Another Parable

… When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.”

When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”

But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” [Matthew 20:8-15, a portion of the Gospel lesson appointed for this Sunday, the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A].

A thousand or so years ago, during the Fall of 1972, I was successful in registering for a course in Wake Forest University’s Department of Religion: “American Religious Life.” A survey course, it looked at the core denominational beliefs of the major—and some not so major—religious denominations in our country. The professor was notoriously easy on college athletes, so it was a particularly popular course for those playing football or basketball. At that time in the 1970s, all WFU students had to complete at least one elective in Religion in order to graduate.

The class was large by Wake Forest standards—almost 30 students. Virtually all were athletes of one sort or another. There were only four or five “civilians” like me. One thing seemed odd: after the initial session, none of the athletes came back to class.

I did, of course. I listened carefully and took detailed notes on everything the professor said. Every afternoon, as was my habit in college, and then later in law school, I would read over the notes I’d taken that day and fill in a few additional points while my memory was fresh. My set of notes for the Religion class was a thing of beauty. Weeks passed without any sign of my athletic classmates; only three or four of us dutifully attended.

Finally, on the day of the last class before the course’s final—and only—exam, I walked into a crowded classroom. All the athletic prodigals had returned. It was as if the athletes knew some secret that I did not. A minute or so after the opening bell, the professor came into the room with a tall stack of papers that he ceremoniously plopped down on his desk. He said:

Here are some study guides for the final exam. Everything you need to know is within these pages. There is nothing on the exam that is not within these pages. You need not refer to our text; you need not refer to your own notes, for here is everything you need.

He paused for a second or two, looked around the room, and then said, “Mr. Robinson, will you and Mr. Jerrod (not his real name) see that everyone in the class gets a copy of these study guides?”

Was it the redness in my face? Was it the steam that seemed to be escaping from my ears and nostrils? I had given out perhaps three or four copies to a few athletes near me when I heard the following from the professor: “I have a question for Mr. Robinson.”

Startled, I turned to face the professor. He said, “Mr. Robinson, do you begrudge my generosity?” (see Matt. 20:15).

I thought to myself, “Is the Pope Catholic? I’ve spent hours compiling the most beautiful set of notes in the history of humankind. Do I begrudge your generosity? You’re darned straight, I begrudge it.”

Yet I stammered a quick, “Errr. No sir.”

He then retorted—with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, I must add—“Class, Mr. Robinson has just seen a recapitulation of the parable of the workers in the vineyard. I trust that he, and you, will someday come to understand the meaning and power of Grace.”

God lavishes Grace on folks like us who have labored long in His fields. Can we embrace the fact that God also lavishes Grace on others, including those who have not been so energetic? Can we accept and embrace that God even lavishes Grace upon those with whom we vehemently disagree, upon those whose motives we detest? God needs no one’s permission to spread Grace in any direction God desires. It is His to give.