The Scripture Readings this week are:
- Deuteronomy 5:12-1
- Matthew 20:1-15
The Sermon title is Labour Justice
Early Thoughts: What does justice in the working world look like? How can we raise it up as a real way of being? Does the witness of our faith have a role in discussions about labour and justice and compensation?
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The readings this week address two facets of this multi-faceted issue. One reminds us that everyone needs time to rest, that nobody should be required to be "on" all the time. The other raises the question of what is a fair way to pay people.
Let's start with Deuteronomy. There are in fact two versions of what we like to call the 10 Commandments (the Hebrew text does not actually call them that, it is a matter of tradition). One in Exodus and another in Deuteronomy. In Exodus the commandment to keep Sabbath is based on the hymn of Creation in Genesis 1 and we are to rest on the 7th day because God also rested on the 7th day. Here in Deuteronomy we are told that we are to rest to remind ourselves that we are not slaves. In both cases the commandment is clear -- not just select people are to take a day of rest, everybody (even foreigners and slaves) is entitled to a day of rest.
It has been said that this commandment is the one people often seem proud of violating. Certainly there are some people who seem to want to brag (even if they phrase it as complaint) about how long it has been since they took a day off, or how they never use their vacation time. However I think that such complaints/bragging misses the point. It is not healthy to work all the time. It is not a sign of how important we are or how strong we are. It is a sing of an imbalance in our world.
More to the point from a justice perspective though are those people who are not able to take a day off. The ones who have to work multiple jobs just to break even and so they juggle shifts and end up with one every day -- and then there is finding time to do the rest of the labour that goes into maintaining a life (laundry, eating, childcare...). This justice question is specifically raised when we remember that one of the reasons Scripture tells us to take a day of rest (by which it means a day of rest, not just a day when you don't have to go to work so you can spend the whole day doing household labour) is that the people are no longer slaves like their forebears were. Labour justice, according to Scripture, mandates that people have a chance to rest.
Then we have the parable of the day labourers in the vineyard. To be a day labourer is to be in a very tenuous position. If you don't get work that day how will you eat? That was true in 1st Century Palestine. It is true in 21st Century Canada.
The landowner in this parable has always fascinated me. Why does he keep going out to get more workers rather than hiring more in the morning? And more importantly why does he pay everybody, the ones hired at daybreak and the ones hired just before closing, the same?
What he pays them is the going rate for a day labourer, the amount needed to live that day. This landowner is ensuring that everybody he came into contact with that day got was they needed for basic necessities. Today some would accuse him of being Marxist or communist. Or they might call him an idealistic fool.
When Jesus tells parables he is teaching a little bit about what the Kingdom/Reign of God is like. In this case Jesus is suggesting that in the Kingdom/Reign of God everybody gets what they need, everybody's basic needs are met. At first glance it seems totally unjust. Surely justice means that the longer/harder you work the more you make. Everybody knows that right? Those people who worked all day were not treated fairly...
Maybe it depends what we mean by justice and fairness. Jesus tends to turn some of our common sense and traditional understandings on their head.
This weekend we in North America mark Labour Day, a day when traditionally we are encouraged to remember the way the Labour Union movement has changed how our economic system works. Of course in Alberta we are also marking Alberta Day since Alberta and Saskatchewan officially became provinces on September 1, 1905. As with many many other things the church has a divided history when it comes to labour unions and the changes they have called for in society. It has not always been clear where the church does (or could or should) stand.
My reading of Scripture and my grounding in the Christian tradition lead me to insist that we in the church need to take a stand on those things that increase justice in the world. That means we have to at least talk about questions around Labour Justice. We need to talk about how we ensure everybody gets basic needs met (personally I am in favor of the idea of a Guaranteed Annual Income). As it happens this will also help us ensure that everybody has the opportunity for a day of rest each week (along with some vacation time for a longer rest and revitalization). It means we need to speak out when some parts of the workforce appear to be taken advantage of. It means we need to talk about how we define justice and fairness.
HOw do you think we as the church can speak up for a must just and fair world?
--Gord
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