Justice
‘The Liberal Democrats are now the only party that can deliver social justice, and the only choice for anyone who wants a fairer Britain’… Those who know me well will probably understand that those were not my words, but were the words of Nick Clegg the leader of the Liberal Democrats during his conference speech earlier this week…
In politics, talk of fairness and justice is very popular – it seems that everyone wants to be seen as the trustworthy friend seeking to help everyone… In a somewhat dramatic week for the economy attention was drawn to the actions of the American Government saving a huge insurance company but allowing a huge, but not quite as huge, investment bank to declare bankruptcy. In Britain it seems the government were happy this week to overlook any competition worries as 2 of the largest banks in the country, Lloyds TSB and Halifax Bank of Scotland, planned to merge – this came on the same day as Gatwick Airport went up for sale as a result of a report about unfair competition because the BAA were too big a company.
The reality is that our concept of fairness and justice is something that is often adjusted to suit ourselves, and each of us probably have an idea of how we expect God to deliver justice at all times. Today’s gospel though (Matt 20:1-16) seems to put a bit of a question mark over this. Jesus tells the story of a landowner who hired labourers for his vineyard. He went out early in the morning and agreed the daily wage with some, and employed them. Later he took on some more, and then more and more.
As evening came and the labourers were called to be paid, those who were hired last were called first and paid, those who began work first were called last – the problem came though with the fact that all were paid the same wage – the wage agreed with those first labourers at the beginning of the day.
Rightly they felt aggrieved. They had worked solidly for the day, and yet received no more than some who had only worked for a couple of hours.
It doesn’t seem just. It doesn’t seem fair. And Jesus never meant it to be so, because, fortunately for us all, Jesus doesn’t work on the basis of fairness and justice, but on the basis and grace and mercy. Someone turning to God in desperation minutes before their death after leading a dreadful life, will receive all of the rewards and benefits as someone who has served God all their lives.
It doesn’t seem just. It doesn’t seem fair. That is until we consider it in line with the words of Paul that we heard from his letter to the Philippians (1:21-25), ‘For to me living is Christ, and dying is gain’ he said, and then went on, ‘my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.’
Jesus doesn’t judge based on justice or fairness, but with the most loving and sensitive wisdom of all. His desire for us is that we live in his love, or more correctly in the knowledge of his love, every moment of every day.
And that knowledge makes it even more sad when we recognise that so often the Church is guilty of practising the sort of justice that condemns, of making judgements that are so black and white that they leave little room for anyone to stand up before God and say ‘Sorry, I’ve done wrong, but please help me to do right.’ There have been Churches in the past, and there are still some today that have publicly humiliated a member for a wrongdoing, there have been Churches that have seemed so full of apparently perfect people that normal people won’t go near them. And there are Churches with people who seem to have all the answers, who seem by virtue of the length of their membership to have some sort of authority on everything good and bad going on.
Jesus didn’t build a Church based on justice, but a Church based on love, and that is the Church we must be – and when we talk about the Church we must never hide behind the collective title – it means every one of us as individuals… We must be ready to open our arms in love for anyone who comes and for anyone who doesn’t. We must be ready to reach out and embrace those who are easy to love, and those who are not. We must be seen as a community of welcome and love, not as an elite club with a sign saying ‘members only’.
Jesus was making the point in the gospel today that it is fortunate that he doesn’t have to make his judgements based on justice, because if he did, then he could condemn every one of us because as the Bible tells us and every one of us knows, we all sometimes get things wrong !
And so our justice must not be based on applying the principle of fairness to everything, but rather the principle of love and compassion. There’s a story of a baker who came to suspect that the farmer from whom he was buying his butter was serving short weight on the butter. So for a week he carefully weighed out the butter at home and sure enough his suspicions were confirmed.
He had the farmer arrested and an enquiry began. ‘I assume you use the standard weights’ the judge asked the farmer sternly. The farmer explained that actually he didn’t, and when asked how he weighed out the butter, he replied, ‘Well when the baker began buying butter from me, I began to buy his bread, so I measure out 1 pound of butter by placing his 1 pound loaf of bread on the other side of the scale !
If we seek to do right only to those who do right to us, then the world will be a very dark and miserable place. It isn’t the way of Jesus, and it must never be the way of his followers. The parable Jesus told that we have heard this morning doesn’t speak of justice or injustice, it doesn’t speak of fairness or unfairness, it speaks of love, costly love, persistent love, enduring love….
This story of the landowner is only told in the gospel of Matthew and today we celebrate the Feast Day of St Matthew – an unpopular tax collector who took from his own people to line his own pockets and those of the Romans. Perhaps Matthew included this story because he knew that he was not worthy to receive the call of Jesus, but it came… The truth is none of us are worthy by what we do to receive the call of Jesus, but that call still comes and he still welcomes us with open arms.
Matthew heard the call of Jesus and followed him – Jesus gave the call and died for Matthew and people like him, and people like us – today he lives for us too, and he invites us to live for and live with him. AMEN
In politics, talk of fairness and justice is very popular – it seems that everyone wants to be seen as the trustworthy friend seeking to help everyone… In a somewhat dramatic week for the economy attention was drawn to the actions of the American Government saving a huge insurance company but allowing a huge, but not quite as huge, investment bank to declare bankruptcy. In Britain it seems the government were happy this week to overlook any competition worries as 2 of the largest banks in the country, Lloyds TSB and Halifax Bank of Scotland, planned to merge – this came on the same day as Gatwick Airport went up for sale as a result of a report about unfair competition because the BAA were too big a company.
The reality is that our concept of fairness and justice is something that is often adjusted to suit ourselves, and each of us probably have an idea of how we expect God to deliver justice at all times. Today’s gospel though (Matt 20:1-16) seems to put a bit of a question mark over this. Jesus tells the story of a landowner who hired labourers for his vineyard. He went out early in the morning and agreed the daily wage with some, and employed them. Later he took on some more, and then more and more.
As evening came and the labourers were called to be paid, those who were hired last were called first and paid, those who began work first were called last – the problem came though with the fact that all were paid the same wage – the wage agreed with those first labourers at the beginning of the day.
Rightly they felt aggrieved. They had worked solidly for the day, and yet received no more than some who had only worked for a couple of hours.
It doesn’t seem just. It doesn’t seem fair. And Jesus never meant it to be so, because, fortunately for us all, Jesus doesn’t work on the basis of fairness and justice, but on the basis and grace and mercy. Someone turning to God in desperation minutes before their death after leading a dreadful life, will receive all of the rewards and benefits as someone who has served God all their lives.
It doesn’t seem just. It doesn’t seem fair. That is until we consider it in line with the words of Paul that we heard from his letter to the Philippians (1:21-25), ‘For to me living is Christ, and dying is gain’ he said, and then went on, ‘my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.’
Jesus doesn’t judge based on justice or fairness, but with the most loving and sensitive wisdom of all. His desire for us is that we live in his love, or more correctly in the knowledge of his love, every moment of every day.
And that knowledge makes it even more sad when we recognise that so often the Church is guilty of practising the sort of justice that condemns, of making judgements that are so black and white that they leave little room for anyone to stand up before God and say ‘Sorry, I’ve done wrong, but please help me to do right.’ There have been Churches in the past, and there are still some today that have publicly humiliated a member for a wrongdoing, there have been Churches that have seemed so full of apparently perfect people that normal people won’t go near them. And there are Churches with people who seem to have all the answers, who seem by virtue of the length of their membership to have some sort of authority on everything good and bad going on.
Jesus didn’t build a Church based on justice, but a Church based on love, and that is the Church we must be – and when we talk about the Church we must never hide behind the collective title – it means every one of us as individuals… We must be ready to open our arms in love for anyone who comes and for anyone who doesn’t. We must be ready to reach out and embrace those who are easy to love, and those who are not. We must be seen as a community of welcome and love, not as an elite club with a sign saying ‘members only’.
Jesus was making the point in the gospel today that it is fortunate that he doesn’t have to make his judgements based on justice, because if he did, then he could condemn every one of us because as the Bible tells us and every one of us knows, we all sometimes get things wrong !
And so our justice must not be based on applying the principle of fairness to everything, but rather the principle of love and compassion. There’s a story of a baker who came to suspect that the farmer from whom he was buying his butter was serving short weight on the butter. So for a week he carefully weighed out the butter at home and sure enough his suspicions were confirmed.
He had the farmer arrested and an enquiry began. ‘I assume you use the standard weights’ the judge asked the farmer sternly. The farmer explained that actually he didn’t, and when asked how he weighed out the butter, he replied, ‘Well when the baker began buying butter from me, I began to buy his bread, so I measure out 1 pound of butter by placing his 1 pound loaf of bread on the other side of the scale !
If we seek to do right only to those who do right to us, then the world will be a very dark and miserable place. It isn’t the way of Jesus, and it must never be the way of his followers. The parable Jesus told that we have heard this morning doesn’t speak of justice or injustice, it doesn’t speak of fairness or unfairness, it speaks of love, costly love, persistent love, enduring love….
This story of the landowner is only told in the gospel of Matthew and today we celebrate the Feast Day of St Matthew – an unpopular tax collector who took from his own people to line his own pockets and those of the Romans. Perhaps Matthew included this story because he knew that he was not worthy to receive the call of Jesus, but it came… The truth is none of us are worthy by what we do to receive the call of Jesus, but that call still comes and he still welcomes us with open arms.
Matthew heard the call of Jesus and followed him – Jesus gave the call and died for Matthew and people like him, and people like us – today he lives for us too, and he invites us to live for and live with him. AMEN
Comments