Thank you, Father

Thank you, Father, for looking after my every need

I will give you what is just. 

Let’s talk about justice.   The landowner in Jesus’ parable promised to pay his workers what was just, but he seemed to break that promise at the end of the day.   At least, that’s what the workers who were first hired thought.   In their eyes, he was treating them unjustly.   They saw the workers who started later get paid just as much money as the landowner had promised to them.   Where’s the justice in that?

The landowner, however, had a different kind of justice in mind.   For him, justice was not primarily everyone getting what he deserves, but everyone getting what he needs.   Every time he came to the marketplace, he saw more men—husbands, fathers, sons, brothers—who didn’t have steady employment, but who still had to provide food and clothing and shelter to their families.   How could he turn them away?   How could he think only about his bottom line?

Of course, employers can’t give away all of their money.   They have families to take care of too.   But Jesus isn’t talking about best business practices here.   He’s talking about God’s sense of justice.   For God, justice is a matter of treating everyone with dignity and honor.   It’s a matter of ensuring that each person is loved and cared for.   It’s a matter of making sure that no one gets left behind.

What a difference from our common idea of justice!   All around us, we hear that justice is about reward and retribution.   If you work hard, you are rewarded with pay.   If you violate a rule, you are punished until you “pay for” what you have done.   While there is some truth to these statements, God’s justice goes beyond this kind of tightfisted, tit-for-tat approach.   It includes generosity and love, mercy and compassion.   His justice went so far as to give up his only Son to save us from sin and death.

Like the landowner, our heavenly Father offers us a surprising—and subversive—kind of justice.   How can we help but praise him for such a gift!

word among us