The first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Today’s passage takes place within the context of Jesus’ discourses on becoming disciples. In the previous chapter, Jesus commented on the young rich man who wasn’t able to give up his “stuff” to become a disciple. Jesus said, “…it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven…is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God…” “…es más fácil que un camello pase por el ojo de una aguja, que un rico entre en el Reino de los Cielos”. Jesus taught that discipleship requires a certain detachment from the things of the world. Disciples cannot serve in the Kingdom of God if they are serving a king on earth. 

Jesus teaching about wealth and power is a challenge to those who believed that by associating with the powerful and influential, the Kingdom of God would come. Fearing that some would interpret his teaching about the Kingdom of God as being actual kingdom with a hierarchy of classes and privileges, Jesus illustrated the true nature of  the Kingdom of God by bringing children to them so he could embrace them. Children represented the poor and powerless of society. Apart from parents, people didn’t value children as anything other than as extra hands in the field.  Children inherently understood that they had no power and so Jesus said to the crowd, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” “Dejen a los niños, y no les impidan que vengan a mí, porque el Reino de los Cielos pertenece a los que son como ellos”.

Jesus taught that both discipleship and the Kingdom cannot be confused with the world’s kingdoms and values.  Disciples must serve rather than be served. The Kingdom of God does not belong to an earthly king, but to everyone.  Those who are first will be last and those who are last will be first.  Muchos de los primeros serán los últimos, y muchos de los últimos serán los primeros.

In the chapter that we read from today shows an employer who is clearly not interested in the number of hours that the laborers are working.  Those who worked early in the day received the same amount as those who worked a short time.  What was our reaction to this parable?  We probably were puzzled. Recall Isaiah’s line from the first reading, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.”  “Mis pensamientos no son los pensamientos de ustedes, sus caminos no son mis caminos, dice el Señor”.  So what are God’s thoughts? What is the point of this parable?! Let’s take a closer look at the parable and see if it connects to Jesus’ teaching about discipleship and the Kingdom of God.

If a boss were to do the same thing that was described in the parable, we would be justifiably furious.  But the parable is not about wages. It’s about the employer’s graciousness to the families and children of those he employed.  As I’ve said before, the historical and social context of Jesus and his parables was a time of great economic uncertainty. People were unjustly displaced from their farms and were forced to go to the plazas and crossroads as day laborers. There were long lines of people waiting to work and employers could get many workers for next to nothing.  The employer in the parable wasn’t simply thinking of these workers as individuals, but was thinking of what happened to the families of workers who had no employment. Could it be that this parable was suggesting something in addition to the traditional interpretation of the parable as a critique against the old religious order, that there was something more subversive underfoot? 

Imagine if people elected to engage in bartering and forming cooperatives rather than buying and selling things on terms set by the Roman oppressors. By disengaging from the official Roman economy and choosing an alternative, the people chip away at the occupation. Their refusal to buy goods and services tied to the Empire is in effect a refusal to participate in their own oppression. This is why I find this particular parable quite revolutionary.

The chapters following the Transfiguration until the Entry into Jerusalem hone in on discipleship and kingdom because his disciples need to understand the dynamics of what it means to serve the Kingdom and not the king. Jesus’ confrontation with the authorities of Jerusalem is drawing nearer and nearer and disciples must understand that salvation does not happen by coddling up to rich and powerful or by ignoring the social realities in which they lived. If disciples were to continue on in the ways of the world, Christianity would have died out within a generation. Christianity survived because it was counter-cultural.  Christianity at its best lifts up the poor and voiceless.  Jesus offered us another way to see the world around us. He caused us to prioritize differently and through his teaching, he provided us with alternative future. 

As Christians we therefore cannot be uncritical of the world around us. When we think like the world and not think like God, we end up with the CEO of McDonald’s making $9,200 an hour and his restaurant employee having to work full-time for 4 months to make what he himself makes in an hour. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/10/mcdonalds-hourly-pay_n_4414538.html) This is a far cry from the Kingdom of God!  There’s a woman I know who works as a janitor - I’ll call her Ana. She works at one of these technology companies and makes $11 an hour with no benefits.  All the engineers around her make 6-8 times what she does. Ana uses his or her entire monthly income plus working overtime just to pay the rent…in THIS neighborhood!  (see http://wpusa.org/WPUSA_TechsDiversityProblem.pdf)

The kings of the earth are not concerned about the Kingdom of God.  They aren’t thinking of the prophetic call for justice. They are thinking about profits for themselves…and at the expense of everyone who must labor for pennies. (http://moneymorning.com/2013/04/19/ceo-pay-now-7000-an-hour-350-times-the-average-workers/) Do you think the kings of the earth care about the fast food worker who can’t make rent? Do these kings of the earth stay up late at night worried that janitors who clean up their messes can’t afford to send their children even to junior college?

The kings of the earth ignore folks like Ana and fast-food workers. The Kingdom of God, on the other hand, embraces them.  Let me say it again, the Kingdom of God demands that we hear the poor and that we join their Cause. Working for the poor is admittedly a hard sell and closing the wage gap in and of itself is a daunting feat. When we explain why we do what we do to others, it’s clear that what we’re doing doesn’t make sense to a whole lot of folks again.  Recall Isaiah, “…my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.”  “Mis pensamientos no son los pensamientos de ustedes, sus caminos no son mis caminos”.  If we are to be Christ’s disciples and if we are to go with him to Calvary - then I believe it is ultimately up to each of us to pass through that narrow gate, to embrace the child and to fight hard so that all people have enough for their daily bread.