With so much talk of late about who in our society deserves what, Mission Australia’s NSW Chaplain Jenny Bluhdorn is reminded of a thought-provoking parable that centres on fairness:Australians pride themselves on giving everyone a fair go. I’m told that some languages don’t even have a word for ‘fair’ – but for us, fairness is bottom-line morality.
Most would say fairness is about everyone being treated equally. But there are situations where it is unfair to treat people equally. For example, a juvenile isn’t given the same punishment as an adult in the legal system and people with mobility issues get to park in prime positions at shopping centres.
In these situations, it would be unfair to treat everyone the same. In fact, we filter actions around fairness more than we might think - like when we gauge who to offer our seat to on the train. We assess the needs of the person and work out how fair it is for them to receive “special” treatment.
And this is true too for Mission Australia. We are always looking out for people or groups who need their disadvantages addressed. The idea of evening up the playing field is nothing new, as the following story (Matthew 20, 1-15) told by Jesus demonstrates.
The setting is a village with a central marketplace where local labourers picked up work. Close to the village was a vineyard owned by a relatively wealthy man. At harvest time he would hire all of the village’s available workers to pick his grapes before they spoiled. As time was of the essence, the farmer knew he needed to treat the workers well. And the labourers knew if they didn’t work today, their family didn’t eat tomorrow.
One sunrise at harvest time, the vineyard owner went to the marketplace to hire workers. He employed the men for the “fair wage” of a denarius – a silver coin - for the day and they headed off for to work.
By mid-morning, he returned looking for more harvesters. He told the new batch he’d pay them what is right. He repeated the process at noon and mid-afternoon, assuring each set of workers they would be paid what was right.
Late in the day he returned to find more workers to complete the job. At the marketplace he found men hanging around but not trying too hard to find work. He asked, “Why are you here when there’s work out there!” They replied that no-one had hired them. Although he was exasperated by their attitude, the landowner employed them for the last hour’s work.
As darkness fell, the men gathered to receive their pay. Everyone expected those put on last would receive an hour’s pay, those starting at noon would receive half a denarius, and the labourers who had toiled all day would take home a full denarius.
Here’s where the story takes an unexpected turn. Those who worked an hour received a full day’s pay, which made the early starters think they’d get more than one denarius. However, they too received one silver coin, which caused a lot of grumbling around what was fair.
The landowner patiently pointed out that he was giving everyone a fair day’s pay. Finally, he asked them, “Are you envious because I am generous?”
Many of us would side with the workers, feeling they should be rewarded for their diligence.
But this parable was never meant to be a welfare template. At the time he told the story, Jesus was denouncing the exclusivity of the religious order of his day. He was saying God’s love was available to all who wanted to engage with Him, not just those who thought they’d earned it.
So in that context, the focus is more on the farmer’s heart, rather than rewarding hard work.
This vineyard owner saw and met the needs of the families of those workers. In doing so, he went beyond any legal obligation, paying the agreed wage. He also went beyond any basic moral obligation by going back and hiring the last of the workers.
What he did was not done out of obligation, but out of generosity, compassion and a heart that truly has the welfare of others as a priority. No-one would have criticised him if he’d paid them pro rata, and this is what makes the gift more valuable… it came with no obligation or sense of legal duty. It really was given from a generous heart.
No-one can argue that this wasn’t a compassionate and a good man. And that compassionate commitment to seeing needs met is a brilliant foundation for bringing the disadvantaged of our society onto a level playing field.
For me, when the needs of disadvantaged people are beginning to be met because of the efforts of compassionate and good-hearted people, it indicates a society heading in the right direction.
Related news
An OECD report released this week found that Australia is among the most economically unequal nations. On the positive side, it also found that Australians are among the most likely to volunteer, donate to charity or help a stranger.
Read more analysis of the OECD report by The Age's Dan Harrison here.
