Everyone has right to work in vineyard

To understand Jesus from Nazareth and to grasp how he thought, the student of Jesus must master the stories he told.

One of the most interesting of the Jesus parables is the story of the Land Owner and Day Labors.

The grapes were ripe and needed to be picked. Early in the day, the owner went to the town gate looking for day laborers. He hired some and promised a good day’s pay. At 9 a.m. he hired more. At noon he hired yet more. At five o’clock, he still needed help to pick the grapes. He found a few more laborers and sent them into the fields. At the end of the day the vineyard owner paid all of the laborers a full day’s pay without regard to the amount of time a laborer had worked.

This parable is marvelous sermon material. Each time that I have used this story for sermon material, I have welcomed the task. The folk who worked a full day cried “foul.” Those who worked for one hour thought it was a good deal. The preface to the story says that this is the way the will of God works.

The temptation is to discuss payment of a full day’s pay to men, who worked only one hour. Recently when I reread the story, another feature of the story caught my eye. When the land owner found the day laborers at five o’clock, he asked them a question. “Why are you still standing around?” They answered “Because no one hired us.”

Our country is in an economic downturn. The number of unemployed people is rising. About 6 percent of the American work force is unemployed. That is a lot of people. I suspect that if we asked “Why are you not working?” The answer would be as old as the Jesus parable. “Because no one hired us.”

To some economists the 6 percent unemployment rate is acceptable. Acceptance may be OK to some economists, but it is never acceptable to the Jesus way of thinking. The way I read the parable, Jesus is saying that everyone needs to have work and needs a decent wage.

As a devoted follower of the Jesus way, I believe today that every potential worker needs a job and should be paid a decent wage. Some of the enemies of justice in America are those who care only about profit and care nothing about the need of people to work for a livable wage.

When the private sector will not respond to the real needs of people, government should. Government is simply the organization that we put together to do things that need to be done when we have no other way of accomplishing the common good.

A few years ago Darlene and I were traveling in Oregon. Near Mt. Hood we stopped at the Timberline Lodge. The lodge is a masterpiece of architectural design and craftsmen’s accomplishment. It is the main building that serves a fine ski and recreation mecca. Somehow it did not look or feel like an ordinary commercial enterprise. I took the time to read its history.

The Timberline Lodge was built in 1936-1938 at the height of the Great Depression. It was built by the United States government under the auspices of the Work Progress Administration. Timberline Lodge was designed by architects and built by workers who had been standing in bread lines. What was needed was someone to recruit them to go to work.

An amazing number of public facilities and infrastructure was built in the mid-1930s under the WPA. Willing and able workers just needed to be asked.

An even more popular government sponsored program in the 1930s was the Civilian Conservation Corp. Unemployed young people were everywhere. Under the CCC program, eventually 3 million young people were put to work for the nation’s good. Americans still are blessed with the public recreational areas that were created. Every state had CCC camps. Roads were built. Anti-erosion grooming of land was accomplished. Forest fires were fought and flood relief needs were met. Three billion trees were planted. CCC operated a total of 2,650 camps.

One significant side-effect should be noted. There was a 55-percent reduction in the national crime rate.

CCC work was done by unemployed young people, who were standing around. They were willing to work. They only needed to be asked.

A common experience of mine is to be asked what I believe as a Christian. I have many answers. Among them is this …

I believe a 6 percent unemployment rate is immoral. I believe a 4 percent unemployment rate is unacceptable. I believe a 1 percent unemployment rate is unacceptable. I do not believe there is such a thing as a lazy person. I believe there are a lot of people standing around and hanging out who need to be offered a meaningful job that contributes to the public good.

The Jesus I serve has some advice. Offer them a job.

The Rev. Howard Bess is pastor emeritus of Church of the Covenant, an American Baptist church is Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.