The Right Rev Rowland

I have always marveled at the story-telling ability that Jesus has. The Bible tells us that He did most of His teaching in parables, which were just stories He told with a moral encapsulated. He had the best stories, and people would walk from miles away to come and hear Him tell them.

One in particular has always struck me as particularly relevant to the society and the political debates we’ve had in our nation since as far back as I can remember. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells a story about the Kingdom of Heaven and compares it to the owner of an estate who needed workers to come labor in his vineyard.

Matthew chapter 20, verses 1-16 tells the story Jesus told. Early in the morning, the owner hired a group of workers and they agreed on the normal daily wage. No, it wasn’t a federally-mandated minimum wage, nor was it a union-negotiated contract. It was what the MARKET of the day had set as an acceptable amount to pay for a whole day’s labor.

A few hours later, the owner passes through the market and sees another group of guys waiting around without work, so he sends them to work in his vineyard with the first group. He did this three more times on the same day, and the last group he hired couldn’t have worked more than an hour before quitting time.

This estate owner was aggressively investing in the local economy by providing work to those who didn’t have a job. He went out looking for workers, he didn’t wait for them to come asking him. He had the means and the business to employ groups of people that needed the work. sounds like a local community hero, right? Someone who the people could look up to and be glad they had around? Just wait, it gets better.

At the end of the shift, when all the workers went to get their pay, they realized that no matter what time they had been hired they all received the SAME amount! The workers who had worked the whole day were livid! “Not fair!” they argued, “We worked all day, slaving in the sun, and you paid us the same as these last guys who barely worked at all? I’m calling my Union Steward!”

So the day-long workers started a strike and picket line in front of the vineyard…. No, wait, that’s the wrong story. So when the all-day workers protested to the owner, he gave them a simple response:

“Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? 14 Take it and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. 15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be angry because I am kind?’ Matthew 20:13-15 NLT

So the pay stayed the same, regardless of the feelings of the workers. Why? Because the owner did what he agreed to do, he paid a days regular wage to each of them. Those who came first felt robbed, but those who came last felt blessed. If the all-day workers had been the ones who came in last, they would have jumped for joy! They would not have given the money back because it wasn’t fair.

This estate owner who had provided work for each of these men who otherwise HAD NO WORK, is now a bad guy because he was generous. All the workers benefitted from his business, but some were bitter about it and some were ecstatic. He even asked an interesting question: “Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money?”

In America today the answer is yes. Between the union bargaining power and the liberal’s push for ‘fairness’ in our labor laws, this owner could be sued for discrimination. Maybe the all-day workers were blonde, and he didn’t like blondes and took advantage of them. Maybe he was related to the late-comers and was practising nepotism!

Jesus told this story to show that it didn’t matter how long you believed, or how long you had served Him, we all are valuable in His eyes, and should be grateful to be a part of His Kingdom. Regardless of how far we’ve come, we will all end up with the same reward if we follow Him: Grace and Forgiveness. We call that salvation. And the man who has been following Christ since he was young, will end up in the same place as the death-row inmate that has a death-bed conversion to follow Christ. Heaven. Just like Jesus told the thief who died on the cross next to his, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43

But the practical political point is this: people who own businesses and property, who are wealthy and have means don’t owe anyone any more than they have agreed to. The owner could have pro-rated everyone’s wages and kept it ‘fair’ but he chose instead to be generous. Which do you think stimulated the economy more? And why is the liberal’s version of fair when we take from others? Don’t be too generous, it isn’t ‘fair’!

Now look at the AIG bonus furor. Most the execs who received those bonuses worked a whole year for $1 salary, because they had agreed to wait for their bonus as compensation. But the politicians and alot of reactionary Americans thought it was no fair! That’s tax money! Well, so is the $500 MILLION increase in spending that Congress just approved on itself for its raises and operating costs! Why is it okay with us that Congress picks our pockets, but nobody else better try it?

Now look at the UAW and the automakers. The single greatest drain on all three American Auto makers is the union contracts they have been pressed into. Pressed by picket lines, walk-out threats, and government pressure. Then there are the ever-increasing CAFE standards that the government forces on our automakers so they feel like they are saving the planet, standards which at some point become physically impossible, but criminally prosecutable, and the strain was finally too much.

So we blame the managers who had all these extra costs and legislation forced upon them. The worst mistake the Big 3 Automakers made was when they made a deal with the devil (read: the US Government) and asked for a handout. It will cost them their future, as we are beginning to see.

And now government on all levels is becoming the nation’s largest employer, and every federal, state and local worker has union representation. Who will represent the Owner (read: US taxpayer)? We don’t get to choose who gets paid or how much, but we sure get the bill.

What do you think Jesus would have to say about our union wage-bargains? I’m just sayin…..

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Stimulating the economy, adding to the debt, AND screwing up the environment with a huge-carbon-footprint purchase of three, yes, three, passenger jets for their own private purposes. Congress, gotta love them.

Lifted from Freaking News .com

These same blow-hards excoriated the auto execs for flying down to DC in their corporate jets to ask for bailouts, and made them out to be money-wasting, environment-polluting, crappy businessmen-capitalist pigs. They dragged them through humiliation on national television in congressional hearings and wouldn’t help them out until they drove to DC from detroit in a hybrid. They even suggested they carpool!

But for themselves? Oh, well, that’s a completely different story! You see, the Congress performs the People’s Business, unlike greedy Capitalists who are motivated by profit. Yes, they are all our equals, but of course, some of us are more equal than others, and Congress? Well, they are more equal than us. Or private business.

So when appropriations wanted to buy ONE jet for military and high-level Executive branch officials as well as members of Congress, they tripled-down and ordered three instead of one. That would most likely cut way down on the waiting time to use and ease up the scheduling, you know?

Of course, we know that Nancy Pelosi wasn’t involved in this, because she commandeers her own plane as Speaker of The People’s House. It is another huge case of Do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do hypocrisy.

Like the healthcare plan they want to force on us, but have exempted themselves from…….  Hello?

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