Seeking Fairness

A sermon preached with the people of St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in Youngsville, Pennsylvania and Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church in Warren, Pennsylvania.

"When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid,” Jesus says. “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Well. It appears Jesus has been watching American cable news this week. Because “repayment” sure has been a hot topic.

On Wednesday it was announced that “borrowers who hold loans with the Department of Education and make less than $125,000 annually are eligible for up to $20,000 in student loan forgiveness.”

Great news, right?

Well, not for everyone, apparently. The talking heads of TV news, the endless feeds of social media, and the columns of newspapers quickly began to churn with discourse about debt forgiveness and “repayment.”

The word “fair” and those that spring from it – “fairness” and “unfair” – started popping up all over the place.

For example, one political figure said student loan forgiveness is “unfair to anyone else who will have to pay for it, including those who paid off their debt, those parents who saved up to help their children attend college, and those who did not have the privilege to attend college.”

“Unfair.”

I’m not looking to spark a political debate, but I would like to spend some time with that word: “unfair.”

God knows that we human beings have a deep craving for this world of ours to be “fair.” We like things to be predictable and to “make sense.” We like systems, and we like to imagine that if we just systematize things well enough, then what some people have and what some people “have not“ will simply be “correct.” And, that those of us who fall somewhere closer to the “have” end of the scale, won’t have to spend time worrying about those on the “have not” end of the scale.

But of course, this concept of “fairness” is fantasy.

And God has tried to tell us this over and over and over. It is justice, not fairness, God tells us we must seek. It is mercy, not fairness, God tells us we must seek.

And in practice, justice and mercy are a heck of a lot harder to seek than fairness.

It calls to mind that familiar story of the prodigal son. When he returns after all his careless cavorting and is given a party by his father, the son who has “done everything right” -- the son who stayed -- becomes angry. “For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends” he says. “But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’” But the father gently corrects him. He reminds him that all that belongs to the father still belongs to him. He reminds him that the good fortune of his brother does not actually spell misfortunate for him.

It calls to mind another familiar story of the workers in the vineyard. When those hired hours before others – those who had worked longer hours -- received the same payment as those who worked shorter hours, they say, “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.’ And the landowner replies, “‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.God knows we want fairness. And over and over again, God tells us that is not what we must seek.

Episcopalian and scholar Miguel Escobar is an expert on economic justice and scripture. His book “The Unjust Steward: Wealth, Poverty, and the Church Today” comes out next month, and my goodness, what perfect timing.

Soon after the news of student loan forgiveness broke, Miguel reminded us that scripture specifically warns us against predatory lending — a system of supposed fairness that is not a modern invention. “If there's a case to be made for stewardship in the Gospels, it's that we should be using wealth to help free people from predatory debt,” he said. “Today's news is definitely worth celebrating.

Earlier in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.” And, in the Gospel of Matthew. “ Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.”

And, this morning: “when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Invite those to our table who cannot pay us back, Jesus says. Give freely to those who could never repay us, Jesus says. If our work is done in the name of seeking repayment, it is not the work of following me, Jesus says.

Now, I don’t want to sound, well, “preachy.” I don’t want to sound as though this is easy for me. I have found myself, many times, saying things like, “I put in the work every day for this, and she hardly did anything – why did she get to this point so fast?” Or, “I was so much more committed, why is he being rewarded?” Or “they didn’t work hard enough for this.” I have, in other words, found myself seeking “fairness.” And, I am quite sure I will again. Which is why this being Christian thing takes so much practice. For me, anyway.

The Kingdom of Heaven will not be “fair.” It will be just. It will be merciful. It will be full of God’s love. As Jesus tells us this morning, it will be full of that “repayment” we really seek.

And in the meantime? I pray we can rejoice in the good fortune of others, and resist the temptation to wonder if they “deserve” it or not. I pray we can let go of our tight grip on “fairness.” And I pray we can follow the call we receive this morning from Jesus to invite those who could not ever repay us to our banquet. Over and over and over.  

Postscript: When I say I preach “with the people of” whichever congregation I’m with, I mean it. A member of one of the congregations this morning opened up this sermon in a significant and meaningful way.

This person pointed out that in their support group for widows and widowers, the phrase “it’s not fair” is probably the most common refrain. This stopped me in my tracks. I had been so caught up in the more economic and community side of things, I really hadn’t considered just how hard the idea of “fairness as fantasy” can be. This co-preacher and I agreed this was a lot to think about, but there was something on the edge of comforting to extending this notion that “fairness is fantasy” even to death and illness. During my drive home, I wondered if understanding something like untimely death as a sign of some kind of “fairness system” at work is the kind of thinking that results in unhelpful notions that tragedies are “part of God’s plan” when instead they are simply tragedies – as much to God as they are to us. Whew, I’m still thinking on this one.

I also want to offer my thanks to the person who told me they had just managed to pay off their student loans during the pandemic — an amount that would have been covered by the forgiveness announced this week had they not. This person’s strength in “being so happy” for people benefiting from this program (if understandably frustrated!) under these circumstances was truly inspiring.