Father Snort

Brad Sullivan Proper 20, Year A September 24, 2017 Emmanuel, Houston Jonah 3:10-4:11 Matthew 20:1-16 But Jesus, That’s Not Fair! “But Jesus, that’s not fair!” That pretty well sums up the response of the laborers at the end of Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard. They had agreed to work for the day for the usual daily wage. They negotiated those terms with the landowner. Then, when they found out that those who worked for only an hour also made the usual daily wage, they felt cheated. “That’s not fair!” Well, as a friend of mine was thinking of titling her sermon for today, “Suck it up, Buttercup.” Clarence Jordan of Koinonia Farms once said, “Whenever Jesus told a parable, he lit a stick of dynamite and covered it with a story.” At first glance many of us, myself included, look at this parable and think, “Well that’s not fair, Jesus.&#