A Sermon by the Rev. George Briggs

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem

June 4, 2006

A vineyard owner put people to work throughout the day. At the outset, he stated the amount to be paid for a day’s work. At the end of the day, each worker was paid the same amount, those starting late in the day being paid the same as those who worked all day. No surprise that some noses were out of joint. The vineyard owner offered a feeble excuse: It was his vineyard – he hired the men – he could jolly well pay all of them the same amount of money if that is what he wanted to do. Well, what in the world was Jesus thinking? What could he possibly mean by telling this story that flouts any meaningful standard of fairness? In one brief story Jesus turned the conventional wisdom upside down.

Like any other story told by Jesus, this one needs to be understood in the largest possible context. We need to see this parable in the context of what Jesus was all about. This is an exciting time to be alive, if one has any interest at all in the historical Jesus. We are living in the midst of a Jesus explosion – an explosion of interest in Jesus and in early Christianity. I am excited about it. Furthermore, I am not about to surrender my interest in Jesus to the safekeeping of the orthodox. So let us think about this explosion of interest.

A novel and a movie – The Da Vinci Code. I know that many of you have read the book, and by now I am sure that many of you have seen the movie. It took a little doing for us to see it. Elise and I went in good faith. We endured all of the previews that had been approved for family viewing. Then the feature started, and a little less than an hour into it – when it was just starting to get good – it stopped. No doubt there was something symbolic about this. After an eternity, someone came in and told us that a power outage would not be fixed in a timely fashion. We were invited to line up at the box office for a refund. A few days later, we tried again and were able to see the movie in its entirety – but not before we had again viewed all of the previews that had been approved for family viewing.

The Da Vinci Code – the novel and the movie – is a part of the ongoing Jesus explosion. The first thing to say about this novel and movie is that both are works of fiction – just like most of the New Testament. It is not a "put-down" to say that a particular work is fictional. Much truth is conveyed in works of fiction. It is understandable that a premise of The DaVinci Code – that Jesus was a human being and nothing more – would be offensive to orthodox Christians. But isn’t it wonderful seeing a popular novel and movie that give currency to this idea – the idea that Jesus was a human being and nothing more. As for the idea that the human Jesus was human enough to take a wife – possibly Mary Magdalene – this does not offend me at all. It is harmless speculation. So far as I know, there is no solid evidence that such a relationship existed. If such evidence were to emerge, it would not disturb my faith. I would merely say, "Good for both of them." In the meantime, I have a built-in resistance to excessive speculation.

Of course, at the center of the Jesus explosion is the discovery of some fascinating documents that did not make it into the canon. The Nag Hammadi manuscripts, and most recently the Gospel of Judas, are gold mines for Jesus scholars and for scholars of early Christianity. These manuscripts are strengthening the evidence that the early Christians were a highly diverse bunch of people. There was no unity among the early Christians. Nobody should be surprised by this news. A careful reading of the New Testament reveals the great diversity of belief and practice among early Christians. As my New Testament professor loved to say, throughout the pages of the New Testament are "at least five different concepts of God and at least twelve different theories of the atonement" – whatever that is. The bottom line is that the early Christians were as diversified as UUs are today.

In the 1950s, when I was in seminary, my professor of New Testament was a voice in the wilderness. The ecumenical movement has done many good things, but one of its unfortunate results is the pressure it brought to bear in trying to impose a unity upon early Christianity – a unity that had never existed. All it took to refute the notion of such unity was to read the books of the New Testament. Now with the additional manuscripts that have been discovered, the evidence of great diversity is overwhelming.

For one who is interested in the Jesus of history and in early Christianity, this is an exciting time to be alive. Not only is the research going forward, but its results are reaching the popular media. New tools are available for facilitating the research. All of the resources of the information age are at the scholar’s disposal and are being used in the quest for the historical Jesus.

The focus of my own interest is a continuing study of the parables attributed to Jesus. Some of you have shared this interest and study with me. The context of the parables is Jesus’ understanding of the Kingdom of God, or Realm of God. A consensus is emerging that for Jesus, this Kingdom, or Realm, is NOT a far-off event. It is a way of looking at this world in which we now live. In the late l9th and early 20th centuries, many Jesus scholars, including Albert Schweitzer, assumed that Jesus shared the prevailing view of his time and place – that the Kingdom of God was a far-off event to be ushered in by God at some future date. A new consensus, however, suggests that Jesus did not share this view. This new consensus is reinforced by some of the manuscripts that did not make it into the canon.

The parables attributed to Jesus need to be understood in this context – a different way of looking at the world in which we live. It is a way of looking at the world in which the conventional wisdom is turned upside down. One of the parables to which scholars attribute a high degree of authenticity is The Vineyard Laborers. It sounds like a story Jesus would tell. In the story of The Vineyard Laborers, the conventional wisdom is certainly turned upside down. What in the world was Jesus thinking? I think we have to be careful, not to get caught up in "proof-texting." "Proof-texting" starts with something you want to prove. Then you find a text that will support your case. Keep in mind that a text out of context is pretext. "Proof-texting" by liberals is no more useful than "proof-texting" by fundamentalists. In early April, a demonstration on behalf of Mexican immigrants took place in Washington, D.C. Speaking to the people gathered at that event, the Rev. Joan Marushken, Washington Representative of Church World Service, stated as follows: "In the Parable of the Vineyard, (Jesus) says everyone deserves equal pay..."

Is this what Jesus was saying? Was he advocating equality of income? Probably not – but it’s a great idea! For starters, I still recommend that UU ministers receive the same pay as neurosurgeons. It might be a good idea, but "proof-texting" will not bring it about. "Proof-texting," whether done by fundamentalists or by liberals, is simplistic and is a serious misuse of Biblical material. I happen to be in sympathy with the Mexican immigrants. However, I question the value of quoting scripture in support of this sympathy. In my judgment, misuse of the Bible in support of any political position is a bad thing – whether done by conservatives or by liberals.

So what in the world was Jesus thinking when he told this story of The Vineyard Laborers? In this and other parables, I believe Jesus was proposing a new horizon for human existence. In such a story, to use the words of Bernard Brandon Scott, Jesus was asking us to "re-imagine the world." (Scott, Re-Imagine the World)

The late Robert Funk, founder of the Jesus Seminar, wrote that whatever the hope, "the form of its realization will come as a surprise to all who think they know what it ought to be." Funk adds:

Jesus steadfastly refused to respond within the horizon of the received world. Instead, he referred his hearers by means of non-explicit language to the world, the horizon of which was real and ultimate to him– the domain of God.

Robert Funk continues: "In proclaiming the reign of God, Jesus is proclaiming a new horizon for human existence." (Funk, Jesus as Precursor) In this parable and throughout his teachings, Jesus envisioned a world in which "bean counting" would be replaced by Grace. On one level, Grace is deeply personal and something that just happens. It happens when we are surprised by something good that we did nothing to earn. It just happens and usually when we least expect it. On another level, Grace is our social awareness that most of the good things we enjoy are available to us through no tremendous effort on our part. As John Dewey noted in the last paragraph of “A Common Faith,” the things in civilization we most prize are not of ourselves." These things "exist by grace of the doings and sufferings of the continuous human community."

We in this congregation have done many things, but nobody among us composed Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. All we have to do is enjoy it. And so it is with most of the good things we enjoy. All of us participate in a network of reciprocity. It is a network of Grace. We give and we receive, but in the long run of things, most of us receive far more than we have given. We live in a network of Grace. In the parable of The Vineyard Laborers and throughout his teachings, Jesus envisioned a world of Grace. This parable is an invitation to see the world in a whole new light. It is an invitation to set aside our rigid distinctions and to acknowledge that all of us are bound together in one bundle of life. In this parable, Jesus shows us a new horizon for human existence. That new horizon is an awareness that we need to let the conventional wisdom be turned upside down in a world of Grace. So no more bean counting!

*****

Suggested Reading:

Dewey, John. A Common Faith. New Haven and London. Yale University Press.

1934.

Funk, Robert. Jesus as Precursor. Sonoma, Calif. Polebridge Press. 1994.

Scott, Brandon. Re-Imagine the World. Santa Rosa, Calif. Polebridge Press.

2001.

Matthew 20:1-15