"If it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously." – Romans 12

"Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man. Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice." – Psalm 112

         Jesus told a parable about a grape harvest. I don't know anything about harvesting grapes, but if it is like other types of harvests that I have been around, there is probably a high level of anxiety as the harvests approach. In Kansas when the wheat is ready to be cut, the farmers scurry about trying to get their combines in good working order, and watch the weather carefully, because the finest field of wheat can be reduced to nothing if a hail storm comes just before harvest. In Washington we knew berry farmers, surely the most aggravating way to try to earn a living. Everything has to come together at once for strawberries: enough rain to make them plump, enough sun to make them sweet, enough labor to get them picked in time.

         So I imagine the vineyard owners in Jesus' day watching carefully as the grapes ripened.

         When should we begin the harvest?

         Is the sugar content right?

         Will the weather spoil the crop?

         Are there enough workers in the labor pool?

         How long will the harvest take?

The owners carefully examine their vineyards every day, anxious for the harvest.

         One day, one of the owners decides to begin, and goes to the market to hire a labor crew, perhaps a smaller crew for the beginning. The other farmers decide to hold off a day or two longer. In the middle of the day this landowner decides to hire more; the grapes are ready in abundance. Then he goes back about 3 o'clock and hires another crew, a very unusual time to hire workers. Finally, at 5 p.m., he sends the rest into the harvest. They are not going to get much accomplished in just one hour.

         After the work of the day, he pays all the workers, and gives them all one denarius, which is enough for them to buy food for their families. His action means that the whole community goes to bed fed that night. No one is left hungry. There are no crying children, no anxious or angry fathers who were unable to provide for their families, no worried mothers. The community has been fed. They are at peace. They will be ready to work in the morning, when there may be more vineyards hiring laborers.

         The landowner has taken the role of the righteous man in the community. He has acted in a godly way, both generous and just. He made no profit that first day of harvest, but that will come later. On the first day he was the man described in Psalm 112; gracious, compassionate and righteous.

         But some of the laborers thought they should have received more, because they worked all day long. Their work on the first day probably assured them of work all through the season, but they hoped for an extra few days' pay, a bit of a cushion, a little savings account to be used later, in a time of need. You can't really blame them. It is human nature to try to get ahead, to try to provide some security. But their attitude causes them to be upset with the generosity of the righteous landowner. They do not hold the welfare of the community as highly as the landowner did.

         The NIV softens his response: "Are you envious because I am generous?" What he says is, "Is your eye evil because I am good?" In the ancient world the "evil eye" was an expression that meant someone was greedy, coveting enviously what belonged to another. The generosity of the righteous man looked unfair from the perspective of those who worked all day. In the same way, the generosity of God sometimes looks unfair to us from the viewpoint of human justice. We often have a tendency to side with these workers who bore the heat of the day. Sometimes we do not see or feel the plight of those left standing in the market all day.

         Generosity is a good thing, but sometimes we have a little trouble with it. It was, for example, hard for the disciples of Jesus to stop asking for the honored seats in the Kingdom of Heaven. It was not easy for them when the leaders of the New Testament Church were people like Paul and Timothy and Titus, rather than Thaddeus, Bartholomew and Andrew.

There are many ways in which we identify with the feelings of these first, faithful workers, and struggle with the generosity of God, and the words of Jesus about the first being last, and the last being first, in the Kingdom.

         R.T. France, in his commentary on Matthew, sums up the parable: "The landowner is compassionate towards the poor. They could not have produced a denarius' worth of goods in one hour. God is like that: his generosity transcends human fairness. Some of the workers received a just wage. Some received generosity."

         No one was punished or treated unfairly. Everyone had dinner that night.

         Generosity is a part of the character of God that we are to imitate. Psalm 112 gives a description of a righteous man, and in the center of that description is generosity. The righteous are blessed or happy persons. They exhibit some of the character of God. They are concerned for the poor and are generous towards them. They receive blessings and protection from God.

James Limburg writes: "Though living in an evil world, God's people will be secure because their hearts are with the Lord. Having experienced the Lord's salvation and blessing, they will share with the poor what God has given them."

         Why do we struggle with generosity? For one thing, generosity is never as precise or well thought out as justice. The just wage was one denarius for 12 hours' work. Over time that wage works out for a certain amount of profit for the farmer and a certain provision for the laborer. Through the generations a rough balance between the needs of the owner and of the worker is reached.

         But one denarius for one hour of work! It is less clear where that is heading. You cannot make a practice of paying that wage and keep the stockholders happy.

         But generosity is able to let go of anxiety about money and worry about the future and the pressing need we feel for more security. Generosity is able to let go of that anxiety and so enable us to see real people, even to see communities. The landowner sees a community of laborers fed one night, and he goes to bed blessed. Generosity helps us to see real people.

         Generosity also expresses trust in people, and in God. It frees us to live in covenant relationship with one another. I do not ever see giving records for the church, but in a more general way I can tell when members are giving generously to the church, and it is a very positive affirmation for me and for our leaders. When you give to the church, one of the messages is that you trust the people who use those funds.

To give an offering to God in worship says "I trust God / I trust you." It is grace to realize that, to feel the trust people give to us in their offerings.

         Next, generosity, especially when directed to the poor, brings to life the gifts and abilities that are in people. Much of Covenant Word Relief is the support of projects that strengthen people and communities. One of the most successful methods to bring poor people out of poverty is the community banks using small loans for home businesses. These are usually run by women in a community. They have a very good record of lifting people up through the establishment of a home business, improving nutrition, enabling children to go to school and keeping people in their home villages. The experience of paying back these loans is also very high. Generosity to the poor allows the gifts and abilities of people to be expressed.

         Generosity also unwraps or sets free the gifts of the Spirit in the church. When someone has the gift of contributing to the needs of others, and he uses that gift with generosity, then the gift truly comes to life, and the person experiences freedom and the power of God working in him. All the gifts are like this. If we teach generously, lead generously, show mercy generously we experience more of the power and goodness of God in our lives. When that happens there is truly a new community.

         Amen.