Labor and Fairness 

By Lt. Colonel Kevin Stoops 

“That’s not fair!” I told my father.

He’d decided that our youth group could not attend a promised divisional roller-skating party. During a volleyball game against another corps team, one of our players had gotten into an argument with one of the other team’s players. Because of that, the decision was made: We could not go roller-skating. The universal judgment of our team was that this decision was not fair.

Fairness. From the age of 2 on, it’s a major desire in life. Children want fairness when they play — fair sides, fair rules. Students want a fair test, a fighting chance. It’s what adults want at the workplace, in purchasing products, in the treatment of their children.

In the Parable of the Workers in Matthew 20:1–16, we see the collision between the fairness of life and the mercy of God. Here is a quick summary of the story: An owner goes out to hire workers for his field. At 6 a.m., he enters into a contract with a group of laborers that if they work for the day, they will get a day’s pay. After they start, he realizes he needs more workers, so he goes out at 9 a.m. and hires more, stating, “Please work in my field and I will pay you what is right.” Later, at noon, he hires more, and at 3 p.m. and at 5 p.m. again with no talk of the wage to be paid. Then at 6 p.m., the workday ends and the workers line up to get paid. The landowner was following the law of Deuteronomy 24:15 that a hired laborer was to be paid at sunset.

Then came the surprise. From the shortest amount of work time to the longest, they all received one day’s pay. Our response to this would probably be like the response back then: THAT’S NOT FAIR!

Well, it does appear from our human form of justice that the landowner is treating the workers unfairly — especially the ones that worked all day. We would expect that the workers who worked 12 hours would get paid 12 times the amount as the ones who worked just one hour, even though they got paid exactly what they had agreed to. But we see here, as we do in everyday modern life, that life is not fair.

The central issue in this parable is God’s mercy. Is it fair that those who work only one hour should receive a day’s wage? It depends on your point of view. From the perspective of the worker who had been in the field all day — NO! But from the perspective of the landowner who had compassion on the workers and wanted to make sure that they had enough money to feed their families — YES! He extends mercy, not fairness. Interesting.

Jesus looks upon every worker as a human being with needs, and He is determined to meet those needs regardless of the legalistic criticism. This is mercy. This is seen in the father’s rejoicing and receiving of his wayward son. This is seen in Jesus’ forgiveness of the woman caught in adultery; this is seen in His healing on the Sabbath, His acceptance of the unacceptable, His refusal to condemn a person because of their past sin, in His free gift at a new chance in life, in His ready welcome of the sinners of His day. Mercy triumphs over fairness.

And this is still an issue for us today. For as long as people have thought about God, they have questioned his mercy. So many things in our world seem unfair. Yet, as Dorothy Sayers writes, “When we demand justice, it is always justice on our behalf against other people. Nobody, I imagine, would ever ask for justice to be done upon him for every thing he ever did wrong. We do not want justice — we want revenge: and that is why, when justice is done upon us, we cry out that God is vindictive.” That is, unfair. Hmm.

What if we looked at it this way? We do not deserve anything. But God in His mercy has offered us the gift of forgiveness and eternal life. This gift, if received, is not deserved but is a product of God’s mercy. And when received, it makes us the most joyful person around. Fair? No. But gratefully received.

And our response, as a worker, would be this: “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all for the glory of God.” Is that a fair exchange? Probably not. But God would smile.

So, as we labor each day, let us labor as one who has received fully the mercy of God.