Pastor's E-Letter 9/18/20
I have one sister who is 15 months younger than me. Growing up, it felt as though we were the same age. I can’t remember a time before Jackee, or as an only child. I only remember life as a sister and life that was categorized by sharing and compromise. Even though Jackee and I are radically different, what we had and what the world said was “cool” was the same for us, as we were so close in age. So, when we were little, my mom dressed us in similar outfits, and as we got older, we shared clothes, shoes, and cars, much to our frustration.
Throughout these growing up years, my mom would encourage this sharing and compromise by saying, “Remember, I have to be even-stevens.” This was her shorthand for: everything has to be fair. If I got two cookies after dinner, so did Jackee. If I got to go to a sleepover, so did Jackee. If I got a new bike, so did Jackee. Even our Christmas gifts were “even-stevens,” representing the same amount of time, effort, money, and energy spent on picking them out. There could be no “It's not fair!” whines in the Willcox house. Everything was, and still is, “even-stevens.”
This week in worship, we’re talking about a parable that seems to flip my mom’s “even-stevens” on its head. In Matthew 20, the landowner pays those who arrive early and those who arrive in the last hour of the workday the same wage. Ugh! As a chronic early-arriver, older child, righteous Pharisee, I would be upset! This is not even-stevens. I’ve done more work! I’ve earned more! I’m a better child, a better person! Why do these “schmucks” who arrived last get what I earned, when I was here first? It's not FAIR!
You can hear these questions and this whiny chorus from the early-arrivers as they watch the landowner deal in his own way with the workers. Yet the landowner stands their ground, and finally asks, “Are you envious because I am generous?”
When I hear this question, my heart sort of whispers… “Uhm… maybe?”
Our American way of life values fairness that is earned, rather than generously given. We want proof of change, proof of work, or proof of value as human beings before we’ll trust someone or give generously. We don’t want individuals who don’t try at all to be offered the same assistance or help as those who have “earned it”- that wouldn’t be fair, right? Our narratives say that if there are limits to the resources available (which we always assume is true) then the wages, help, or kindness should only go to the deserving, not the undeserving.
Fair, right? Even-stevens?
God asks us again: Are you envious because I am generous?
God’s salvation, grace, and love are so beyond our understanding, its abundance so all-encompassing, that there is no way to run out of the kindness that God offers. And while we, the early-arrivers, may whine about the unfairness, God’s “fairness” offers the Gospel to all people, even those who arrive late.
As I think more about my mom’s generosity and “even-stevens,” I think this fairness may apply here, too. There is nothing my sister or I could’ve done to make my mom and dad love us more. Their love has been consistent and generously expressed our entire lives- even when one or both of us strayed from our best. This metaphor of parenthood doesn’t always hold with earthly parents, but God’s love is like the best expression of that earthly love. Even when the early-arrivers would rather not share that love, it is still the same, and we can count on it when we’re late to the party, too.
Even-stevens. The same for all of us, generously given. What challenging grace.
Well, I suppose the really good news is- at least God’s "even-stevens" doesn’t mean you have to share your first car with all of God’s children!
Grace and peace,
Pastor Allee