When Power Gives
A sermon preached with the people of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, California, based on the lections from A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church: Year A. While I do not have the rights to reprint Women’s Lectionary translations here, the NRSVU versions of the two readings referenced can be found here: Samuel 8:1, 4–18 and Matthew 20:1–16.
As many of you know, St. John’s is a founding member of Genesis, our community organizing partner. Faith-based community organizing is a method of working with multiple interfaith organizations to form relationships, listen, learn, and then, together with our shared values, identify, address and correct problems and concerns of our local communities.
One of the questions we ask in organizing is deceptively simple: "Who has the power?"
Not because in and of itself power is bad. And not because power is good. But because power is real. And pretending it isn't only leaves it exclusively in the hands of those who already have it.
Power — and where it sits — shapes each one of our lives in more ways than we can count. Every decision made by those with power affects those without it. And so, when we identify a problem or a challenge in our community, we ask: Who has the power to change this; to make a difference? Who benefits from the status quo? Who benefits from change? Whose voices have been ignored? And how can we form relationships that build power within our communities and hand loudspeakers to those voices? [i]
This morning we find Jesus, our great teacher, in front of his students in Judea. And he is giving them — and us — a parable. A parable about power.
Those of us in this region, with its many vineyards, might read this story and quickly say, "Okay, let's start with the assumption that Jesus is clearly not offering a seminar on vineyard management, hiring, and payroll."
And I think that's probably true. But...I'm not sure we can completely let go of the possibility of the practical in this parable.
Jesus tells us this story, he says, because it shows us something of what the “Realm of the Heavens” is like. And at the same time, it is a true-to-life, earthy story about wages; about a person of great power who understands that what is profitable is not always what is right; and that what is right is what allows a neighbor to thrive.
All day, the powerful vineyard owner keeps leaving his vineyard. Again and again. Returning to the marketplace. Noticing those others have passed over. And again and again, he hires.
And then comes the scandal: he pays. He pays every worker enough. Not according to the hours they worked. But according to what they need to live.[ii]
This is power at work.
And the first laborer reacts: "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."
Listen to his primary complaint: "You have made them equal to us." That is the offense. Not, "I have been paid less than my due." But, "You have made them equal to us."
The owner has used his power to remove a hierarchy the first laborer (understandably!) believes matters. The owner has "chosen to give," as he puts it.
In our first reading, Samuel warns his people — who so desperately want power concentrated in a single, strong ruler — about the kind of power that takes … and takes, and takes.
Jesus shows us power that gives. Not power that hoards and takes. Power that notices and gives. This is the power of God.
This is the kind of power we can expect in God's coming Realm; where the last are first, the first are last, and the flourishing of all people is of such a quality that it may even seem unfair.
But I think what is even more challenging about this parable is its practicality. After all, this is something someone could actually do. There are human beings on this earthly plane of existence right now who can move power in this way. Some hold public office. Some own businesses. Some vote … for example.
Human beings can and have made these choices:
Every time restoration is chosen over imprisonment.
A debt is forgiven.
A barrier is removed.
An opportunity is expanded.
Every time someone says, "I have enough. Letting someone else have enough doesn't change that." Every time those things happen, some people celebrate. And, others lament: "You have made them equal to us”:
"But I followed the rules."
"But I paid my dues."
"But I went through all the steps."
"But I got here first."
Whenever power is used in ways that allow more people to flourish, someone will almost always cry, "Unfair!" And, by the way, I'm not sure any of us are immune to that cry. I'm certainly not. I think that's the brilliance of the parable itself — my first response to the workers who put in far more hours being paid the same as those who hardly worked at all is always, "That’s unfair!"
But I have found in real life that cry of “unfair” grows quieter in the presence of relationship. The text doesn't tell us everything that happened during all those trips back to the marketplace.
But I'd like to imagine that those repeated walks changed the vineyard owner. A little more each visit. I'd like to imagine him lingering long enough to learn names. To hear stories. To discover that whether a toddler eats tonight depends on the whim of whether it's already too late in the day to be chosen for work. To learn how people's lives are shaped by the power others hold. The power he holds. To realize that the power he possessed could tell a different story.
And so he chose to use his power. To tell a new story; a parable of power, and a parable of possibility. A glimpse of the Realm of the Heavens, and a glimpse of the way Jesus of Nazareth challenges the powers of this earthly realm to behave.
Because power is not bad. Or good. But it is real.
So the question is not whether there is power. The question is where it sits. And whether it will take. Or give. Because “the Realm of the Heavens is like” when power gives.
[i] This is all part of a process often referred to as power analysis . A special thanks to Genesis Executive Director Mary Lim, whose presentations about power analysis are particularly accessible and compelling.
[ii] A denarius was a standard full-day’s wage.