united with God. We always have been. When we let go our idols, when we turn to rhythm of prayer and meditation, we help our bodies realize the union with God that is always there. The union with God that is always with us. The union of God that brings us peace.

What Do We Give to God? Everything.

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church

October 18, 2020

Proper 24, A

Matthew 22:15-22

What Do We Give to God?  Everything.

“Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.”  Well, that shut the Pharisees up as they were trying to get Jesus in trouble.  See, being under the authority of Rome, no one in Israel could say they shouldn’t pay their taxes to Rome, to the emperor.  That kinda thing could get you in a lot of trouble pretty quick.  Then again, as an Israelite, you really couldn’t be boasting about giving money to a country whose leader claimed to be God.  

So, the Pharisees’ trap:  how could Jesus say to give financial support to a government that claimed divinity of their leader?  How could Jesus say to give financial support to a Roman society that ate exceedingly non-kosher and lived exceedingly not according to the ways of Israel?  How could Jesus say to give money to a government that kept soldiers garrisoned in Israel to keep Israel in line, no longer as a free nation?

The Pharisees thought they had Jesus pretty well caught in their trap.  I dare say, we often think we have each other similarly trapped when we talk about and question how people who say they love Jesus can vote differently that how we, or I, or you vote.

Sometimes the government doesn’t do what we believe is following the ways of God, and sometimes they do.  So, how we vote is important.  Our faith will likely influence how we vote, and our faith is going to influence some of us to vote one way and some of us to vote another.  Yet, in our convictions and in our faith, we often wonder, “How can anyone who claims to be a Christian vote differently than how I vote, as a Christian?”  Then, in our hubris, we lay for each other the Pharisees’ trap.  

Into that trap, Jesus said, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.”   

Jesus recognized that we live simultaneously in at least two kingdoms.  Jesus and all of Israel lived in the Empire of Rome, in the Kingdom of Israel, and in the Kingdom of God.  Whether Jesus liked living under Roman control or not, he accepted it as a reality that would not change without bloody, armed revolt, and even then, it probably wouldn’t change.  So, Jesus decided, or realized, or knew that he could live simultaneously under the authority of Rome and still live in the Kingdom of God.  

We too live in at least two kingdoms.  We live in the kingdom of The United State of America, and and we live in the Kingdom of God.  How do we live in these two kingdoms as faithful followers of Jesus?  Some would say that doing so depends on how you vote and that voting for a candidate who believes in something contrary to a teaching of Jesus is voting against Jesus.  I would say, that’s not what Jesus said.  Remember that in saying “yes” to paying Roman taxes, Jesus said “yes” to giving financial support to a government that was decidedly anti-Jewish.  Jesus said “yes to giving financial support to a government that did things with that money that Israel and Jesus himself really didn’t like.  In the difficult situation of paying taxes to the Roman government, Jesus said, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.”

Remember also that before answering the Pharisees’ question, Jesus had them show him a coin which had the emperor’s likeness on it.  Jesus used the coin as a symbol, and not only a symbol of money.  The coin was a symbol of the Roman government and authority under which they lived, like it or not.  Notice, however, that he used no such symbol for God’s kingdom and authority under which they lived.  By having a symbol for Rome’s kingdom, Jesus showed that their kingdom was limited; God’s was not.

So how do we live in at least two kingdoms, one limited and one not?  What do we give to our government, and what do we give to God?  Well, we give to the government our votes.  We give what we owe for taxes.  We give our opinions to our elected officials, and we give our basic obedience to the laws they set forth.  Sometimes we also give our civil disobedience to the laws when those laws are unjust.  That’s a decent non-exhaustive list of what we give to our government, but what about God?

What do we give to God?  Everything.  I don’t mean that we should give God everything or we aught to give God everything.  I mean, whether intended or not, we give God everything.  

The kindnesses we give to the people we know and love, and the kindnesses we give to the people we hardly know are given to God.  Similarly, the hurt, contempt, and indifference we give to the people we know and love are given to God, and the hurt, contempt, and indifference we give to the people we hardly know are given to God.  Our votes even are given to God, and I daresay most of us are doing are darnedest to vote in a way that honors God’s kingdom, even when we vote differently from each other.  So, don’t let anyone tell you that vote goes against God’s kingdom or God’s way just because you vote differently than they do.  Do contemplate seriously how your vote does or does not follow the ways of God’s kingdom; realize also that by “God’s Kingdom,” I don’t mean particular religion or religious practice.  By God’s kingdom, I mean the beauty, light, and love of everything that is.  Everything we do is giving to God’s kingdom. 

Realizing that we give everything to God, the point is not to feel shamed or scared of messing up and giving God the wrong thing.  The point is to see the beauty of God’s kingdom all around us, to see the light and love of God’s kingdom all around us, and to let that beauty, light, and love transform us continually into beauty, light, and love, and then to live naturally out of that.  

Looking at all we have as part of God’s kingdom of beauty, light, and love, we see that everything we do and everything we give, and keep, and take is done in God’s kingdom to enhance or diminish the beauty, light, and love of God’s kingdom.  Again, as to any thoughts of shame or fear, we’re all going to take a lot of actions which diminish the beauty, light, and love of God’s kingdom.  God knows this, and God works to redeem those things.  Perfection is not what God asks of us; it never has been.  God asks that we work continually to align our motivations and our actions to accord with God’s will and God’s ways so that we make continual progress towards enhancing the beauty, light, and love of God’s kingdom.  

Now I can’t give every specific action of how we are to act to enhance God’s kingdom, but I can say, based on Jesus’ teachings, that the more we act as Lords over others, demanding our will and our way, assuming we know best for them, the more we diminish the beauty, light, and love of God’s kingdom.  On the other hand, the more we act as servants to others, and not as servants who are superior to others, but as true servants, the more we enhance the beauty, light, and love of God’s kingdom.  

See, God’s kingdom is in all of creation and through all of creation.  God’s kingdom is in and through and beyond all governments and political systems.  So yes, how we vote is part of what we give to God.  How we spent our money is part of what we give to God.  How we spend out time and how treat others is part of what we give to God.  What exactly do we give to God?  Everything.  

But Jesus, That's Not Fair!

Brad Sullivan

Proper 20, Year A

September 24, 2017

Emmanuel, Houston

Jonah 3:10-4:11

Matthew 20:1-16

But Jesus, That’s Not Fair!

“But Jesus, that’s not fair!”  That pretty well sums up the response of the laborers at the end of Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard.  They had agreed to work for the day for the usual daily wage.  They negotiated those terms with the landowner.  Then, when they found out that those who worked for only an hour also made the usual daily wage, they felt cheated.  “That’s not fair!”  Well, as a friend of mine was thinking of titling her sermon for today, “Suck it up, Buttercup.” 

Clarence Jordan of Koinonia Farms once said, “Whenever Jesus told a parable, he lit a stick of dynamite and covered it with a story.”  At first glance many of us, myself included, look at this parable and think, “Well that’s not fair, Jesus.”  Then we look a little deeper into the story, and “boom”.  The dynamite goes off.  Our notions of fairness and deservedness, our shoulds and aught tos get blown up. 

True enough, it isn’t exactly fair to pay those who worked only an hour the same as those who worked all day, but look at the alternative.  If the landowner was being fair it, would seem that the laborers who worked all day would have had the landowner pay for only an hours’ worth of work to those who worked an hour for only.  That would be fair, but that was 1/8th of what they needed each day to get by.  So, ultimately the attitude of the laborers who worked all day was, “in order to be fair, you should let those other people starve.  Ultimately, the laborers who worked all day were saying that those who were only able to work for an hour should die.  “Boom.”  The dynamite goes off.

“Well wait, no, Jesus didn’t mean it like that.”  “I thought it was unfair, but I didn’t want the other laborers to die.”  We hear Jesus’ parables, the dynamite goes off, and then while the dust is still settling, we often try to rebuild our world just like it was before Jesus’ pesky meddling.  “No, he didn’t mean it like that.”  “Sure Jesus is the messiah, but he didn’t really mean what he said in this parable.”  “Something in this story got lost in translation.”  It’s easy to try to rebuild too quickly, wanting the security of our previous notions of what is right, without first looking at what Jesus has revealed in his pesky parable dynamite demolition thing.

We often want this parable not to be about money, and it isn’t only about money.  This parable may not be Jesus’ instruction manual for economists, may not be, but the response is often to see the economic flaws in Jesus’ notion of generosity over deservedness.  “This wouldn’t work as an economic system.  You know what people are like.  No one would work more than an hour a day.”  Probably true, and that’s a fair point, but before we rebuild what Jesus demolished over that one security keeping argument, what lessons might there be for us as we consider this parable?

Looking at how people tend to get compensated for their work, we tend to look at averages.  What do others make on average for this same type of work?  That seems fair enough, but in the light of Jesus’ parable, a more appropriate question would be “Is this compensation enough?  While others might make “X” for this job, I know that “X” isn’t really enough in today’s world.  It may be fair in comparison with what others make, but it isn’t really enough.”

For a modern example of choosing to pay what is enough, rather than seems fair by comparison, Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments cut his own salary by 90% back in 2015 so that all of his employees could earn $70,000.  I don’t know that Mr. Price was inspired by Jesus; I’ve read nothing to indicate that he was, but his example shows the possibility of living into the kingdom way that Jesus taught, even in our modern economy.  The company is still going strong, or was as of January of this year when the article I read about it was written.  There were some negative consequences.  Some clients pulled out of the company, fearing their fees would increase.  They didn’t.  Other clients liked what the CEO had done and began giving him their business.  Some of the employees didn’t like the new arrangement and quit because they didn’t think it was fair for those who had been earning less than they to receive the same as they.  These employees felt diminished by their boss’ generosity.  I tend to go with the title of my friend’s sermon on that one.  “Suck it up, buttercup.” 

Like the laborers in the vineyard who worked all day, they felt it wasn’t fair to earn the same as those whom they felt didn’t deserve as much.  Jesus again takes dynamite to our notions of fairness and to the comparisons we so often draw.  “Am I making as much as compared to others?”  “Should those people earn as much as I do when I compare the amount or kind of work I do with the work they do?”  “Do they really deserve to have enough for the work they do?”  “Don’t I deserve more than enough for the work I do?”  Boom.

Such comparison is something else Jesus dynamites in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, along with our notions of fairness and deservedness.  When the dust settles, we might just learn from Jesus that comparison may seem like wisdom, but it doesn’t tend to lead to a good place.  Comparison leads to jealousy and envy.  Comparison leads to being bitter about what someone else has rather than being happy about what I have.  Comparison leads to always wanting more.  Comparison leads to feelings of inadequacy and never being good enough.  Comparison leads to us being deaf to Jesus’ teaching not to worry; his teaching that we are enough as we have been made to be; his teaching not to put our faith in stuff, but to put our faith in him, to trust in our beloved-ness, and to love others as we are loved. 

Theodore Roosevelt, Brené Brown, and others have said variations of the following concerning the supposed wisdom of comparison.  “Comparison is the thief of happiness, and jealousy is usually it’s partner in crime.”  The laborers in the vineyard and the employees of Gravity Payments were happy with what they had, until they started comparing what they had to others.  Then comparison and jealousy stole their happiness away and did absolutely nothing to help them or anyone else.

To the cry that this story isn’t fair, I’d simply say, God isn’t fair, and thank God for that.  God’s Kingdom doesn’t deal all that much in fairness and deservedness.  God’s kingdom doesn’t deal in our jealous comparisons.  God isn’t interested in our hierarchies.  He’s not interested in us raising ourselves up above others because we feel that our greater efforts make us deserving of greater benefits.  In God’s Kingdom, Jesus dynamites or concepts of deservedness, fairness, and comparison.  Then in the crater and debris that is left, Jesus teaches us, and God builds up in us his love, his selflessness, and his generosity toward others.