Fairness and Justice
美佳之窗 His Window 88 (Oct - Dec 2019)
Text by Rev. Phan Wu Chung (Senior Pastor Mega CMC ) Translated by Stephen Cheng
Everyone from young to old would have encountered some ‘unfair experience’. On the home front, some parents tend to love a particular child more than another. For example, the elder sibling gets what he asks for, but the younger sibling’s requests are rejected. Similarly at work, our bosses may not notice our efforts, yet our colleagues’ insignificant contributions are rewarded with a pay rise or job promotion. Even some church pastors can be unfair in promoting certain church members or leaders to a higher post, resulting in others being ignored because they are not favored by the pastors. Therefore, we cannot avoid having the feeling of unfairness. If unfair treatment can happen in church, then it should not be a surprise to see this happening in the country. Since this unfair occurrence is so common, it has become a norm to many people.
Owing to the fact that we often see so many unfair happenings, unknowingly, sometimes we are being influenced to view God to be unfair. We ask, why God seems to bless other people more than He blesses us?
Why are we still facing great sufferings even though we follow and serve God faithfully? And, why is the life of those ‘rotten’ Christians so smooth and swift? Is God fair?
In Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus spoke of an analogy of the vineyard workers. This analogy is straight forward and easy to understand, but it brings about unexpected results. When we read this analogy, we could easily be drawn to the word ‘unfair’. Commercially, we feel that it is unfair to the workers who started to work first (worked longer hours under the hot sun), because they received the same wages as the other workers who were hired last (worked shorter hours under lesser heat). No wonder those workers who were hired first grumbled and were frustrated.
Today if a company were to follow the method that was used in the above analogy to pay its workers, it will be a matter of time before this company closes down. Jesus does not want us to view and interpret the emphasis of this analogy commercially. Jesus is not advocating that workers should not be calculative, or allow themselves to be taken advantage on / bullied by the employer. The emphasis of this analogy is to explain how the Heavenly Kingdom measures the reward of a person. It is not based on the number of hours and the nature of the job, rather it is based according to his faithfulness to the opportunity given to him.
Besides, we need to fully understand who is this landowner mentioned in the analogy.
1. THE LANDOWNER PERSONALLY HIRED THE WORKERS
The owner could have instructed his supervisor to hire the workers but he chose to do it himself, not once but several times. He was a down to earth person who empathized and cared for those who were jobless, particularly those who had almost lost hope of getting a job but at the last hour were hired. Therefore, the owner’s personal hiring not only brought the workers a job but also hope. Besides, this owner was very generous and he paid the last hired worker the one-day wage just as he had paid those who were hired first. Let’s ask, ‘Is this owner considered unfair?’
2. THE LANDOWNER WAS NOT ONLY FAIR BUT ALSO JUST
When the unhappy workers grumbled, we notice from the owner’s response that he did not mistreat the workers. ‘Didn’t I tell you that your one-day wage is one denarius?’ was the owner’s response to effectively shut the mouths of those who grumbled. In fact, the one-day wage of one denarius was fair and mutually agreed, and the owner did not really treat the workers unfairly. This analogy tells us that the system of weighing the Heavenly reward is not based on the views of man.
Actually, so-called being ‘fair’ is normally measured from the human point of view (including that of how God works). But our God is just and He uses ‘justice’ as the standard to judge and measure. Therefore His decision is surely fair. In the analogy, if the owner had started to pay the workers who were hired first, then they would not have come to know the wage that themaster paid to those who were last hired. However, the owner intentionally chose to pay those who were last hired first to show his justice, because he wanted what he did to be known.
3. THE LANDOWNER WAS UNFAVORABLY MERCIFUL
The owner said, ‘I am happy to give the same amount to those who were hired last as what I gave you. I can do whatever way I please since this is my money. I want to be a good person. Are you jealous?’ This conversation reminds us of two things. Firstly, since we know that God is merciful, shouldn’t we allow Him to display His mercifulness. When we witness others being blessed by God, shouldn’t we be thankful for them. Secondly, this means that justice needs to be gracefully executed, if not, the so-called “justice” may possibly become tyranny.
In this world, many things do not seem to be fair because of the deviation of people as a result of their sins and weaknesses. Sometimes, we feel it’s not fair because we tend to compare with others. We overlook the grace that God has bestowed upon us, just like a child who does not appreciate the food in his hand but is envious about the food in other people’s hand.
A distinct example is that every one of us can enter the Heavenly Kingdom by God’s grace. If it is not by the justice of God (God’s justice is revealed in His mercy), we cannot even have the chance to receive His salvation. In view of this, more so we need to rely on this God of justice, and learn from Him how to live out the true fairness and justice.