“It’s not fair!” is always an angry
cry. It’s a complaint that someone or some group has acted unjustly, and a
demand that that injustice be corrected. If a little child bursts into tears
and sobs “It’s not fair” on seeing another child get a bigger piece of cake, we
know what is meant.
But maybe “It’s not fair” can be
good news. Maybe fairness is sometimes the last thing a person should really
want.
“It’s not fair!” is the cry from the
men in Jesus’ parable who had worked all day in the vineyard. And they seem to
have a point. They had been in the marketplace before the sun was up, expecting
to put in a full day’s work. They’d toiled from six in the morning till six in
the evening on a hot day — only to see those people who arrived an hour before
quitting time get paid the same amount that the real workers got. What’s the
point of putting in a full day’s work when others get the same amount for “loafing”?
It’s not fair!
“It’s not fair!” We heard the same
cry from Jonah. He had to see the wicked people of Nineveh spared any
punishment for their crimes. Jonah had tried to keep that from happening by
running away when God told him to go to that city to proclaim God’s judgment
because he was afraid that the soft-hearted old Lord would let the Ninevites
off easy if they repented. But God brought Jonah back, and when he preached,
they did repent, and God didn’t
destroy the city. So Jonah yelled at God, “I knew you’d do something like this, treating these lousy pagans like
good religious people! It’s not fair!”1
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